As I look back on the last four years, my immigration to and settling into California reminds me of growing up. SFO – the “maternity” ward! First, of course, you are born. You arrive to a whole new world where
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Halloween – blame the Irish!
Here in California, I get asked often at this time of year if we have Halloween in Ireland. I love telling people we sure do, in fact we started the whole thing. The Druids, native to Ireland (and Britain) began
Watershed Awareness
I’m attending a course at the moment that is run by the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program, or the acronym of SCVURPPP, which when pronounced sounds like someone trying to stifle a sneeze. Personally, the purpose of
Busted and subsequent catch-up
I’ve been very excited about my Mum’s foray into the cyber world. She’s come a long way since that day when I asked her to use the mouse to point at an icon on the screen. She literally picked up
Season change over
I find it hard to evict those tenants in my yard who are still working hard and producing yummy food.Kale works year round here. The tomatoes are still throwing out tonnes of fruit though the bushes are looking a little
Reasons why we did come here…
Having spent the last two weeks playing with my nephews who were visiting me from the old country, I always question why we came here at all. Why did we leave behind our friends, whom I still miss keenly? Why
Swimming from Alcatraz – Special Report
It’s hard to say where it all began. To cut a long story short, quite literally cut down to here *** otherwise keep reading… so the beginning… Was it when my father taught me how to swim in the local
Simple mistakes, dire consequences
It is with a sad irony that I link to a blog post entitled “Sweet surprises and possible massacres.” A couple of years ago, I put bird netting against my back fence to provide a light trellis for sweet pea
Welcome to Grand Central Station
I remember feeling so guilty when I first started to pull out the old lawn, privet and ivy garden. I felt as though I were ripping away habitat for so many little critters. But now that the native garden has
The life and loves of a lucky lemon tree
When we first moved into our house (and garden) in 2009 we inherited a lemon tree. Thanks to years of Mr Mow&Blow it looked more like a manicured privet. In fairness, maintained at this size it did not obscure the