Author Archives: Deborah Drucker

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About Deborah Drucker

I am a native of California who lives in Southern California. I have a background in healthcare and Special Education. Writing is a new adventure for me.

Nature Therapy

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Goosenecks State Park Overlook photo by Bob Wick

 

“The 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah protects one of most significant cultural landscapes in the United States, with thousands of archaeological sites and important areas of spiritual significance. Abundant rock art, ancient cliff dwellings, ceremonial kivas, and countless other artifacts provide an extraordinary archaeological and cultural record, all surrounded by a dramatic backdrop of deep sandstone canyons, desert mesas, and forested highlands and the monument’s namesake twin buttes. These lands are sacred to many Native American tribes today, who use the lands for ceremonies, collecting medicinal and edible plants, and gathering materials for crafting baskets and footwear. Their recommendations will ensure management decisions reflect tribal expertise and traditional and historical knowledge.”-Bob Wick of the US Bureau of Land Management about his photo on Flickr

Managing Transitions

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I just dropped in to see what condition my transition was in. I have managed to be going through a transition for a few years. One transition seems to be leading into another. I started my blog while in the middle of a transition from having a career to not. External circumstances thrust that change upon me. I felt like I was pushed into semi-retirement without having chosen it. My blog has been part of an exploration of what I am doing next. I have enjoyed being creative with my writing, but I do not want to do it full-time or be a writer of books.  I have been tutoring part-time for a few years. I have struggled with the first transition. Going from a career oriented life to getting oriented to a life with no career. Or at least a job I had not planned on doing. I had planned to transition from a teaching full-time to a part-time teaching career eventually, but my plan did not work out as I envisioned. I never got the full-time teaching position. I worked as a substitute teacher for a while:

Then I started tutoring to see if that would develop into a business.  Although I felt I was doing something good, I decided I didn’t want to develop it into something full-time.  Now it feels like I am coming into another transition. I have been restless for quite a while. It’s just that the unknown makes me feel uneasy. Getting ready to let go of what I have been, and step into…..wherever my path may lead me next. Need to be willing to let it unfold by itself.

But the cacti are still flowering in my yard and I may soon be rolling in clover.  🙂  That’s my ever optimistic voice talking.

Clover in my backyard

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Prompt word ” man.” Video of Kenny Rogers and First Edition ‘I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in‘ via 2old2Rock on You Tube.  Featured image of Hummingbird on nest by jadis96 via Pixabay.com Video of teacher in class via Giphy.com

Happy St Patrick’s Day

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Here’s a little travelin’ music as Jackie Gleason used to say:

And some Irish sayings from IrishCentral.com:

What is Irish diplomacy?
It’s the ability to tell a man to go to hell,
So that he will look forward to making the trip.

If you’re lucky enough to be Irish…
You’re lucky enough!

Cute image of dancing and musician shamrocks is a Google Doodle from Giphy.com

In My Garden-Magical Things

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“The universe is full of  magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”                – Eden Phillpotts

I noticed something on the top of one of our cactus plants and on closer inspection I saw these bright pink protuberances:

Cactus with strange protuberances and cute spikey top
Yet another view

I think I mentioned before that we did not save the tags for most of our plants and this makes it hard to identify them later.  However I have been doing a bit of research and believe I have identified a couple more of the cacti/succulents. The image above is of Cleistocactus hyalacanthus.

One of the other succulents in the front yard has a large light green flowering stalk growing out of it right now. I identified this plant as Kalanchoe luciae aka Paddle Kalanchoe, Paddle plant, Desert Cabbage, Flapjacks, and Red Pancakes ( named for the shape and color of the leaves):

Large flowering stalk growing out of succulent
Close up of flowers on stalk of Kalanchoe

I have been reading up on the Kalanchoe and I can grow many more plants from the mother plant. Here, in the image below, are some of the baby plants that can be harvested and repotted. Can you see them tucked into the bottom of the leaves?

While researching some images of kolanchoe I found ( an image by Nova on Wikipedia) of one of my backyard succulents is called Kolanchoe tormentosa:

Kalanchoe tormentosa

We have been converting our front and backyards to drought tolerant landscapes. The front yard has a low flow drip sprinkler system. Happy to have something that is low maintenance with our rock ground cover, pavers and drought tolerant plants.

One Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Featured image Cleistocactus in flower by Leonora Enking on Flickr. I hope my cleistocactus flowers will open up like that. 🙂

 

 

Yawn

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Resetting your clock can be hazardous to your health

 

“I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind… At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme, I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy, and wise in spite of themselves.” -Robertson Davies

Spotted this online nola.com: “California Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D- San Jose, is proposing Assembly Bill 2496, which calls for the state to observe Standard Pacific Time during the entire year.” [God bless him].

From Bustle.com:

“Daylight time a monstrosity in time keeping.” – Harry S. Truman

I’m with you Harry.  🙂

Time is on my side, as long as it’s Pacific Standard Time. Video via You Tube:

 

Image of Harold Lloyd setting clock via Giphy.com

 

Worth The Wait

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We can not control the passage of time and it seems to move so slowly when we are waiting. It seems like the more we want it to go fast, the longer it takes. I am waiting for my grandson to be ready to come home. We think the time is short now and the wait will not be much longer. It is hard to be watching and waiting, but he has to do it in his own time. And he is definitely worth the wait. He is so worth it.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word today is “short.” Featured image of  Still Life Bear Reading Book via Pixabay.com

Bears Ears

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I recently posted some gorgeous photos of Bears Ears National Monument that I discovered from the US Dept of Land Management. I also wrote I did not think this land was threatened by development, oil drilling, or fracking. I must have been having my intuition alerting me that this land could be threatened because some politicians in Utah want the protections of the National Park removed. I happened to see a video presentation by Patogonia on the PBS website. I am going to share what I am finding out now. Our National Parks and open, natural spaces must be protected. Latest interactive video on Bears Ears.

 

 

 

In My Garden Small

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“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that ‘she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow’.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett-The Secret Garden

I have been wanting to get back into my small backyard garden and now that the weather is getting nicer I have been going out.  I have been weeding periodically and I am noticing that the succulents I planted are growing and some are blooming. I was excited to see this one with a big stalk shooting up:

My flowering succulent
Closer look
View of base of plant and stalk

And I did not remember the name of the plant. Then I noticed it had a tag:

Gasteria arborescens

Here are a few more of my succulents:

Pretty blue gray ‘Cassyz Winter’ Echeveria
Furry leaves with spotted brown edges
Prickly one

And here’s some of my wooly thyme ground cover. I will probably plant more because it has not covered as much of the space as I hoped it would:

Wooley thyme
Another section of wooley thyme, note the fuzzy leaves

The sage plants are doing well:

Cranberry Sage

I have a dwarf lime tree that I need to plant:

My lime tree is blooming
Label on tree
My dwarf lemon is already planted and starting to bloom

It’s nice to see that these plants are doing well even though I am new at this.  I plan to scale the retaining wall this weekend, ( don’t worry it is not too tall), dig a hole in the terrace, and plant the lime tree. I hope it likes it there.

Today is International Women’s Day # HerVoiceIsMyVoice:

This post is my contribution to One Liner Wednesday hosted by Linda G Hill. Featured image is of  my backyard garden path.  🙂

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

Art Project

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The 26 artists were paid $1 per hour to paint the frescos inside the Coit Tower in San Francisco as part of the Depression Era Public Works of Art Project. They created wonderful murals about the theme of “Life in California.”

There was a series on my local PBS station called California Gold hosted by Huell Howser. I found a video of his about Coit Tower. If you have the time to watch it covers a lot of interesting history about the tower and the murals, including an interview with one of the artist’s ( Bernard Baruch Zakheim) daughters.

 

Here are a few slides of some of the murals via Wikipedia:

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The San Francisco Chronicle has some more beautiful photos of the murals.

This post is my contribution to Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word is “project.” Featured image is Coit Tower Fire Haze Sunset by Chad1616 via Wikimedia. Photos of the murals from Wikimedia by Daderot (Newsgatherings, Railroad and Shipping, and Library), Saiko (City Life, Agriculture and Department Store), Orin Rozen(Industries of California) , and Wnewton 48( Industries of California).

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Coit Tower at Dusk by skeeze via Pixabay

 

Flotsam

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You may have noticed, or not, that I have not posted for a while. This is because I have had a flurry of activity going on which was worthwhile but definitely exhausting. I had a small social event at my house this past weekend. This is something  I wanted to do and I am glad I did it. I always say one good thing about having a party is that it forces you to clean up the house. I did have the sense to start this straightening up part ahead of time instead of doing it in a last minute frenzy which I have been known to do in the past. This whole event, with the planning, straightening, shopping, and socializing was like a huge energy consuming vortex. I am gradually recovering. Why is straightening up and organizing so exhausting, you ask? Don’t you feel such a great sense of satisfaction after organizing and cleaning, putting everything in its proper place?  I wondered about this too. Well, I think I figured out why it does not work so much for me. For one thing my brain likes its piles of stuff. A bit of clutter feels normal and clear, shining, empty space makes me feel edgy. Another thing is, as I sort through all the stuff, I can’t just quickly handle it and make snap decisions on what to do with it. I have to think about the object, where/when I got it, maybe who gave it to me, what it means to me, besides what I can use it for now and where to put it. My husband and I did sort through a lot of stuff and we still have more, but I think I will wait a bit until I fully recover from this session.

Featured image of Retro Housewife by Artsy Bee on Pixabay.com