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.

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

Water

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A whole lot of water over this dam
For the first time in Lake Oroville’s history, overflow is sent down an emergency spillway.
WATER RUSHES down a hillside from the emergency spillway at rain-swollen Lake Oroville, depositing mud and debris into the Feather River. (Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times)
By Bettina Boxall and Patrick McGreevy

“More than 10 million salmon were evacuated from the Feather River hatchery downstream because the river water had grown too muddy for them.”

Northern CA’s Oroville Dam, the nation’s tallest dam ( 770 ft):

 

 

So Beautiful

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So if you’re wondering why so many people in the US want to preserve our national heritage of beautiful open spaces and not have oil drilling or fracking allowed in these parks, take a look at some of the US Bureau of Land Managment photos. I plan to browse through their photo albums almost as a meditation. I am starting with these below from Bears Ears National Monument, Utah:

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“Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”— Rachel Carson

Sream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Images from US Dept of Interior, Bureau of Land Management “Your Public Lands.”

Pause

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I have been thinking about this for a while. I want to take a vacation from writing on my blog. Or at least a vacation from having to make a comittment to writing x times a week. I have been feeling something wanting me to look at my direction. Time to take a break.

Featured image ‘Yoga-give me a break!’ by Andy Morffew on Flickr.

My Kryptonite

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“Solitude matters, and for some people, it’s the air they breathe.”
― Susan Cain

I know which things are kryptonite to my HSP* Introvert temperament. I can list several:

  • Large social gatherings
  • Noisy, crowded places
  • Making a lot of small talk
  • Spending a large part of my day or evening socializing with not enough alone time
  • Engaging in a lot of new experiences/activities
  • Having a crowded schedule during the day with many demands on my time
  • Spending a lot of time on social media
  • Getting overstimulated by all of the above and becoming exhausted

So why do I forget all I know about what leads to a very unpleasant state of fatigue and feeling depressed, and engage in too much of the above list, then find myself suffering the previously mentioned consequences.

http://gph.is/XJkTR3

*Highly sensitive person

Featured comic strip image of Adventure Comics via Joel Kramer on Flickr. Exhaustion GIF via Giphy.

Strange Birds

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To wear a hair shirt means to suffer a self-imposed punishment, trial, or burden. Those who are sentenced to prison have their punishment imposed on them from society. A very famous prison is located on an island in the San Francisco Bay. It’s name is Alcatraz. The name Alcatraz is thought to have originated from the Spanish word alcatraces for “strange birds.” There are many sea birds that nest on Alcatraz Island. It has a very interesting history. Many people are familiar with the name Alcatraz, the high security Federal prison, that housed some of the most hardened criminals. Reading a few short biographies of some of these men, I realize that their life stories would definitely make great films, and of course, some films have already been done. There is also a great sense of darkness about these men and this prison.  Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Robert Stroud, Roy Gardner, James “Whitey” Bulger,  and Mickey Cohen are some of the more famous inmates. Roy Gardner was called the ” King of the Escape Artists” because he managed to escape twice while under guard by U.S. Marshalls and escaped from prison twice. No one escaped from Alcatraz.

Fake head made by prisoners in escape attempt via NPS Alcatraz Island website

Image of human head via US National Park Service Alcatraz Island website

“In 1962, three inmates attempting to escape from Alcatraz created fake human heads out of cardboard and human hair. They placed the heads on their pillows in their cells so it appeared as though they were sleeping.” ( NPS Alcatraz Island website)

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Christmas 1954 menu for prisoners via NPS Alcatraz Island website

Nowadays, the prison is empty. Wild birds make their homes on the island and they are free to fly away.

Snowy Egret of Alcatraz Island via National Park Service

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is “hair.” Information for this post was obtained from The US National Park Service Alcatraz Island website and Alcatraz History.com. Featured Image of ‘Snowy Egret with mating plumage’ via NPS Alcatraz Island website.