The Weeping Cherry House

Kale in March!

2011-03-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

It is incredible to live in a place where kale grows year-round, especially if you grew up in the high Sierra Nevada desert, like I did. My mom (in Reno) is still waiting for 12" of snow to melt; I'm gathering kale from our yard. And three types of kale, no less.

I should say that I'm still gathering kale from the yard, since it never died. One of our kale plants, the curly leaf kale in the back yard, is two years old. In the front yard, we have two Italian Laciano kale plants and three Red Russian kale plants, all of which are one year old. It is wonderful to have veggies that survive winters and keep going.

There are few feelings better than harvesting even a small portion of your sustenance from the earth around you.

2009-07-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

Psychiatrists and neurologists like tell us that if we can end fill our days with gratitude, we will find more and more to be grateful for. These days, I have plenty to be grateful for. Each morning brings around 20 blueberries and marrionberries for my picking pleasure. Birds are singing, and the kale is high. After baking a cherry pie earlier this week, I spent much of today gardening, enjoying the sunshine. I love working outside, especially when Billy is around too. Being creative with someone you love is magical, especially in a backyard like ours.

This video is from last night, and shows how Billy has moved at least a part of his art studio up from the basement and into the patio-garden area. This painting has already progressed quite a bit since this clip-- now, stripes of blue tape cover up what he wants to keep, and the major elements of the painting--I see a face, a fence, and a bird--are coming forward. I love living with an artist.

Can she make a cherry pie?

2009-07-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

You bet! Here's a pic of the cherry pie I made last night... some of the cherries were from the tree in our back yard. (We recently discovered that the cherries are not merely ornamental! What an exciting day that was.) The pie has a store-bought bottom crust and a home-made lattice top. There are amalynciar (spelling? Billy would know...) berries in the holes in top. Billy told me that the pioneers in these here parts used to eat those berries all the time.

What's In A Mantel?

2009-03-11T23:28:00.000-07:00

What with the cold, wet weather (Silly March, don't you know everything's just waiting to blossom?!) I've been spending a lot of time inside, padding around the house, taking care of plants and kitties and one special man. The fireplace mantle is a natural focal point for such wanderings. I wonder what our mantel says about us?

Look for:
--2 watercolors by Billy
--The philodendron that never stops giving. A friend gave this luscious plant to me when she left the states for good-- now she lives in London, directs a theater, and is about to get married in Italy. She got the posh and I got the plant.
--A cactus from Colorado with a new arm sprouting!
--A picture of Snapper looking like a gray lion.
--Billy's Heart Shaped Box.
--Valentine's Day Cards
--A book containing President Barack Obama's inauguration, Lincoln's speeches, and more.
--Billy's New Paintings!

The Cat views The Art

2009-02-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

I played in the garden in the intermittent sun today. Snapper seemed to like the Garden Sculptures I made.

To see pictures of The Art, visit FosterPowellPDX.com, the neighborhood blog, or the Flickr page.

New Growth & New Perspectives

2009-02-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Billy and I spent some time in the miraculous (for February!) sunshine. I began pruning the roses, and he turned some more lawn into gardening space. As I cleared away the sticks and leaves from the rose beds, I discovered delightful shoots reaching for the light. The new header is a sample of this new spring growth.

Snapper lead us on another adventure when she climbed into the house under construction across the way. I looked up from my work and saw her on the second story overhang's roof! She then climbed into the front window and refused to descend until we came and got her. (I think she hid her fear until Billy rescued her because she recognized what an artistic view she created-- an elegant gray Nebelung in a half-built house.) Of course, I brought the camera. Here's Billy in front of his house.

The New Neighbors

2009-02-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

The previous owners across the street from us subdivided their lot before selling. The people who bought what used to be a backyard are now putting up a three story house. Check it.

The Smooth Entertertainer: In Haiku

2008-12-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

What joy, to bring the
new entertainment center

in before the snow.

Most cats don't like snow
Their soft paws just can't take it.
No exception here:

Painting the Man Cave

2008-12-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Weeping Cherry House, our home improvement blog. We're Colleen and Billy, your hosts. Our house in Portland's Foster-Powell neighborhood is small. So is our budget. Yet we're h-e-double hocky sticks bent on creating a warm, welcoming little nest for ourselves and our adorable princess Nebelung cat, Sylvia Snapper. (By the way, Snapper, you owe some serious back rent.)

Our improvements to the house thus far are as follows:

(1) Painting Away the Nightmare. We fixed the horrible, spasm-inducing sponge paint job around the fireplace. We did not photograph a before pic of this, since it was making Snapper freak out, and we didn't want to share the Clockwork Orange-esque horror. Imagine merlot vomit. Sponge it on a wall. That's what this monstrosity looked like.

(2) Painting a New Dream. When we moved in, the walls were boooring. In fact, turns out that whomever flipped this house used machine paint for the trim. Bleck. We've begun painting in in the kitchen (butter yellow and spring green with cream accents), living room (classy cream and mahogony brown, craftsman style), and bedroom (light blue and machine cream).

(3) Tricking out the Man Cave. Billy, the man of the Weeping Cherry House applies his artistic sense to every project in his path-- including the painting of the Man Cave. Check it: