my home continued...

Hello Blog Friends
Sorry I have been away for so long.  Weddings are keeping me pretty busy, almost one every weekend!
A couple of you have asked for more pictures of my home so I thought I would show you my yard today.  I am astonished at how much it has grown since I took these shots about a month ago.  We have had sunny hot days and that combined with regular watering and fertilizing has made a jungle out there!
This is the view out my back door to the deck.

Going outside onto the deck.  Sometimes when I look out my window at the Sycamore trees that surround me I feel like I live in a tree house.  This old tree is right next to the railing with it's canopy of leaves creating a beautiful green ceiling over the deck.  It is lovely to gaze up through the leaves

 at the blue sky.

Some of my plants on the deck.

A wonderful old chicken coop.

Looking over the railing at the year round stream that flows past my house.  I can hear it gurgling while I lay in my bed at night.

Looking through the tree you can see the hill right next to me.  There is a herd of cows that graze there. I think they come right up to the other side of the stream as I hear them often mooing to each other.  Almost everyday I will see or hear from the wildlife around me.  There are cows, coyotes, owls, hawks. woodpeckers, crows, mountain lions, bob cats, snakes, lizards, horses, and LOTS of squirrels!  It is just wonderful living amongst nature!  This is also the view from my bedroom window...  

I am very blessed!

This is the bay window of my bedroom.  The deck is on my right and the stream and hill 

are behind me.

I will use live plants in many of my weddings.  After they have done their job I get to plant them in my garden, a lovely bonus!  This is a most beautiful large leaf Begonia.  All these plants are about 2 feet taller now!

There was a fountain in my yard which I incorporated into the plantings. I can't figure out how to get it to work so it is really more of a bird bath at the moment.   Everything has grown such that you can't see the bottom of the windows now.  There is a lovely Lemon Verbena that has the most gorgeous scent!  I planted all sorts of beautifully smelling goodies.  I have Jasmine, Roses, Sage, tons of Herbs. and lots of Lavender.

I didn't get the vegetable garden planted in time (you can tell my priorities... flowers before veggies) so I just mixed in a few with the flowers.  Here is my yellow squash plant which has given me way more 

than I can eat!

I set up many of my wedding props in the yard and house as I don't have much storage.  Here is one of my arbors for ceremonies and a beautiful day bed I use in outdoor lounges.

I bought myself an old fashioned porch swing like my Grandma used to have.  It took me forever to put it together.  The directions were hilarious, obviously translated (very badly!) from another language.  I pretty much had to figure it out on my own.  I only had a few parts left over : )  So far it has held up pretty well...

Some of my Herbs already getting big.  That's basil and mint growing on the bird house (or actually more of a squirrel house).

This is the gorgeous Lemon Verbena I mentioned earlier.  The hose spigot is just to the left of Ms Verbena so every time I turn the water off and on I brush against it and come away smelling wonderful! It's funny but it kind of reminds me of Lemon Pledge, a spray furniture wax that my mom would use.  I know that kind of sounds gross but it has such beautiful memories for me.

Another view of the back of my house.  This is the living room wall with the fireplace.  I also bought a  hammock chair that I hung from the huge old Avocado tree.  I sit in that as often as I can... 

it is just dreamy! 

Here's my mini orchard.  I planted peaches, plums, apples, plucots, and apricots.  I will also plant a fig tree so I will have all my favorite fruits.

The view looking back towards my deck.  You can also see the hammock...  are you sensing a theme yet?  Definitely need to relax more!

My girls... enjoying the new digs.  This is Munchkin.

And this is Cleo.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my garden.  I will come back in a week or so after my last wedding of the season.  I have lots of pictures to show you of weddings!  One is getting published in Bride magazine...  Yippee!

Blessings to everyone!

Tricia

This old ranch...

I wanted to share some pictures of the magical ranch I live on.  We feel like we live in a time warp here.  Once you pull onto the property life seems to slow down, it is wonderful!

There are delightfully aged abandoned buildings scattered about.



I would love to restore this before it is too far gone...  It was built around 1915 used to be a stable for horses.

The old wood is so beautiful.  No mater how hard folks try you just can't mimic the look of aged wood.

It has the most glorious rafters.

A tree has grown up right through the middle...  isn't that wonderful?  If I had the money I would make this building into the most amazing home...  and I would definitely keep the tree.

Or I guess I should say trees...



Here you can see the top of the trees, they are rather huge!

All of the buildings have such beautiful doors.





There is a paddock adjoining the building with another tree going out of the side...



Looking down the front of the building towards another paddock.  Those are the foreman's horses in the distance.



Another view of,  it is so magical especially in the setting sun.  Part of what is so lovely here is how peaceful everything is.  Just the sound of the ocean in the distance and the birds.  As the evening comes in the crickets start to sing.  Just beautiful!



My husband is doing some work nearby and we both feel like is it almost a sacrilege to start up the power tools.

However some "noise" suits the place wonderfully...

This is Tomas, our neighbor.

He has worked on the ranch for 30 plus years.

Can't you just hear the music for the "Milagro Bean field Wars" playing softly in the distance?

We even have old Amorante's pig living down at the end of the street...

If you haven't seen the movie I can't recommend it enough!  Directed by Robert Redford back in the 90's it is about a small magical New Mexico village and how they adjust with the modern era.  Absolutely delightful!



Gosh I love this little "Milagro" ranch...

Blessings!

A Magical "Green" Woodland Party...

OK all of my blog friends...  get ready for a mega-super long faerie packed post.

Remember a while back when I said I was working on a fund raiser for the Community Environmental Counsel that was to be a faerie themed event?  Well I finally got the pictures back...



I feel like a proud parent that is dying to show off pictures of her children...  all 100 pictures.  So consider yourself warned...

It was held in an outdoor large rotunda of the Fess Parker's Double Tree resort.  We filled this huge space with approximately 250 trees, 400 shrubs and divided it into two spaces, one for cocktails and the other for dinner and dancing.  You are looking at the diner area in the front with the stage on the left and the cocktail area to the back on the right, behind the curtain.

The theme was an enchanted woodland forest.  As they are a non-profit that consults on local environmental issues they wanted a green event.  Well as you can probably guess green means a bit more to me that the average person.



I wanted to remind people of our heritage, of the myths and legends that surround the forests.   Of a time when we were intrinsically tied to nature.  When our daily lives were so mixed with nature and it's folk lore that there was no dividing line.  Now because of the marvelous wonders of technology and science many of us live a life that is very removed from the rhythms of Mother Nature.  Our Earth is beautiful, and so magical.  To walk in the forrest or on the beach or any place where the magisty of Mother Nature is felt is to heal your heart, calm your mind, and remember your part in the big picture.  I get so frustrated at how political environmental issues have polarized us...  in large part because of the crazies on BOTH sides.  To me it is just good manners to care for this precious Earth.  My Mom taught me to not take more than I need and say please and thank you.  To strive to live a healthy earth friendly life is to do the same.   OK I am done preaching...  thank you for listening.  Anyway...



Some of the tables had wild fantastical trees complete with feathers, flowers, butterflies, bugs and hanging candles...





And some of the tables had low arrangements which were an eclectic mix of fun items like birdcages (with the doors tied open...  it is a thing I have against caging flying creatures) filled with butterflies (fake), lanterns, plants, garden statuary, cloches, funky old bottles with feathers, birds nests, and all manor of magical woodsy beauties.

Our Faerie court...

(click on the picture for a larger size)

We had a Faerie Birch Queen who rode in on a Unicorn and would you believe it...  I do not have one picture!!!!!  Maybe it is the magical nature of the Unicorn that does not allow for photos...  However here is our lovely Queen

She sat on her Birch throne up above the rotunda and with her ladies in waiting reigned over her forrest that evening.

Along with the Queen we had Satyrs.  Does this picture make you giggle or what?...

There were lots of beautiful details...

And some just fun silly details...

Kenny Loggins played for us...

The deserts were adorable...

I think everyone had a fun time and came away thinking more about our beautiful Earth.  Even though a party of this size does have an impact on Nature no matter how you slice it.  Everyone did their best to keep it to a minimum.  The trees and statuary were loaned to us from three wonderful people...  , Katie Oriely Rogers Landscape Architect, Eye of the Day Garden statuary and Cal Western Landscape.  Everything went on to their respective permanent homes in peoples yards.  These people were brought in by the Event Coordinator Merryl Brown. She is wonderful at connecting all the right people together.  This event would not have been possible without the trees plants and statuary.  Imaging a forrest without trees!  She kept the big picture in mind and got anything that I might need... usually donated!  Most of her events have a huge on being green.  The food was locally organically grown, the decor (me) was mostly plants and props (which I use over and over) with a few locally grown flowers.  The costumes I made were mostly of recycled items from thrift stores.  The party supplies such as dishes, tables, chairs, etc were all rented and used again.  Fewer dishes were used (such as no bread plates and limited amounts of glass wear) so the water usage in clean up was reduced.  And I composted the remains of the flowers on the ranch that my husband and I live on.  Not too bad for such a decadent party!  Hope you enjoyed all of it!!