
Author: Hashi
resprout

We spent the afternoon on our burned-out lot, and I did an assessment of the many trees we’d planted, to see what was worth salvaging. The fruit trees are sprouting from their root stock, which means the graft is dead and who knows what kind of fruit we’ll get from them. The leaves on the mulberry suckers look remarkably like fig leaves, and a little research tells me that yes, mulberries can be grafted onto fig rootstock, so that’s what I’m seeing. Invasives are taking over. The usual suspects like mustard and spurge are thick on the hill, but trees and shrubs too—there are now acacias sprouting in the cracks around the pool.
The hours spent looking closely at the changes grieved me in a way that my previous visits have not. So many days and years of labour on that land, undone.
nature miscellanea

Instead of hiking on Friday, Kim and I decided to do our own nature journaling while chatting on Zoom—a private version of “Pencil Miles and Chill” (thanks Yvea, for that name and concept). These are all items in my nature bowl, collected in the neighbourhood.
cooking up some goodness
before Amy

I went back to Malibu to hear Amy Tan talk about The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Before the event, I took myself out to dinner. Instead of ordering the cheapest glass of wine on the menu, I spent the extra $3 and got the most expensive. Self-care 😊.
itty-bitty
blind man

This large bronze statue in the garden at Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts is based on an illustration Beatrice created in 1917—“an insolent, high-stepping stick figure thumbing its nose at the world”—for the cover of the Dadaist magazine, The Blind Man. It was also used on the advertising poster for the Blindman’s Ball that same year. I haven’t been able to find the name of the sculptor; he or she is referred to in several places as “a different artist.”
old time fiddlers

I’ve been wanting to visit the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts for a long time. A rainy day free concert was the impetus to finally go.




