A Garden Grows in California

27 Jul '08 7:03 am

Now that is what I call a REAL holiday-absolutely perfick!
I just had to take a close scrutiny of the last photo of your cabin (bach)
Is that a TREE growing up through the deck ???
and pardon my ignorance,but where/what is NP ?
Dixie.

27 Jul '08 9:01 am

It was wonderful and completely the brain child of my youngest brother, Terry who planned everything. We're planning to make this a standard summer happening from now on.

Sorry about the mysterious "NP". That stands for National Park. Yosemite N.P. is on the Eastern side of California and a bit further South than the San Francisco bay area, about 4 hours away. Yosemite is famous for its glacier ground valley with sheer granite cliffs extending about a vertical mile which are popular with rock climbers from all over the world, as well as for having several of the World's tallest waterfalls.

I haven't spent as much time on the Southern end of Yosemite and didn't realize how wonderful the waterholes are there. This is also where some of the largest giant Sequoia trees can be found. When Lia was freshly out of college and an aspiring ski bum she worked at the Wawona hotel as a maid in the summer so she could save money for college and rock climb. The Wawona hotel is just a mile from our cabin as the crow flies and when Lia worked there most of the other maids were local indians who lived in the area where our cabin was located. She told me about hike some twenty or thirty miles in one day from the valley floor back to the hotel in just a pair of old tennis shoes. Can you still remember having that kind of energy? Boy did a few years ever sneak up around us or what?

You're right about the tree through the deck, and they cut the deck in around it pretty close too.

27 Jul '08 9:23 am

thanks for the explanation,Mark.I actually tried to find it in my atlas,and wondered if it was New Point or North something .
And I wondered if Yosemite was a spread that you put on your morning toast---In NZ we have Marmite,and in Australia they have Vegemite ("we're happy little Vegemites -tra-la")so perhaps in the US they have Yosemites.(Moosey-you'll like that idea)
Whatever--a really lovely place,and a happy time for you and your family.

27 Jul '08 10:07 am

I love that Dixie - pity it's not pronounced that way (YO-sem-it-tee). I visited Yosemite many years ago and loved every minute of it. It was winter and the cabins were gorgeous with lots of deer, coyotes, and naughty racoons. There was the odd bear or two as well - all very exciting for an animal nutter like me! I loved ice skating on the frozen lakes.

It looks just as lovely in the summer. One day I may get to return there. Smile

28 Jul '08 7:33 am

Oh Mark, what a nice relaxing way to recoup from your absolutely fantastic English Gardens tour. I have never visited Yosemite, but may have to find time to do so now. Since my daughter now lives in LA, maybe we could plan a vacation and take her along. Thanks for sharing your pics. Plus giving us a nice look at the handsome guy behind all those pictures you post. We've seen Lia a number of times, but I don't remember seeing too many shots including you.

28 Jul '08 4:30 pm

Hi, Mark - I echo the other comments, especially the one about seeing a face behind the posts! Somehow, it all seems more meaningful when you can picture the person who writes them!

I haven't been posting much lately (I'm even missing my garden as it moves into late summer mode) because I've been so busy going through my stuff and deciding what is to be thrown out, recycled, given away, etc. prior to the soon-to-be real estate agents' tour. Boy, I knew I was a packrat, but I didn't know HOW much of a packrat I really am!! I even found preserves that I made in 1987!!!

Cheers!

gordonf

28 Jul '08 6:28 pm

The good thing about being the one who usually uses the camera is that you don't have to pose for a lot of photos. I have a hard time not looking miserable when I know I'm getting my photo taken. I think the water felt so good that I didn't mind the camera as much. I usually come off better if I don't know the camera is pointed my way.

The last garden we visited was one I discovered on flickr which its makers call the Four Season Garden. Marie has also posted photos at the Walled Garden site that Mike aka Muddywellies runs. Tony and Marie won the overall garden of the year prize which is awarded yearly by a London News Paper. They've been making this garden for twenty-five to thirty years now. They work every weekend in the garden and really look forward to it. I mention this one again because Tony took a shot of us having tea in the gazebo and talking to Marie which was not posed.

The Four Season Garden is just North of Birmingham in Walsall, England. I should probably post a couple of the garden too. They offered to serve us some refreshments and I suggested tea. When I got there there was more food laid out in the kitchen than we're used to seeing even at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. At first I thought they had another event lined up after us, but no, that was to be our meal and served on trays on a covered terrace overlooking the garden. They gave us a real surprise! There were three kinds of meat, gravy, yorkshire pudding, a huge bowl of at least five kinds of cooked green vegetables, a couple kinds of potato mash ... and then there was dessert! Of that I have a photo or two. Oh, the reason we're all in jackets is that it rained quite a bit that day. If the sun had been better I would easily have shot a couple hundred photos here. Ah what the heck, I'll post some photos of this incredible garden now on this thread rather than the gardens visited forum. Enjoy, but don't try looking at the photos of dessert on an empty stomach! (Oh and the first three photos were sent to us from Tony who took them.)

29 Jul '08 12:23 am

I am really envious of all your wonderful garden adventures. What a beautiful garden! I loved the view down onto the lower terrace with its shrub borders. I immediately began to wonder if I could do a modified version below my back deck. Of course, it would never look this impressive because I have very limited space in this area. Maybe if I used dwarf varieties?

The spread they prepared was quite impressive as well. Of course, to us yanks "tea" means a cup of hot tea with a few sweets on the side. To a Brit, "tea" is a full meal. Now you have made two more international friends. Isn't it a small world?

29 Jul '08 2:30 am

You're sure right about our different perceptions of what comes with tea. I was so glad we hadn't eaten a lot that day.

Before we left for England, when I was arranging a day and a time to come over, they had written that anytime on the weekend would work. These two are out in the garden Saturday and Sunday every weekend! They both work fulltime hours during the week too. What energy! Pretty unusual, I think, to find a couple that are equally into it. Their lot was definitely larger than my quarter acre, something like a third of an acre. This connector will take you to a siteplan they've uploaded at their flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fourseasonsgarden/2618301506/

29 Jul '08 7:41 am

What wonderful stories you are bringing us,Mark ! Your photos of the gardens bring close-ups that were not noticed in the bigger pictures,and i have enjoyed so much viewing them.
funny how words have different meanings--my Canadian friends visiting called our evening dinner'supper',and to us,supper is a light snack and drink we have before bedtime,or after an evening meeting of an organisation.
They laughed and laughed when I dashed out for something and said I would only be a 'tick',meaning a moment in time,and they said a 'tick was a baaaaad boog(bug)
Dixie.

A Garden Grows in California

Dream holiday

Hi Dixie,

thanks

Yosemite spread - Yum!

Relaxing vacations

You are very kind.

What a nice garden party.

Hi Faith

great stories