Plant Of The Month

Manzanitas of California

Manzanita is the common name for the genus Arctostaphylos. There are more than forty species of Arctostaphylos in California not to mention all the subspecies and hybrids. Species grow from two inches (some of the coastal species) to twenty feet (many interior species). Manzanitas are popular for their shiny red or mahogany colored bark. Manzanitas have urn-shaped flowers that vary from pink to white and are popular with hummingbirds. They are very drought tolerant and evergreen, always looking green and healthy even in the hottest, driest part of the summer. Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp) is of the family Ericaceae. Plants in this family are highly mycorrhizal (associated with symbiotic fungi). This allows them to survive in many harsh environments, however it also makes them very susceptible to over watering and fertilizing. They really do no like to be watered or fertilized. If grown correctly these plants, especially the larger forms, will grow for more than 100 years. Manzanitas are great wildlife plants. Providing nectar for butterflies, hummingbirds and native insects (they're cool!).

Manzanitas are now in bloom. (End of January & February) Look for them out on your hikes, or even in your savy gardener's neighbor's yard. They are always stunning with the beautiful flowers contrased against the showy bark.

Up to San Francisco

Dale and I flew up to San Francisco on Jan 19-21st. Peter Stalder picked us up from the Oakland Airport and we drove across the bay bridge to his place in the Castro. It was a beautiful weekend with sunny clear weather and not too chilly either. We went to dinner on Friday night at a nice restaurant in the Castro called "Catch". It was very good, we met my ex-Eric Jansen, as well as Will Fellows the Author of "Farm Boys" and his partner, as well as another couple friend of Eric's , Jerry on the gay historical society and his partner. We all had a great time and it was nice to see Will Fellows again as the last time I talked to him was when he did the book interviews, several years ago.

The main reason we went to SF was to see the play adaptation done a few years ago. It has played in New York, St. Paul, and now San Francisco. Following dinner there was a reception at the New Conservatory Theatre on Market Street. We went to that to meet the playwright, who also grew up on a small farm in Wisconsin. We then saw the play. It was amazing, and touched so many areas that I could relate to. I didn't expect the play adaptation to be so deep, and also I thought the characters were a very good composite of all the people in the book, and much of the writing was so very well done, with a lot of great "inside" perspective that was definitely ratable. After the show there was a short Q&A with the author, playwright, director and the entire cast. It was great and a great time to find out more details of the show! Well worth it! If you live in or get to SF please see this, you will enjoy. http://www.nctcsf.org/

Saturday morning Eric and I got up early for a nice run with the Frontrunners through golden Gate park. http://www.frontrunners.org/ The day was again beautiful and it was delightful to run through the green, lush, and wonderful Golden Gate Park to the ocean and back! After we had a nice homemade breakfast at Peter's place in the Castro, and then Eric took me to the radio station for a quick interview for the "Out in the Bay" radio show that he hosts. It was fun! The rest of the afternoon we took it easy, and Dale did some repairs around the house for Peter. I then met my friends David Bicha and David Mahr at the 440 in the Castro for Drinks. It was great to see them again and we decided to all go over to their place near twin peaks for dinner and more visiting and relaxing. It was a great evening, and we soon were tired out for the evening.

Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast and then Eric took us to the Airport to catch our flight back to Long Beach. It was a great visit and a good visit for all of us! We will have to get back again soon to San Francisco with great friends, and a great city, what more could you ask?

Visist from the Windy City

We enjoyed visitors from Chicago recently. Lance and Joe came into Long Beach to visit on Jan 6th-14th. We had a great time with them. Shopping, out to dinner. A couple of parties, one at my friend Will and Bob in Long Beach and one at Dale's friend Larry in Westwood. I introduced them to shopping on 2nd street in Belmont shore, and it was an instant hit with them. We all especially loved the Buffalo Exchange, left there with a pile of new clothes! It was fun for all of us. The weather was cooperative, in the 70's and sunny most days, a couple of days it was cooler and in the 60's, but still not bad on a Chicago standard for winter weather. Lance and Joe also took an overnight trip to Las Vegas where they stayed at the Bellagio hotel on the strip , they also spent one day at Universal Studios and Theme park in Universal City, http://themeparks.universalstudios.com/hollywood/website/
and also went out to the Ha Ha Cafe Comedy club one evening, http://www.hahacafe.com/index.swf and they enjoyed visiting the newly renovated and opened Griffith Park Observatory. http://www.griffithobs.org/ I enjoyed cooking for our guests and they had a great time, and said they went home very satisfied. It was great to see them again and enjoy a great visit!

Later the week they left my friend Jeff from Chicago also came into town. He was in town for business with his company and their offices in Eagle Rock. He stayed with us in Long Beach and we enjoyed visiting and having him over. It was only a couple of days, but it was very good to see him again and catch up with things. We also went out to dinner one night at La Parolaccia Osteria just around the corner from our place. http://www.la-parolaccia.com/ It is one of our favorite places to bring guests to eat!

The Known World, by Edward P. Jones

This book is of the pre-civil war era of a Westchester County in Virgina, and life among the free blacks and slaves that lived in this area. It is another world to say the least. The author puts you into this world and the mindset of the people of that era with a great deal of detail and thought of expression in this novel. It is shocking, it is outrageous, and most of all it is extremely insightful into a world that none of us alive have ever lived in before. The only drawbacks are the style of writing, that may be a bit choppy to follow at times, but it all works out in the end, and it would also be helpful to keep track of some of the characters as the book jumps back and forth a bit at times. All in all a very good read for anyone who wants to get out of their normal books they read and challenge themselves with a new frame of mind and thinking.