Garage Sale finds : stamps

Got the handful for a dollar.  Nothing beats old wooden handled stamps.  What should we announce at dinner?

Pittosporum done wrong

Don't get me wrong, I love a good topiary.  Sometimes all I want to see are some beautifully pruned boxwood hedges.  And sometimes plants clipped this tight can create an energetic Dr. Seuss effect.  (One of my dreams is to create a Dr. Seuss inspired garden.) I don't think that is the intention here, or in most yards I pass that have poor plants being shaped into mangy blobs.

This plant is meant to branch out freely.  As my new friend pointed out, pittosporum has such a lacy texture to it.  When clipped, you can't see this lovely effect.

Right across the street from the yard pictured above is another yard, with the same plant.  As you can see in the pictures below, its graceful form is allowed to grow.  

Lila has discovered catmint.  It was love at first sniff.

Birds of LA

Made a friend today at the park in Santa Monica.  She comes out most days to take some air.

Bug Brooches

When I was a kid in New Orleans, cicada season brought with it lots of natural bug brooches in the form of discarded cicada shells.  Some girls thought they were gross, but I wore them proudly.  

In the same vein, I'd wear any of these brooches proudly.

All from ebay: (six legged?) spider, cricket, aquamarine spider, amber cicada.

Dispatch from the estate : morning

The orange light is sifting through the trees, the cats are playful, and the parakeet on the porch next door is chirping quietly.  My bike awaits, and I'm off to another day of work.

Been seeing these guys everywhere!  Reminds me of that story of the lucky cricket on the hearth. 

I know, watches and katydids don't necessarily go together.  Except, in my world, they do.