This spring a family of Mockingbird made a nest right in the apricot tree. I’ve never seen a bird’s nest so close to our house before. Within a month the baby birds were big enough to fly off on their own.

Except they couldn’t fly on their own just yet. The two baby birds ended up on the lawn and was attempting to fly off. Since we have cats around, I didn’t put the babies back in the nest because they would have fell from it again. So I ended up putting them in a narrow box and hung it from a bigger tree.

The parent were able to locate their chicks with the chirping and was able to fly to the box and deliver food. Once the babies were big enough, which was within a few days, they all took off flying. Too bad I didn’t get the chance to photograph the baby birds, but they were very cute! Baby mockingbirds look like sparrows but have the long tails.

Northern mockingbird. Photo from Wikipedia by Ryan Hagerty. As nice as they look, they are one of the noisiest birds around.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago. Once the weather heats up, the fruits also begin to ripen. And June is the best time for apricot picking. Not just by me, but by the birds too.

June is almost here and I found my Peanut Cactus in bloom. This photo is from the first year of growing the cactus. It must have gotten it’s name from the peanut like stems.

As it grew out, the stems starting to stretch out. So for the longest time I thought it was named “Rat Tail Cactus”. But from looking at the bloom, it’s very much a hybrid type of peanut cactus. The blooms usually last a few days and start to wither off. For the next few weeks they will be flowering in succession.

In some ways the flower reminds me of the mini Orchid cactus (epiphyllum).

Most of the year it’s just a container full of scary spiky cactus. But when it starts to bloom, the color of the flower is spectacular.

Another interesting thing about this cactus is how easy it is to grow and propagate. I barely touched one of the stems and they fall off and start growing new stems. And of course it doesn’t need much watering.

Medinilla magnifica is possibly one of the most unique flower to come from the tropics. It is commonly known as Rose Grape for their pretty pink fruits that look like tiny grapes. It has thick glossy evergreen leaves and showy pink flowers.

Photo from Medinilla Magnifica

These plants are natives of tropical southern Asia, western Africa and the Pacific islands. So this means they prefer hot and humid climates.

It looks like this flower is starting to gain popularity as the most elegant and exotic house plant around. It has amazing flowers that bloom several times a year. Similar to orchids, the flowering period can last from 3 to 6 months.

I actually saw this Medinilla at the SF Conservatory of Flowers. Although there weren’t any showy pink leaves, there were plenty of pink grape like fruits.

We have several aloe vera plants in the garden, most are in containers. There are the plain green ones, some are spotted and one has variegated leaves.

We’ve probably had this Aloe Vera plant for 5 years. And this spring it started to blossom. I’m not sure when it will open up completely. So far I’ve seen succulent flowers come in shades of pink or yellow.

Notice the spiders have started to make the flowers their new home. I don’t mind spiders as much, as long as they keep out bad insects in the garden.

It’s a good idea to keep Aloe Vera around because of it’s medicinal value. What I like most is that it’s mostly low maintenance, so no green thumbs necessary. And of course it comes in handy for minor cuts and burns.

Been feeling mentally drained these past few days and weeks. Found this heartfelt quote…

“Wherever I am in the world, all I need is the smell of eucalyptus to recover that lost world of Adrogué*, which today no doubt exists only in my memory.”
– Jorge Luis Borges

In my lost world of Adrogué, instead of the smell of eucalyptus, it would be the scent of wild honeysuckle in a summer night’s breeze.

I like this photo where it looks like the sun will always come out, especially after the rain. Photo by PhotoDictionary.

* Adrogué is a city in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. At slightly more than 30,000 inhabitants, it has numerous cobbled streets, lush trees and several town squares.

The Rocket, a movie set in modern day Laos is directed by Kim Mordaunt. Mordaunt also made the 2007 documentary , which is about the unexploded cluster bombs still left in Laos.

The movie has only been shown at select film festivals around the world. And winning a few awards too. It recently won Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film’s young leading actor, Sitthiphon Disamoe, received Best Actor honors for his role as Ahlo.

The producer of The Rocket, Sylvia Wilczynski adds that “The film deals with topical themes such as a family who are displaced from their home by a hydro-electric dam development, and impoverished kids who collect those bombs.”

The Sydney Film School gives a good summary of the story:

“The Rocket is about a boy who is believed to bring bad luck to everyone around him, who leads his dysfunctional family and a couple of ragged misfits through Laos to find a new home. After a calamity-filled journey through a land scarred by the legacy of war, to prove he’s not cursed he builds a giant rocket to enter the most lucrative but dangerous competition of the year: the Rocket Festival.”

The film was shot in Laos and Thailand and features local village people as extras. Thai casting director Tanawat Punya auditioned children in schools, markets, temples, drama and youth groups and on the streets to play Ahlo. They casted 10 year-old Sitthiphon (“Ki”) Disamoe who lived rough on the streets until he was adopted. They then cast 8 year-old Loungnam Kaosainam, who plays his friend Kia. Loungnam was born and grew up in Vientiane and is involved in a local drama group. Ahlo’s mom is played by Australian Lao actress Alice Keohavong.

I look forward to watching this movie when it gets released in the U.S.

We went to visit Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden a few weeks back. It was still too early to see all the tulips in full bloom.

The tulip garden was named in honor of the once queen of the Netherlands. For the Dutch, tulips became a symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Nice pastel tulip color.

Pink Icelandic poppies.

A view of Golden Gate bridge. It’s to be noted that Golden Gate bridge will no longer have real people collecting toll now. It’s going to be all-electronic tolling by end of March. Drivers who don’t have FasTrak can pay a one-time fee at a kiosk before or after the toll plaza. Or they can pay by mail after a camera photographs the license plate and sends a bill to the registered address.

And here is more info about Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden as noted by S.F. Parks & Rec:

“The Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, planted just below the Dutch Windmill, features thousands of tulips interspersed with Icelandic poppies, which burst into glorious flower in March and April.”

Address:
John F Kennedy Dr & Great Hwy , S.F., CA

Last spring I grew a few herbal sage seeds right into the ground. I also grew one in a small container. It turns out the potted sage did much better. I didn’t realize this plant would make it pass our freezing nights. The pot must have kept the soil warm and thriving.

Once in a while I’ll use the leaves in soup or make tea with them. But just recently I was reading about smudging and found out about how sage is used for spiritual cleanings.

It’s believe since the ancient time that burning sage helps to chase out bad spirits or energies from a home or person. They are refer to as “Smudging ceremonies” and one does it when moving into a new home or space.

Mother Earth Living notes, “white sage’s healing powers have been traced through time and have impacted many different cultures, including the ancient Babylonians, ancient Greeks, the Chinese and a host of Native North and South American tribes who used white sage in their healing and prayer rituals.”

The process involves placing the bundled dried sage into a ceramic dish then light it for a few seconds until billows of smoke come up. Be sure to stop the flame as you only want the sage scented smoke (much like burning incense).

The ceremony uses White Sage but garden sage can also be used as a substitute. White Sage has white to silver looking narrow leaves and are seen growing in the mountains and deserts of California.

Cute artwork from American Greeting Card Company 2013

I love olives, especially those giant olives with the pimiento peppers stuffed in the middle. And I love olive oils, it’s great for salads and soap making. So when I came across this olive tree at the shopping center parking lot I had to take a closer look.

These purple olives were very bitter! They are inedible fresh, either green or ripe. And must be cured (just like soap) to become the tasty little fruits we all love. I found a post on how to cure ripe olives over at “Mama’s Tavern“.

“Put fresh, ripe olives in a pillowcase with an equal weight of salt. Hang outside. Shake up every day or two. When edible, rinse and pack in oil. It’s as easy as that.” - Mama’s Tavern

The instructions are very easy to follow. Of course I haven’t wanted to attempt this as I would need to collect tons of tiny ripe olives to make it worth it!

This is what happens when you squeeze them. I had to tip toe my way towards the tree (so not to dirty my shoes) to get a closer look. The fruits were so ripe they would fall off the branches just by touching them.

Many parts of California have olive trees literally growing almost everywhere. From sides of the road and along public streets. They are refer to as “Mission Olives”,probably left behind by the Spanish missionaries. Even in my childhood I remember climbing an olive tree for fun. The tree wasn’t too big and it had lots of twisting branches. The boys would use the green olives as ammunition. And when I briefly lived in southern California, there was an apartment building named “The Olive Pit” and there were dozens of olive trees all around.