Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 33

Spring Comes

 Spring comes.
Forsythia buried under five feet of snow
but Whole Foods sells peonies I know
Sleep on linens washed in lavender water




















Ordered galvanized beds?
Combed the seed catalogs?

Spring comes

ready or not

Renews all things.

Sprouts despite rust.

Builds nests from sweaters.


Spring comes!

Prepare your heart:

she'll send dandelions

up in shining glory

gold as fresh honey.


Spring delivers

amazing opportunities for you-

opposite of giving up for Lent,

fingers will create

and hearts share joy.


C G
2/19/2015
























I'm thinking about gardening.

In California there are no mounds of snow that
crocus seem to melt away. Spring starts
with flycatchers coming back to the creek,
with mourning doves nesting again in my
gazebo and the return of monarch butterflies
to milkweed on the hillside.
I pray for your heart to warm up, may all
your worries be put under your pillow like
those tiny dolls that can eat up the stress.
I keep you in my prayers and heart
for health and what you need.

If anyone wants seeds - email me
I'll mail them snail mail just don't tell
Monsanto. Not that GMO's read poetry.

Flood

Blue and white dishes that were in the secretaryLife's messy.Tragedy with daughter lead into Christmas SeasonI forgot to put the twenty pound weights on the bottomof the Christmas tree.I had more than 1032 antique and pre- WWI ornaments.Had~ the operative wordTree spilled over on the front face of the best glassSome survived the spill.
The beginning of my holiday.After getting the Noble Fir back upright, it took metwo additional days to re-trim."No harm," I kept chanting-After finishing I went to bed early.Around two in the morning a hissing sound woke me.Carson was gone skiing and Blair in Colorado.Perhaps it was only the wind.Honey (our elderly Golden Retriever)  started howling - this of course engaged the pack coyotesin the canyon.There was no moon.I went downstairs with a baseball bat.A slugger wasn't the proper tool.First step down, icy wet-The whole downstairs was filled with an inch of water.I ran out front in a white gauzy nightgown to turn the main off.Then my flood cleanup began...I'm writing a book about drought and the ironymade me keep on track from crying.Why waste the liquid?Without running water I hosted family Christmas dinner.I gave a toast about persevering.Dinner was grand.A flood is not going to get me down.I'm a good swimmer.How was your holiday?

Free Christmas Decorations

pine cones with metallic gold spray





















Part one of three home made free Christmas decorations.Use what is local, ask permission from neighbors to trim their trees, have fun.
Foraging for Free Christmas Gifts and Ornaments.I found these small pine cones on the side of the road in Laguna Canyon.I sprayed one side with metallic gold. Another half I am going to spray silver. These I just want a little shine. The branches are quite lovely
For the wreaths I cut Frazier Fir, blue spruce, cedar, magnolia, rosemary and herbs from my gardenTools needed: garden clippers, wire, hangers, maybe gloves if you like and wire pinchers and cutters. For each wreath I used to coat hangers and casually wired them together in two places. The bunches of greenery are wired in a circular pattern  

Grateful For Glow of Love

Chat about the day.
You wait on me, dinner from La Serena grill.
Relaxation.
A movie together smolders into shared passion.
The sounds of traffic blur by the call of the surf.
Ocean dances rhythmically under the grateful firmament.
She gives Christmas lights, before the holiday, all free.
It is Fall.
Sweet gum leaves dry to take flight
only to be spilled crunchy into the fire.
We bake an atmosphere of crimson cinnamon.

I return home to an existence of frightening darkness. You have an early morning. I make my getaway on the spine of leaves or I will fail and stay within your rose colored bed.


Outside, the moon opens a bowl low waiting for the cereal of stars to fill her up. Dipper shines low in the northern horizon. Polaris finds her way over the glimmer of ocean. 


My car rear lights require new bulbs. 
Santa Ana winds whistle offshore. They paint the sunset dusty scarlet, make the night sky open deeper. Heaven grants seer ability to pierce through minds.


Grateful for the glow of love.
Happy Thanksgiving 
Caroline Gerardo Paintings on left are Van Gogh Autumn Trees
The crescent moon was out over Laguna Beach last night
I wish you all a moment of reflection for the simple
gifts we are given.
Love,
C G

Pumpkin into a Carriage

Pumpkin spirit


You have the courage, magic, ability to change the pumpkin into a carriage.Return to writing, exercise, work and savor beauty to create.
pumpkin lady

Jonah

Jonah
















Whale released her from entrails
Ebola spreads on sheet sails
 
Behavioral Health misnomer,
a lie, do not admit your butterfly
into a belly of rotten flies.

Climb, swim, work ahead to change
There's no modern science for the brain.
Trust no pharma reducing mental pain.

So we will paint over
rework the canvas
Jonah resurrected

Come out turtle from your shell
Reject the call of hell



turtle dancing with koi
turtle in my koi pond












turtle planter
turtle and water plants
I'm dealing with dark issues. If I wrote memoir it might be horror. I pray your days are easier. Painting top is Albert Pinkham Ryder title Johah resurrected. 

Jam Recipe

The nights cool.
Bad dog ate a winter melon on Saturday.
The melon was larger than her four pound body.
I brought the last one to my sister - my nephews
ate it in their driveway without a napkin.
Juice running down their arms
Alex says, "I've never had one."
Every year I give them a few.
I hadn't planned on sharing with the dogs.

The last sunflowers
Gave to a friend diagnosed with cancer.
She asked me to talk about the
pros and cons of pursuing aggressive treatment.
The Japanese have an intense chemo and radiation that
either the treatment kills you or you recover.
Transfusions, lethargy, days by the toilet bowl are things
I never discussed before.
Surprised how open I could be.

The French plums
Mosquito netting over trees
Unattractive but effective - or
songbirds steal my crops.
I make balls of peanut butter and millet,
fill the feeders with black niger
and elaborate tricks to keep the mice away.
Funny there is barely enough to make jam.
I'll share the recipe with you below.




winter melon from the garden
French plums, perhaps they are Italian the first seed came from NONI
































Wash then Cut in half and toss pits 12 lb of ripe plums
4 cups sugar
box pectin
tablespoon almond extract
8 pint jars - sterilized ( boil for 5 minutes jar and lid)

Put plum and sugar in large pot medium heat.
Allow to slow bubble for ten minutes.
Don't let it roll boil- stir to keep from getting a scummy top of bubbles.
Don't let it stick to bottom.
Use a pot with a thicker bottom.
Allow to cool
You are going to cook four times.
This may require a glass of wine and music
The last cooking add the almond extract.
Examine how thick the mixture is.
If it is dense as toothpaste you may not need the pectin.
There is natural pectin in the fruit -
all depends on the scientific qualities
of your soil, sun and water.
I'm an organic gardener.
I suggest you add half the box of sure jell
for the last bubbling to be certain the jam sets correctly.
Read about sterilization and keeping the jars and lids free of any bacterium or
molds.
(The complete jars can be placed back into near boiling water to super
seal them BUT sometimes they break and there you have claret colored glass
shards and sticky explosion...)
Label the jars and share the rich taste of homemade jam.

You can strain the skins with a colander on the second cook, (sounds
like Walter White lol)
but I prefer to leave them in. By the time you heat the plums the
fourth time the skins are tiny flecks of burgundy.

Indian Summer

Writer's deskA clean deskis no good omen.Give me piles of notesmemos about preventing ants
Red sunrise Vane points hurricaneBarometric pressure between send in the fifty third Squadron
Hot Autumn nights Cautantowit caught off guardSmoky destruction aheadspells the fortune cookie.

Orange Red  Sunrise photo by Caroline Gerardo
Indian Summer by Jozef Clemonski 1875Notes:Yes I know it is so not politically correct to even say "Indian Summer." I'm part native and find nooffense in sports teams using the image. Lawsuits in general only benefit attorneys. Kautantowwit or Cautantowit is the Algonquin god from the southwest... 
Temperature here climbed back up. I long for cool evening walks. I can't wait to wear wool. My sweet gum is already turning, she is confused. When can I set a Fall hearth? Is it dry and hot where you live?  

Grave in The Rose Garden

Another Grave in the GardenHurricane failed to rain?Leaving passion's steamy heatwhisper then whistle under the coverslike a smoke detector battery gone bad.Broken on my doorstep there's a symbol on the knocker: welcome hearts lost in darkness.If I patch your wings, if  I calm your despair,give me pardon.Your songs bereft and sad,make healing grow.Remember moments when the windwhips up the canyon lifting chamomile seedsshe's making tea to ease your pain.Tonight begin a life under the rose garden.The sun blazes down across the sea.You came home to me. Photo of tiny bird on my doorstep this morning.Flycatcher Fidalgo he was a character in my currentnovel in progress. Unknown what happened to him. I have a southwestern willow flycatcher pair thatlives in the canyon below me and nests near my fountains. They are endangered and don't belong here. I wish I knew the cause of death...This guy is buried under this porcelain plate below therose cultivar climber Blair Annabella, my patent 1992 named after daughter.The rose is hearty. Flowers start pink then the petals blush to cream before they fall.Hurricane Odile hasn't brought a drop of rain here. Are you living somewhere with drought? Let me know how you deal with it.

Thousand Steps Beach

Surf waves at thousand steps beach


Sharing my morning walk. Come rest your toes. We just climbed thousand steps beach stairs three times.