Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 5

Spring garden

 I feels like spring in the garden

I'm dreaming of all the ways I can bring my flowers outside and to my new balcony. I hope some of these images will inspire you to plant in different types of pots. Use a log, use recycled objects, hunt for some free containers and have fun.

Jellyfish

 Storm clouds roll over the ocean, calls to greet them.

The washed up jellyfish dying away from the bloom.

With no heart, no brain, what's the reason to survive?

After a stroke humans revert to their base brain reset.

When I'm mindless I'll refuse to be mean as mother,

I'll swim out with the umbrellas, embracing tentacles.

Dance in the veils of seaweed and tide, evolving,

diving and flying to the sun, touching sunset and back.

Caroline Gerardo ©

Aspen

no switch gas burner in a basementsteam engine fires up ancient geyser hot springs  sulfur pots with rusted algae.Newsprint crumples, opens, thin dead branches that once held deciduous leaves of ash,but mine have the cancer from burning the spores fly into stars, embeding themselves into beetles brown disease that plague forestWhere's the girl scout fire buildinglighter fluid chemical cancer?Tolene   encaustic paintermixed dry pigments lead poison is a bitch
I slept in a loft on Industrial Street above  railroad ties where men huddled in blue plastic condos.When they die of cold exposure, lost dollars they gathered begging on freeway off ramps on Popov vodka and crank.
Mayor plans to build forty houses at four hundred thousand per unit.Reporters herald the plan.What of the other eleven thousand on the street?Luxury construction costs,  I do for a living. Why does no one question the price? 
Crescent moon cup waits for rainshe's the yin to the mountain below he turns the other wayI'm afraid to go out the bolteddoor at nighteven if I'm out of firewoodplan ahead or use down comforterslayer many over in case when bad guyscome they cannot shoot through thepadding
Aspen trees are a grove of one connected like railroad ties.

Caroline Gerardo ©  Aspen Poem

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Spring 2021

 

Spring Almond Buds

 

Almond Poem

Buds sprout on his staff ~

peace blossoms bear sweet almonds ~

bees circle the core.

 

Asking spring to fill me up

,

putting the past in a box,

not to forget.

Painted the box with datura,

foxglove, and wisteria petals,

abstract mineral pigments

to not forget.

Turn on the music loud,

wear dancing shoes, and

welcome rain uncovered.

 

Daylight stays longer.

Sun eases joints

and makes me dare to

climb again, run again, and

sing again.

Cherry flavors of the cake

I baked hum here in the field.

 

I’m passing it along for you to grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Low Water succulent ideas

 

Balcony Garden Plans

Warm weather and my move to tiny digs has me planningwith new seed catalogues at night and creative ideasfor a balcony garden as I no longer have 400 acres.Finding myself with dreams that need vertical structures,hangers from ceilings and methods to water overhead.
Flowers, herbs, and a vegetable treasures in the drawings. The hanging moss pots from the ranch didn't travel well, asthe Bond Fire worried me about a second evacuation I movedimmediately. They got bumped up. I hesitate to repeat purchaseones at the garden supply. 
In my bedroom sunny window a hundred seedlings popped up to reach for the light, making me happy. I'm painting at night, volunteered this weekend, took careof my Mom, talked with friends on the phone and no TV news.I'm sharing these photographs of potted flowers to sprinkle thejoy of expecting spring. Even in Southern California we havecooler nights where seedlings can be bruised if out on myupstairs balcony. Are you eligible to get an appointment for the vaccine?Call me if you need help.Much love and health to you.Miss you.

Proteas from the ranch, will miss them
I know you wouldn't pot hot pink cyclamen with spider plant would you?



not sure these moss baskets will make the test of time


Raingutter succulents hung from above



Two different geraniums, freesia, gerber daisies
Red cyclamen, penny red pansy, red begonia


 

Weighted Glass Haiku

Sand becomes ice glass ~ angry heat fires up the massminutes left to burn.

A haiku in the pandemic 


 

Tacoma Camper Adventure

Tacoma Great Adventure How to Make a pick up into a sleeper bedHow to buy a truck story

Daughter is gone to sell Christmas trees in New York City.

There is a point when a parent no longer is in control. That sentence may not make sense to you during a pandemic. It's making me sad.

She's a photographer with a variety of frailties that make this a point of worry.

I said, "I believe this to be an awful plan and that you won't make the money you believe to be easy windfall."

She wrote a plan to sell the Jeep which had less than sixty thousand miles but the bed is too short for camping and had become expensive to maintain the six inch lifted suspension. She didn't want a giant truck. She didn't want a four door truck. She wanted a smaller pickup which would be easier to park but also could accomodate a sleeping bed and room for camera equipment. This came to older Japanese, Toyota Tacoma being the winner on the yellow pad list.

I attempted to sell the Jeep while she was in Cambodia. I took photographs and listed it on Craigs List, Facebook and a car waste of time site. I paid $23,500 for it and had added about $9000 of improvements- back gate, lifted, custom windows, wench, all kinds of off road tools as we live on a ranch off grid. I started with $17,000. which after three weeks, no bites. It must be price. I lowered to $16,000 and got a number of offers for $11,000 which sounds easy in a sentence but since I live fourteen miles from town and half of that is a dirt road, it's not so simple to meet people to test drive. This game played for a month. A lady who could not climb up in her high heels and was afraid to drive the Jeep had been my closest to selling. 

Work demands and life got in my way, so I stopped paying the five dollars for the thirty day add, and resigned to making for sale signs for the vehicle. The signs did nothing, again because my location is remote. Meanwhile daughter was trying to get home from South East Asia. The President announced the border was closed to China, this was never true. Daughter flew back from China to Hawaii in June 2020. She believed Hawaii was safer than California, in fact Taiwan or Cambodia handled the virus better than  here in the US. When she finally came back to California she was ready to sell the Jeep to move back east. We under- estimated the time to sell and buy. 

My brother in law gave us some tips and tricks to selling a car online. He took more photographs of details. He told us to also list and daily make some change to the listing to get it up to the top of the que. He had us scrub and polish every inch of the happy red off road beauty with 59118 miles. I started thinking she should keep the Jeep as I had taken excellent perfect care of her, yes Veep is her name. Daughter was still laser vision on a truck to camp in and now the boyfriend back east had her dreaming of making big dough in New York City at Christmas.

After 11 people test drove our buyer came to us.

"The lucky disciple." I said to my daughter on the phone.

He once owned same model same candy red color Jeep. He arrived on time on a Saturday with his High School buddy who adventured with him. I knew that Veep had her new family. (Veep is the name of the Jeep).

"Now with cash in hand we can shop for the Tacoma." 

I focused on trucks that kept mileage down, daughter hunted for trucks that already had a camper set up. Both these conditions are limiting, and given how much cash we had on hand...

We shopped everywhere. We drove to Oakland to see a truck she fell in love with only to see that it had lots of wear and tear and rust underneath which was not as described. 

We saw an advertisement for a truck with 69201 miles and the price was good. We called him and the guy sent daughter strange texts, as if he was drunk dialing. When we went to the park near his house, daughter got an anxiety attack. I spoke with him on the phone and realized his lingo was the same as another truck I saw on Craig's list. I kept quiet. He gave us his address and parked in front of his house was five Tacomas all which were Craig's list ads with low miles, older car, different name of advertiser. After examining the truck it was clear this man was dialing back the odometers by a hundred forty thousand miles and is a con man. He yelled and screamed at me to deflect his con. I left but did put a notice to the DMV, wonder if they do anything?

Finally when all seemed too late, too lost as weeks had passed and it seemed driving to New York in time was not possible: the right one came along. My brother in law also gave good advice about: EXAMINE the PERSON you are buying from. You want someone who is honest.

So we got the Tacoma and took it to my favorite vehicle repair guy: Caars in San Juan. Unfortunately the car needed almost ten thousand dollars in repairs to make it safe. Also J W Transmission wanted another three grand in tranny work. Because of the pandemic getting parts for an older car is a real nightmare. I learned how to shop on line for a HUB - there was only one in America for the car, sigh.

Meanwhile I watched Youtube videos on how to make the camper bed into a sleeping camper in a hurry. I settled on cutting 3/4 inch plywood into two pieces each sixty nine inches long (I have a Subaru and the pieces had to fit inside the rear to get up to the ranch to assemble without the pick up while it was being repaired in town.) My advice: measure four times, twice in daylight. That's the best I got. I had Home Depot cut the 2 X 4 pieces in store to save time.

I purchased: 3 rolls of reflectix insulation (one 48 inch one and the two others 24), and 4 rolls of velcro. I had two wool blankets, staple gun and spray adhesive to cover the plywood to avoid splinters and add warmth. Two old queen size sheets to absorb the moisture that will drip down condensation inside. 

The mattress was tricky. No normal mattress will fit inside the 69 inch length. We went to Ikea but the parking lot was crazy full and I got scared about all the covid people crowded inside, so nope didn't go into the mob. First I found a upholstery store in Santa Ana. I called them but they failed to mention they had a big fire and couldn't sell their foam (after we drove up there). Daughter has a little cry right here after the fire store sends us to the smelly upholstery store.

"I can't sleep on something that has rat feces Mom."

"Okay no problem..."

I never get discouraged, there were a couple foam places in Los Angeles and we call this wonderful place that cut the four inch foam in the exact size and it was sixty dollars (not the $150 the first guy wanted). 

After becoming an insulation expert I learned about R- values a long time ago when I took the contractor license test. I decide to fold the foil bubble wrap reflectix and make a collar inside around each piece that fits inside the recesses of the camper top. By using wood glue I increase the depth of reflectix to two inches with a one inch air cushion inside thus increasing the ability to keep the camper warm in snow. 

[image error]  formula just to make you cozy
Another thing to consider- we as in the royal we- used screws to put the wood frame together in case we want to change it...I sanded edges and used monster tape to cover the ends where a person's hands will reach under the bed to store stuff.I wish I had more time to make a locked or secret compartment but this was all installed in three hours. In between teaching daughter how to drive manual stick shift for her departure the next day. We practiced 104 times stalling on the hill above the barn and not crying.

 

here is the camper being loaded. I didn't get in the new arms for the lift gate so it has that pretty wood dowel for a lift up holder, geez that thing hurts when it hits you on the head.


before pictures note the inside is all curved and your 2 x 4 pieces will need some hacking and chipping to fit inside

here you can see the ceiling panels 

  some pictures of Veep before I scrubbed every inch of her at my sister's house I'm posting the pictures because I myself still have fond memories of my first cars and wish we kept them all

And wait wait if you are in NYC  65th and 1st Avenue please buy a tree from her or bring her something hot to drink

Wreath Creating

Making a wreath from the plants and greens around your home.I collected: pine cones, dried lemons, pine branches, grape vines, old wire leftovers, eucalyptus, and olive branches. I will add rosemary and herbs to freshen it up each week of advent. All of the greens were free.You need: good clippers, variety of found wire, and glovesI thought I would glue or modge podge but did not this year.I soaked the pine cones in bleach and water, not necessary I wanted them tolook frosty- a cup household bleach to gallon of water and soak for 24 hours,then let them dry in the sun.I had lemons from a tree that my neighbor forgot to water. I sliced the dried fruits and put on a cookie sheet in the sunshine for two days.Two types of wire- one coated one to hold the grape vines to dry in a circle shape, and a finer one to attach to the loop.