MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Well I hope to have at least one for a while yet. Glad to oblige. When I can no longer have one I’ll do the same.
Gardening for nature, walks with my dogs and the books I’m reading.
- Thread starter MarkD
- Start date
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
While sharing pictures of books and talking about the old warehouse we live in it occurred to me that with all the pictures I’m forever taking in the garden I have always avoided including the side of the warehouse because it isn’t very attractive.
So here is a pic of the warehouse from google earth about a dozen years ago.
Here is the one I took last night to share in a PM.
And here is a rare older photo from before the side doors were replaced, the upstairs deck went in, the spa enclosure was built or the wheelchair lift was installed. Not sur if the pavers had gone in yet - probably not.
While taking the newest photo I experimented with other angles and caught a hummer frolicking around in the air.
So here is a pic of the warehouse from google earth about a dozen years ago.
Here is the one I took last night to share in a PM.
And here is a rare older photo from before the side doors were replaced, the upstairs deck went in, the spa enclosure was built or the wheelchair lift was installed. Not sur if the pavers had gone in yet - probably not.
While taking the newest photo I experimented with other angles and caught a hummer frolicking around in the air.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Our Thanksgiving got postponed to Sunday so my brother could get over his cold and we took the hike we would have done Sunday today instead.
We haven’t been going down all the way to the beach together in quite a while but we did today. Our path starts down the first sandy cliffs to an intermediate flatter area where we took a break at the swinging bench.
I took this video of Lia on the bench with Ember more than ready to continue.
Then we continued down to the beach where Lia took this video of me throwing the ball for Ember. Light is pretty harsh.
Coming back I took a couple of stop action video of Lia scooting along. She'll be 81 on Saturday so we may not be doing this hike too many more times together.
We haven’t been going down all the way to the beach together in quite a while but we did today. Our path starts down the first sandy cliffs to an intermediate flatter area where we took a break at the swinging bench.
I took this video of Lia on the bench with Ember more than ready to continue.
Then we continued down to the beach where Lia took this video of me throwing the ball for Ember. Light is pretty harsh.
Coming back I took a couple of stop action video of Lia scooting along. She'll be 81 on Saturday so we may not be doing this hike too many more times together.
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MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Got another idea to exploit the no limit potential of using photos hosted elsewhere: Favorite Photos from my garden By Month. Not sure why there aren't more recent ones included.
So here is December:
Succulents and other plants surrounding the pond in back (2012)
Greyia sutherlandia (2012)
Succulents, fern and bromeliads at the base of quaking aspens (2014)
Kniphofia multiflora (2011) .. no longer in the garden
Near path near looking south from near the back door (2012) with Heidi Rose
The pond (2010)
Solandra maxima flower (2011)
Reflection of the birches on the pond (2009)
Scars from where limbs on the old fig tree were cut, covered by masks (2010)
Centradenia grandiflora and Phormium (2010)
My head for size comparison with one head of Aeonium 'Cyclops' (2009), Fletcher peeking from behind
So here is December:
Succulents and other plants surrounding the pond in back (2012)
Greyia sutherlandia (2012)
Succulents, fern and bromeliads at the base of quaking aspens (2014)
Kniphofia multiflora (2011) .. no longer in the garden
Near path near looking south from near the back door (2012) with Heidi Rose
The pond (2010)
Solandra maxima flower (2011)
Reflection of the birches on the pond (2009)
Scars from where limbs on the old fig tree were cut, covered by masks (2010)
Centradenia grandiflora and Phormium (2010)
My head for size comparison with one head of Aeonium 'Cyclops' (2009), Fletcher peeking from behind
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MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Now my compulsive side is winning and having found more recent December photos, here they are:
(2022)
(2022)
(2021)
(2019)
(2018)
(2017)
(2017)
That is all for December!
(2022)
(2022)
(2021)
(2019)
(2018)
(2017)
(2017)
That is all for December!
Gardenlover
Bedazzled Member
- Location
- Missouri & SWFL
An old warehouse, I find that very interesting and good for you for doing something different.
Per chance will we ever get to see pictures of the inside? After seeing what you did on the outside I can only imagine what the inside looks like.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
There have been a few pics inside but all my creative juices are spent in the garden now and my arthritic hands make using construction tools harder now. Meanwhile my wife spends all her creative juices in her studio at the loom. So we live like a couple of grad students who are just passing through even though I've been there 41 years and she a half dozen more. It will be disappointing but I'll see what I can find.
Gardenlover
Bedazzled Member
- Location
- Missouri & SWFL
Mark, please don't feel that you have to share. Living spaces are private and I respect that.
PeppermintPatty
🔷 💜 🔷
Your photos are fabulous Mark.
I love the last photo that looks like a plant growing out of your head. I chuckled.
I’m having a wonderful day today
I hope you all are also
I love the last photo that looks like a plant growing out of your head. I chuckled.
I’m having a wonderful day today
I hope you all are also
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
My mother always warned me what could happen if I didn't wash my ears. The worst part is with an aeonium head that big still didn't cover my bald part.
palides2021
Well-known Member
- Location
- MidAtlantic, USA
What a nice collection of beautiful and inspiring photos! They are uplifting. Thanks for sharing!Now my compulsive side is winning and having found more recent December photos, here they are:
(2022)
(2022)
(2021)
(2019)
(2018)
(2017)
(2017)
That is all for December!
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
I just found this video from 2021 when Ember was just a few months old. Here she meets and plays a with similar aged Australian Shepherd named Ollie. We’ve run into them a few times since and every time they seem to pick up right where they left off here. He is about twice her size now but what she lacks in size (38 pounds), she makes for with speed and assertiveness. Ollie is a sweet boy.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
We took our walk in the ten acre Blake Garden in Kensington, just north of Berkeley, California today. We go there pretty frequently on a weekday to enjoy the views even though it doesn't seriously tucker out Ember. Yesterday we stopped at a small fenced in dog park to let her run after.
From the parking lot we descend past this water feature which aligns with the front door to the house.
We usually start by walking down the Redwood canyon on the Northside of the garden, at the bottom of which are some ponds.
From there we climb up through a Mediterranean garden on the backside of the house from the top of which are some nice views of the bay.
On our way home Ember got a little more activity.
From the parking lot we descend past this water feature which aligns with the front door to the house.
We usually start by walking down the Redwood canyon on the Northside of the garden, at the bottom of which are some ponds.
From there we climb up through a Mediterranean garden on the backside of the house from the top of which are some nice views of the bay.
On our way home Ember got a little more activity.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
We had the roofers out January 3 to address a leak. While they worked I went around shooting pictures from on top of our two story building. I'll start near the front and work my way around the back.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
I just came across this video of our Golden/Lab cross Sophie and the blue Merle Aussie we inherited from Lia’s aunt and uncle.
Sophie was the first of five all time favorite dogs we have had in succession beginning with her. She was already pretty old when Fletcher came to live with us but he always respected and backed her up. Being four when we got him he was past being mischievous and I think he was very grateful to be in a more stable home life and one with a canine companion. Kay and Stew were in their 80’s when they got him and only did so when assured them we’d take him when they checked out.
Sophie was the first dog I had when my work life was stable enough to afford lots of attention on her training and exercise. She rewarded me with 16 years of faithful companionship and enforced the rules of the house on Fletcher and before him Mathilda who we took in in her later years.
Well this calls for a trip down memory lane for Sophie. When we got her we already had a Dalmation who was getting older named Daisy. Poor Daisy was the last of my dogs whose life highlights were limited to our affection and lots of time in the yard alone during busier times in our lives.
Poor old thing.
Of course with lots of training Sophie was able to be included in many more activities. She came camping with us from the time she was a young pup.
We could take her to our inlaws at Duck Cove for holidays and she was gentle and waited obediently on her pillow through Thanksgiving dinner.
While she was so black it was hard to photograph her early on, with age she turned almost white.
She took a walk every day right up until her last. One of her last walks:
On her last day she soiled her bed and was in obvious distress about that. I carried her outside and set her down in the garden to see if she would sniff anything while I got her some breakfast. When she would neither sniff nor eat I knew she was done and called and found a vet who do it the same day. When I was younger vets would ball me out for making my dogs suffer so long before putting them down. Now I take it as a sacred duty to stick the landing, letting them go when life held no more interest for them.
One more walk at Point Isabel with Fletcher and Sophie:
Sophie was the first of five all time favorite dogs we have had in succession beginning with her. She was already pretty old when Fletcher came to live with us but he always respected and backed her up. Being four when we got him he was past being mischievous and I think he was very grateful to be in a more stable home life and one with a canine companion. Kay and Stew were in their 80’s when they got him and only did so when assured them we’d take him when they checked out.
Sophie was the first dog I had when my work life was stable enough to afford lots of attention on her training and exercise. She rewarded me with 16 years of faithful companionship and enforced the rules of the house on Fletcher and before him Mathilda who we took in in her later years.
Well this calls for a trip down memory lane for Sophie. When we got her we already had a Dalmation who was getting older named Daisy. Poor Daisy was the last of my dogs whose life highlights were limited to our affection and lots of time in the yard alone during busier times in our lives.
Poor old thing.
Of course with lots of training Sophie was able to be included in many more activities. She came camping with us from the time she was a young pup.
We could take her to our inlaws at Duck Cove for holidays and she was gentle and waited obediently on her pillow through Thanksgiving dinner.
While she was so black it was hard to photograph her early on, with age she turned almost white.
She took a walk every day right up until her last. One of her last walks:
On her last day she soiled her bed and was in obvious distress about that. I carried her outside and set her down in the garden to see if she would sniff anything while I got her some breakfast. When she would neither sniff nor eat I knew she was done and called and found a vet who do it the same day. When I was younger vets would ball me out for making my dogs suffer so long before putting them down. Now I take it as a sacred duty to stick the landing, letting them go when life held no more interest for them.
One more walk at Point Isabel with Fletcher and Sophie:
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MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
I'm not sure when I first reworked this area of the garden to make a raised bed but I'm sure glad I did while I still drove a pickup truck and was strong enough to bring all these heavy concrete blocks in, level the area, set the blocks and cap them. Here is the earliest photo of it I find from April of 2020.
Unfortunately I didn't take as much care with the back side of this raised bed. I basically just found three fairly thin sections of what had probably been a concrete patio and laid them against the raised soil. That led to a gopher invasion and I ended up digging up all the plants I cared about, potting them up and setting them aside sometime in 2022 I believe. The next year I put the plants, still in the pots I'd put them in back in the raised bed reasoning that it would be easier to keep them watered and healthy that way. Here is what they looked like then. If you blow them up you can probably better see the pots they were in in the ground. All taken in 2023.
[/url]
So at the end of last year I lifted all the pots back out of the ground, lifted those concrete sections and moved the plants that had been too close to the raised bed back and lowered the soil level there. This photo was taken December 30 after most of that was done but some potted plants were left in the soil until just the last couple days. This photo was taken from the north end of the raised bed. You can see how the soil at the back of bed had simply slumped out providing an easy ramp way for gophers.
Here is the same end of the bed taken this morning before the rains started. (We are the recipients of an atmospheric river, giving me time to get online a little too.) Then a photo taken from the other end, each showing the section of flagstone I used to shore up the sides of the raised bed.
[
I went down during a relative lull in the rain this afternoon to take a shot from behind the raised bed showing the placement of those old concrete slabs. The bottom edge of they and the flagstones were buried in a trench and surrounded with fresh poured concrete a couple days ago. Yesterday and today I finished taking all the plants out of their pots and replanting them directly in the soil. Fingers crossed that the sides are steep enough now to keep out the accursed gophers.
The area is still a mess but you'd be surprised how much empty bags of concrete, cut up plant pots and stray bits of concrete from before I'd already removed by this point. There is -and likely always will be- more to do. But that is life in a garden. Now I look forward to seeing how the plants bounce back and - fingers crossed - hoping the gophers stay somewhere else!
Unfortunately I didn't take as much care with the back side of this raised bed. I basically just found three fairly thin sections of what had probably been a concrete patio and laid them against the raised soil. That led to a gopher invasion and I ended up digging up all the plants I cared about, potting them up and setting them aside sometime in 2022 I believe. The next year I put the plants, still in the pots I'd put them in back in the raised bed reasoning that it would be easier to keep them watered and healthy that way. Here is what they looked like then. If you blow them up you can probably better see the pots they were in in the ground. All taken in 2023.
So at the end of last year I lifted all the pots back out of the ground, lifted those concrete sections and moved the plants that had been too close to the raised bed back and lowered the soil level there. This photo was taken December 30 after most of that was done but some potted plants were left in the soil until just the last couple days. This photo was taken from the north end of the raised bed. You can see how the soil at the back of bed had simply slumped out providing an easy ramp way for gophers.
Here is the same end of the bed taken this morning before the rains started. (We are the recipients of an atmospheric river, giving me time to get online a little too.) Then a photo taken from the other end, each showing the section of flagstone I used to shore up the sides of the raised bed.
I went down during a relative lull in the rain this afternoon to take a shot from behind the raised bed showing the placement of those old concrete slabs. The bottom edge of they and the flagstones were buried in a trench and surrounded with fresh poured concrete a couple days ago. Yesterday and today I finished taking all the plants out of their pots and replanting them directly in the soil. Fingers crossed that the sides are steep enough now to keep out the accursed gophers.
The area is still a mess but you'd be surprised how much empty bags of concrete, cut up plant pots and stray bits of concrete from before I'd already removed by this point. There is -and likely always will be- more to do. But that is life in a garden. Now I look forward to seeing how the plants bounce back and - fingers crossed - hoping the gophers stay somewhere else!
oldsunbird
oldsunbird
Mark, I am just speechless! You have done so much and your garden is gorgeous! How do you find the time? Or the energy? What you have done took creative planning and a LOT of HARD WORK!!!! you just may have missed your calling.I'm not sure when I first reworked this area of the garden to make a raised bed but I'm sure glad I did while I still drove a pickup truck and was strong enough to bring all these heavy concrete blocks in, level the area, set the blocks and cap them. Here is the earliest photo of it I find from April of 2020.
Unfortunately I didn't take as much care with the back side of this raised bed. I basically just found three fairly thin sections of what had probably been a concrete patio and laid them against the raised soil. That led to a gopher invasion and I ended up digging up all the plants I cared about, potting them up and setting them aside sometime in 2022 I believe. The next year I put the plants, still in the pots I'd put them in back in the raised bed reasoning that it would be easier to keep them watered and healthy that way. Here is what they looked like then. If you blow them up you can probably better see the pots they were in in the ground. All taken in 2023.
[/url]
So at the end of last year I lifted all the pots back out of the ground, lifted those concrete sections and moved the plants that had been too close to the raised bed back and lowered the soil level there. This photo was taken December 30 after most of that was done but some potted plants were left in the soil until just the last couple days. This photo was taken from the north end of the raised bed. You can see how the soil at the back of bed had simply slumped out providing an easy ramp way for gophers.
Here is the same end of the bed taken this morning before the rains started. (We are the recipients of an atmospheric river, giving me time to get online a little too.) Then a photo taken from the other end, each showing the section of flagstone I used to shore up the sides of the raised bed.
[
I went down during a relative lull in the rain this afternoon to take a shot from behind the raised bed showing the placement of those old concrete slabs. The bottom edge of they and the flagstones were buried in a trench and surrounded with fresh poured concrete a couple days ago. Yesterday and today I finished taking all the plants out of their pots and replanting them directly in the soil. Fingers crossed that the sides are steep enough now to keep out the accursed gophers.
The area is still a mess but you'd be surprised how much empty bags of concrete, cut up plant pots and stray bits of concrete from before I'd already removed by this point. There is -and likely always will be- more to do. But that is life in a garden. Now I look forward to seeing how the plants bounce back and - fingers crossed - hoping the gophers stay somewhere else!
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Mark, I am just speechless! You have done so much and your garden is gorgeous! How do you find the time? Or the energy? What you have done took creative planning and a LOT of HARD WORK!!!! you just may have missed your calling.
How nice of you. I actually think my calling is to make one garden with a beginner's mind and no one to answer to. I have friends who are garden designers and they like my garden but I could never do what they do, not even when I was younger.
oldsunbird
oldsunbird
You know what? I believe you are right. There is magic in a beginner's mind.
I used to write poetry. Looking back, I believe my first poems, for the most part, were better than the later ones. Not always, but sometimes I felt less natural and spontaneous in my later poems.
"Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." According to Suzuki. Your beginner's garden is magic...
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
If you ever feel like sharing one of your beginner’s mind poems I’d enjoy reading it. If so you could private message it to me here or I could PM you my personal email in hopes of keeping it from showing up on Google.
oldsunbird
oldsunbird
If I can find them,...sure. I have no idea where to find the publications some of them were in. And others are stuffed in storage drawers mixed with other writing. If I can't find the early ones, I will send later ones, if you are interested. And you promisr not to be too critical...
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Well I have no expertise where poetry is concerned to base any real criticism. As with gardening I have just learned what I like not any objective standard.
I have written exactly two short ones of my own (in my early twenties) which I know by heart. Good thing because my organization skills are very under developed. But wait and see if my opinion amounts to a hill of beans and then you can tell me if you want ti see either one. One is on relationship the other is a young guy’s attempt to get the big metaphysical picture.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Okay, time for a post with my favorite photos from January over the years. I'll start with a few with the dogs.
Smokey (at almost 6 months) with Heidi near the pond.
Heidi with Fletcher also by the pond.
Scilla and Gunner near where the pond was not yet put in; no January photo with Sophie near there.
Now just January pictures I like:
January isn't really the best month for my garden.
Smokey (at almost 6 months) with Heidi near the pond.
Heidi with Fletcher also by the pond.
Scilla and Gunner near where the pond was not yet put in; no January photo with Sophie near there.
Now just January pictures I like:
January isn't really the best month for my garden.
MarkD
Keeper of the Hounds & Garden
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
Never know how well these will play here, a video of the Queen of Sheba vine, Podranea brycei.
I've been busy hacking it back as it gets really huge and is in a struggle with my 'Sally Holmes' rose for dominion over a metal arch which is not really up to the task.
I've been busy hacking it back as it gets really huge and is in a struggle with my 'Sally Holmes' rose for dominion over a metal arch which is not really up to the task.
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