Happy tree friends

My Baby Trees of the National Parks are doing well enough to move into larger pots. We did lose the coast redwood sapling over the hot dry summer. We will have a moment of silence, mourn, and then send the dried out redwood carcass into the wood chipper.

Super deformed lemon. The limoncello tree is so silly sometimes. It's been super happy this year. So glad I didn't send it through the wood chipper years ago.

And once again, I call upon the services of pizza to help deal with meat cake party leftovers. The salame was once part of the antipasto plate and the cheeses from meat cake.

Leftover mushrooms from mushroom cake.

And leftover roasted vegetables from veggie cake and beef cake. Still, not much of a noticeable dent in the refrigerator. I might be eating leftovers for the rest of the month. Aie-ya!

Forbidden fruit

My relationship with the iPhone 3G turned out to be a one night stand. It was sexy. I adored it. I was excited by it. And like a one night stand, I can't make or receive voice calls from it at home. So I go crawling back to Sprint, but the terms of our relationship have changed. It's just not the same anymore. And no matter how reliable that cell signal is... And how utterly functional the Blackberry services are... I've tasted what life can be like. And I pine for that soulful iPhone. It's like herpes. A fleeting moment of happiness. And then a lifetime of regret. Once you catch it, you can't forget it, and it's never the same afterwards.

Brown turkey figs from the backyard. They seem more purple than brown to me. These are great, but I like the elusive green figs better. But apparently, the green fig tree also needs a reliable AT&T signal to bear fruit.

Pining after

The world's best-est limoncello ever! Beautiful chartreuse jewel toned colors from the Aaron method- combined with the delicious piney rosemary flavors of the Ed method. And the super aromatic kick from an armful of Davy lemons. Is good. Is very good.

No minors signage hung outside my bedroom. To help me stay out of trouble.

Woodie wagon is back in action. This time sporting fashionable Korean pine planks.

Life hands you lemons

Enough with the lemons already!



Baby artichoke. I wonder if it's possible to make Cynar artichoke liqueur at home?



Baby donut peach.



Baby alberta peachs. For making peach ice cream for Meg.



Baby brown turkey figs.



Baby shinseiki pears.



Baby loquats.



Baby limes.



Baby lemons. Ah crap... I'm still harvesting tons of lemons and the next round is about to come in too.



3 wheeled Zap electric car. Why does being green have to be this dorky?

Retaining water

New toy! Old toy is now nearly useless for work purposes and will be demoted to recipe lookup duty in the kitchen.



Preston is pondering how the heck did they strap the old telephone pole to the new telephone pole without everything toppling over when they popped it in.



Gnarly. Thankfully, not my sidewalk.



Sometimes spray paint on public property isn't graffiti. These neighbors have street lamps shining into their bedrooms.



We have patriotic fountains. I can't figure out is where the water flows out from the statue. Hopefully not anything like those peeing cherub fountains.



New fire hydrant around the corner. Yay safety.



Delicious pomegranate molasses braised short ribs and celery root puree. Meltingly meaty goodness.

Signs of the Messiah

Visiting the giant new 2 story Whole Foods that opened up a few miles away. It's opening had been treated like the second coming of Christ around here. I'm still a bit bummed that they replaced my favorite tire shop to build the largest Whole Foods west of the Mississippi. No amount of $19.95 champagne brunch can replace the funny little old man that would patch my tires for a nominal fee (or free depending on his mood.)

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Some of us like to leave our holiday decorations up year round.



And fake trees too.



And we still have giant snowflakes up.



And garland. We pretty much keep the holiday spirit year round.



I love the person getting squooshed graphic.



Very old olive tree. I'm trying to get my neighbors together and press olive oil from our trees. CalTech nearby now harvests the olives on campus and presses the oil for their rich donating alumni.



And because CalTech and JPL and NASA are nearby, we have strange secret Area 51 spots here and there. Totally unmarked aside from the warning signs.



This place is like totally Graceland.



Inspired by our ridiculously upscale Whole Foods, I splurged at the Food4Less and spent 50 cents on the Premium version of Cup O'Noodle. It wasn't 17 cents better than the 33 cent kind. So save your money.

Wee-commerce

On today's walking tour of Davy's sleepy neighborhood, we explore some of the businesses of Altadena. But first, a visit to my favorite tree with the spikey bark.



I live in a town without Starbucks. I know! How is it possible to have avoided Starbucks colonization? But we have the Coffee Gallery next door to Tangles & Locks hair salon. There's some neighborhood pride in having our own little Mom and Pop coffee shop. But awful awful coffee at this place.

And a block away. The Hair Pyrates! They specialize in long hair, weaves, and hair extensions.

Now an architectural firm's office, this was once part of the Mt. Lowe train sub station. Many overly dressed tourists in the early 1900's have embarked on the steam train to the top of the hills.

Circa 1960's supermarket. Ralph's hasn't been updated much since then, so it's not so super these days. Especially compared to the new 2 story Whole Foods flagship store just 3 miles away. But it's nice to be able to walk to the store to buy a quart of milk.

The Everest burger is pretty decent. And you can get Mexican food too.

Locating the Quizno's Sub next to the Curves is a stroke of genius.

And the cutest little tiny restaurant. They have only like 5 tables. I've never been patient enough to wait for a table.

And the local pharmacy/card shop/post office/stationary/gifts and ornaments/liquor store. And they have old-timey gumball machines too.

This is what passes for our main street. There's always parking.

The old chamber of commerce building has awesome ironwork and bronze glazed tiles. There's little commerce left in Altadena, so it's an office building now.

Harvested Washington Navel oranges from the front yard today. Deelicious!

Pesto pasta is faster than going to the drive thru window at McDonalds.