Here's a
nice picture of Mary smiling behind a bed of
"Psyche" cosmos. If you want stellar
bouquets and have everyone ask you what it is grow
this flower. It produces masses of semi-double
flowers on long stems. I cut 3' stems and made huge
arraingments for the art gallery. We'd put them
outside the door and it was just magnetic. 
This is
a picture of our 82 year old neighbor, Tom Sondgroth.
A remarkable and very kind man who is one of the last
of the real cowboys. He manages the hundreds of acres
and operations of the ranch here. He even worked in
the branding operations until last year. He is on
Blackie, his quarter horse that is still very agile
and quick. He demonstrated some of his moves that he
used to cut calves from the herds. He and his wife
Emma have been wonderful neighbors. Our only ones for
miles by the way. Just them and us on the
mountaintop. 
Just
another picture of Tom on Blackie patrolling the
range. Can you imagine a home where you might wake up
and see him and a few of his cowboy friends going
across the mountains in a roundup? Oftentimes Mary
and I counted our blessings to be able to share this
place for a while. 
Here's
Mary in the morning trying to figure out what I want
her to point at. Is it this one or that one? Nice
problem to have to concern yourself with. By the way,
zinnias and sunflowers have proven themselves to be
completely deer proof over the years.
Here is our landlord and friend Leo Holthouse who gave me a very free hand in restoring the land around the house. He helped me pull down 30' tall poison oak and hauled away the dog run with his tractor. A really nice man who lives in northeast Oregon on another ranch. He never knew what to say when Mary showed him enormous paintings underway in our living room. He liked them though.
good picture of me with a day's worth of beard on my face. I like it though. Tired but happy. Mary says that I clean up really well so don't judge my appearance by the picture. And no, I don't use Brylcream. My hair is naturally a grease mop. The bay area gets a lot of this kind of hazy sunshine. But the summers here south of the Bay Area can be brutal. I seem to remember that on this day I was bonsaiing the small oaks around the property. They are just beautiful now that that work is several years old.
again and the
process of creating a new garden will begin again.
This garden will probably disappear when we leave.
But gardens are really places in your head just like
your home is. You carry these things with you
wherever you go. So there will be another and perhaps
better and larger garden in the future in our new
home. 