Bonkers for Berkeley, California

My Republican Chinese cousins in Hawaii won't send their kids to college here.

No way will they pay money to let them hang out in this bastion of radicalism and lefty decadence.  Never mind that one of those old guys with the free flowing long white locks and lived-in cargo shorts probably just published the superseding theory to that old, worn out one, Einstein's Relativity.  Or invented the next Hadron collider.

My cousins would never visit me here.  If I decided to retire and spend my dotage in Berkeley.

No, really, I'm almost serious.  Life looks good here.  People seem to just aimlessly putter about.  (So my style!)  The food is excellent, with Alice Waters to light the way.....their fidelity to the details is soooooooo Wonderful!   In Berkeley last week, I smelled smells and tasted tastes that I only otherwise find in France.  (No, really!)  Smells that had to do with fresh lovingly made bread (Acme) and wines with that the irresistible outdoorsy freshness of soil and air that is terroir (Kermit Lynch).  (Next door to each other on San Pablo St.)

I did not try Gregoire - I was not ready to eat yet, but maybe you should.  And tell me about it.   Their specialty is "potato puffs".  They are located just off Shattuck St. aka, Gourmet Ghetto, a little over from YOUR CHOICE of Punjabi proliferation in the vicinities of University and Telegraph Avenues.

OK, back to why I should probably grow old in Berkeley.  NEVER ANY MAKEUP or FANCY HAIRCUTS or  COLORS (to cover the gray).  Ever again!  Comfortable clothes.  Fashion accessorizing in Berkeley is generally accepted as wearing a broadbrimmed sun hat. (Everybody does it!)  Period.  And NO!  Not the girly kind in mauve or chocolate ornamented with ribbons, beads and faux flowers, but plain, straw yellow colored utilitarian kinds, for mowing your lawn or bird-watching.  Yes.  That kind please.

You can grow EVERY kind of plant here.  More so than in desertified L.A.

Have you ever seen a happier or more floriferous hellebore?

You can TOTALLY neglect home upkeep and swear off Honey-do weekends for the rest of your life and let your Home-Sweet degrade well away......your property values won't decline an inch.  Your neighbors won't notice cause they're too busy with their all-day-all-night keg parties (yes those are kegs and taps on the roofs, and I WAS young once, and I remember how that goes).

Did I mention you can grow EVERYTHING there?  It reminded me with the clapboard and cedar-shingle houses, alot of the scruffier nether neighborhoods of Newport, Rhode Island or the bookish meandering districts on Cape Cod, like Truro or Wellfleet.  And there is an easiness.........

You can fly the flag for florid Victoriana, like in that city across the Bay.  (You know which one.)

Or go moderately mid-century in cinder block.

You - no I mean "I" - could decide to live out my days in a hippie commune on sleeping bags spread across the floor reacquainting myself with the latest in Om-Mani-Padme-Oms........wearing a different tie-dyed t-shirt every day of the week.

I could take up residence in a classic California Court in the manner of the "Dude" himself, the Big Lebowski and just....y'know......"ABIDE".

And if I thought that the weather would hold all day.....I might jump in the car with some buddies....

and take off across to the Marin headlands to some oyster-y backwater.  Because life is truly a buzz when you know how to take it easy.  In Berkeley.  You might think that I'm joking and having a little fun.  

But I am totally SERIOUS!

Annie's Annuals - A Whole Lotta Heaven and Earth; Part One

They specialize in rare and unusual plants.

Further to my introductory post to Annie's Annuals last week:

What do you think?  Can you take anymore gorgeousness????  

You don't HAVE to travel through their "really scary neighborhood" as described by a YELP reviewer.

You asked, Nadine?  Yeah, scary in the wrong ways sadly.  Even on the Left Coast in Golden California!

(Blue Australian Broom - can you believe it????  It smells like candy!  In all the best ways!  More on this in Part Two)

What I'm saying is that they do ship and I saw them packing up the lovely healthy plants

with mucho TLC.

I have to add, I've visited one or two garden centers in my time and this place is a true standout.

The prices are reasonable for any kind of plant, much less this enormous variety of unusual ones.  

It's not like you have to track down one or two lonely specimens, there are plenty of each kind for you to take home.   

And such attention to detail:  Everything is beautiful, healthy, colorful and harmoniously presented - who else uses these nifty color-coded stakes????   And it's so tidy, you could eat off the floor!

Despite the slightly carefree-hippie vibe,

there is nothing scruffy or higgledy-piggledy about their plants or the way they operate.

I think Annie's Annuals could seriously enrich my life.  I do hope you have a chance to find that out for yourself as well!!!!

How was the weekend?  Hope you've had a little sunshine and rest and are ready for a new start!

Shock and Awe for June - Orly Genger in Madison Park

So ARE we in June yet?  Oh, OK, tomorrow......

(Photos: Dominique Browning via SlowLoveLife see more pics there)

So it has been so crazy around here, that even if some reference to these pieces appeared in the NYTimes, I totally missed it.  Wish I'd been in NYC for this installation.  It's like Richard Serra traded in his annealer for a giant crochet needle!  And apparently, if you check the comments on the link - the same conversation was being had over Orly Genger's work in Madison Park (see, I did miss it: NYT -click the link!) as took place over Serra's "Tilted Arc" way back in the days (which I'd previously blogged about here).

What do you think?  I love it, I'm all for it.  Though I will rant about crass entertainments in gardens and historic places.....(here) I do believe that judicious use of art in public spaces, in the spirit of for example, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, serves the purpose of not only bringing large-scale art to an unsuspecting public, but highlights the specific characteristics, quality, and value of such public spaces to the community,  i.e., it's good to have a chat about what our public spaces are good for, what use they are to us.  And who, exactly "we" are.  What is a garden, or not......?  And obviously, the chat about what "art" is, which we're still having, here in L.A., about our notorious rock.

So.  I'm still recovering from my Month of May, 2013.  It won't be one I'll forget anytime soon.  But more on that later......in the meantime........hope you like this and hope you have something you'd like to tell me about it.

XOXO.  Tres bon weekend a vous tous!

I'm Calling It Fawn, You Might Want to Call it Gold

Could we settle on bronze?

This is not really a spring-ey post.  But these pictures settled into my archives via Tumblr sometime in the past couple months and they are screaming out to be shared.  OK, whispering to be shared.

I'll be back soon with more Bay Area pics.  As Mr. Paradis said, I took a phenomenal amount of photos. We are now struggling to get them from my camera to the computer without crashing my whole cyber world.  

These pics are all via Tumblr with no legitimate provenance obtainable.  Love how they're so graphic and textured and the same time.  Like an ancient greek aesthetic - so sophisticated and primitive at the same time.  And do we adore the spot of sea blue in the second picture?????

Enjoy, Enjoy!

Paradise Not Where You'd Expect It

How was the weekend everybody?

June is soon, I hope things are looking up a little weatherwise, where you are.  We did have a terrible week in the states last week with monster tornadoes.  The pictures of the destruction were hard to look act.  Our thoughts and best wishes are with all those people in Oklahoma who lost homes and family members.

And you all know that we in the Paradis family could have had a better month than our May turned out to be.  So finding a little sweet respite from it all was a blessing and a surprise.

Anyway, I'll have more on this soon, but I thought I'd start the week with a colorful sneek peek.  It's a part of a garden at Annie's Annuals, in Richmond, California.  Richmond has always been a working class kind of place....but in recent years, it has gained a terrible reputation.  And Annie's is located in a very industrial and unpromising part of Richmond.  But it defies all expectations and is utterly life-affirming and a generally exceedingly optimistic kind of place.

Looking at this picture, you can't disagree with me, can you?  It's amazing what a little color and Mother Nature can do for a place, and for our morale.

Hope it's a good one!

Is This More Like It?

(Photographer: Unknown)

Have a lovely weekend!  Whatever the weather.

Sunrise, and Sunset

We have a new mayor in L.A. after our election this past Tuesday.  It will be interesting to see how he makes his mark.  We also voted to limit the number of pot shops (yes, I'm talking medical marijuana) to only 135.  In the whole city.

I'm now regretting that I never did my long-planned photo essay on L.A. pot shops cuz I reckon I could count about 30 that I could walk to just in my neighborhood!  Not that just ANYONE can come in and get some weed.  As my recent houseguest from Hawaii just found out.  

Sophie asked about my house...it was rebuilt in the 90's in a Bauhaus-ey kind of style by a TV actress.  Hence the characterlessness of the street side that you saw in my honeybee post.  The actress didn't want prying eyes so there aren't ALOT of windows on certain parts of the house, nor alot of curb appeal to attract interest.  Instead, my house is all about the back.  And what you can see from it.  And which I share with you here.  

My neighbors' roses in the morning, and sunset over the Santa Monica mountains.  

Cuz that's L.A. baby!