Orchid You Glad to See Me?

 How was your Weekend?

Gucci Geeks Unite. Happiness is a Silly Outfit!

Look away if you're not embracing the "Maximalist" style of fashion that broke out all over

this Summer.  Alessandro Michele at Gucci seemed to have been the worst "offender"

if you are inclined to see it this way.  I did not think America would go for this flamboyant

exuberant, cartoony, colorful look which so speaks

to the fourteen-year old in me.  (I am of Hawaiian and Italian extraction - so - you know?!  More is more!)

Where the concept of "Cruise" quite fits in

to this 2016 Collection is perhaps not a conversation we need to have.  But whether or not boats are

involved, I've had a look in the shops and even Zara, ground zero for basic black Euro-chic

is rocking the geeky

and flying the freak flag.

Who would you like to be today?  Florence Welch?

or Tavi Gevinson?  (God, I love it!  Where do I start?  The skirt, the shoes, the sleeves, the dogs...)

Me?  I would like to be ME.  This is SO!  (Madeline in Mexico)  ME!

Oh to be very young again and shopping Gucci!  You know, sometimes fashion just has to be fun.  And this seriously IS. 

Little Angel Theatre - Around A Corner in Islington

Just a little in from Upper Street and around the corner from Ottolenghi

is a place of wonder and enchantment.

And a little Judy and Punch, we have to imagine.

So how exactly DO you get a job as a puppet maker?  And does it pay at all well?

It looks like a lovely, exciting, and occasionally creepy life.

Have you ever made puppets?  Would you ever try your hand?

Or would you just rather find your way to Dagmar Passage?   (A perfectly named place don't you think?)  

And WATCH!?    The Little Angel Theatre.  On a little lane in Islington, London

Summer in September

Lest Summer rush away from us too soon and leave us in September

 (via Ulrika Randel at Seventeen Doors I think)

misery, cold, damp and bereft......

 (via the London Fashion and Textile Museum)

Here are some summer-gleaned images from around the world and web to prolong the Summer glow.

(via Selvedge - this and the following pic)

To cheer the heart and make us wonder

 (pencil shaving flowers: FOR REAL!?)

"could we do that?"

 (via SF Girl by Bay)

To remind us.

(via Print and Pattern)

That we CAN have our cake and eat it to.

(via Posie Gets Cozy)

That we CAN make the life of our dreams.

(via Vintage London/Handpicked)

That we CAN go where goats roam.....and we CAN be many people.

Summer dreams can become reality.  Just try it!  (And report back to me what you find and do!)

Happy Second Weekend in September!

 We're still chillin' and thrillin'

in L.A.

Hope you are too.  Wherever you are.

Gjusta, Venice Beach - The New Place to Eat in Venice Beach

Gjusta is what all the buzz is about these days.

The younger sister of Gjelina, where all the beautiful people eat, on Abbott Kinney Blvd.,

Gjusta is the more protein intensive, wide-open spaces America, East-Coast deli mashup

artisan-industrial destination where EVERYTHING IS FRESH because it's made for you

sur place - whether it's smoked fish or meats, pastry, bread, kale-intensive salads

jams, drinks, rotisserie chickens

or

smoked marinated oysters.  The Paradis family have only visited in the afternoon when a summery

sort of lazy small town quiet has set in.  Brunch is the time when all the action takes place.  And some serious people watching one would have to expect.......before you spill yourself back out into the Venice sunshine where your bicycle will be waiting.  (Or your Uber driver!)

“Parking however is terrible so it's better off bike instead of drive if you could.” - Yelp

Food and Fruit on a Summer Garden Theme

I might have mentioned it before.....

With a long drought ongoing in the American West, and watering restrictions almost statewide

in California, it has been hard to garden.

I've learned (sometimes the hard way) what CAN grow with little water, and that has surprisingly, 

has included quite a few tropical things.  (Who would've thunk it? - I did not!)  

Loquat trees from my neighbor's garden were so full of fruit that the long branches sunk down over our fence and landed festoons of leaf and fruit into my yard for a couple of weeks until I picked them clean and cut them back.  Mr. P. then made a delicious jam with them (- we had to quick because they don't keep!)  It was perfumey and light, tasting half like apples, half like apricots.  We have many Middle Eastern, Chinese and Phillipino neighbors who've planted or enjoy loquat trees so they are quite common.  Many others don't know what to do with the large seeded fruit and just let the loquats fall and rot.  I am here to tell you officially: Jam is the answer!

It's been a summer of long anticipation for the passion fruit - which we planted almost two years ago.  Mr. P. was certain it would not bear for him.  He was happily wrong - though I felt I had to help the bees pollinate by fluffing the flower pistils and stamen with a long soft paintbrush every couple of days through most of May and June.

A terribly neglected pineapple plant in a pot (Second pic, above) seemed impervious to drought and sent up a perky little orb with lavender flowers bursting off of it in early August.  I watered and fed it last Thursday to keep its spirits up.  We'll see how big it gets - happy as it seems to be.

A non-garden discovery (top pic) that kept my spirits up through a sometimes difficult summer was my new favorite breakfast of:  shredded wheat'n'bran, blueberries (- frozen are prettier, no?) - toasted hazelnuts, chia, and sliced bananas (not shown here).  OH MAN!  So good.

(SERIOUSLY!)

And finally.......the pomegranates have arrived.  I can forgive the raccoons and skunks and possums for marauding about in my yard, when I contemplate all these lovely gifts of nature in my kitchen and on my dining table!  

So all in all, a successful season.  Can't wait to do it all again next year.  

And now the rest of you?  Any fruit bragging you'd like to do?  Before the winter weather arrives?