I’m still feeling under the weather as all of this crap has gone into my chest. Yuck. It’s just the natural progression, nonetheless, I want it gone.
Poor Don. He comes home, is shocked at the bleakness of the landscape, then we end up having all-day-long-fog yesterday (that never happens) and today it’s raining.
Welcome home, Don!
In Escape to Margaritaville (musical and song) Don is the one who sings the line “Searching for my lost shaker of salt” to which the audience responds, “Salt! Salt! Salt!” One of the guys who is part of the musical direction for the show (the same one who helped me get a ticket to Hamilton) gave him a hand painted salt shaker on a piece of wood. It’s really cool looking and we decided we would hang it in the kitchen when Don got home.
We hung it above Stella. We have now come to the conclusion that nothing else should hang there. We had been thinking of a vintage sign, but it would take up too much real estate. The kitchen has lots of windows and those, along with the cupboards and china cabinet, make for not a lot of wall space. This sunny patch of yellow needs to stay relatively unencumbered by ‘stuff.’ Plus, as Don says, then the emphasis is on Stella.
As it should be, right?
By the way, for those of you who claim to have a black thumb, I’ve got just the plant for you. It’s the Zamioculcas zamiifolia or ZZ plant. (My pal Suzan first recommended it to me in a comment on this blog.) It can take all sorts of neglect and it will keep on ticking. I’m not kidding. It’s got dark green glossy/waxy leaves and it’s very attractive. It even thrives in low light. I have two of them right in front of the big picture window in the den, which, since it gets less light because of the porch roof and is west-facing, stays darkish most of the day.
They’re thriving here. You’d never know there’s a lack of light. I water them once every two weeks or so.
This was taken this morning. Two new shoots are emerging from the soil. It’s really quite amazing. Zz needs even less care than a pothos. And it has a lovely sculptural quality that makes a nice statement.
Anyway, you can get them in big box stores now. I got this one at Lowes. I got the other at a local chain. They’re readily available.
Think about it!
Edited to add: The wildfires in Ventura and Santa Paula are horrific and our friend Vicki’s house is in danger. It sounds dire. Please pray for Vicki and for everyone else in the path of this devastating fire.
Happy Tuesday.
That Shaker-of-Salt looks right at home there, over Stella. So cute. Also the Zz plant looks happy in its Guy Wolff pot. Welcome home to your ‘Stranger’, too.
Thank you, Shanna!
glad for both of you that don is home and you can enjoy this beautiful season together before broadway!
hope you get to feeling better right away, but, yes, those things have a course to run and are never very fast.
love the painting and its placement … perfect!
thanks for the tip about zz plants. will have to consider where i could put another plant. only have six pathos or philodendrons, but now live in a much smaller place so am not sure where i could fit another pot. your plants are beautiful.
happy tuesday.
kathy in iowa
Feeling pretty cruddy at the moment and I’m losing my voice. Just like Don did.
I LOVE the shaker of salt! What a perfect thing to hang above the lovely Stella! Our weather is dreary today and it’s not helping my mood at all. I’m taking Mom to the Dr a little later and hoping she is finally starting to get well. I love that plant and may replace one of my more ‘needy’ plants with one like that. I hope you and Don have a good and you feel better soon. Hugs!
Hope your mom feels better. It’s raining here, too.
Please, everyone say a prayer for the people of Southern California today. There is terrible wildfire in Ventura County which could spread to Santa Barbara County. Electrical power is sketchy but it’s on right now and I think somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 acres have already burned since 6pm last night; 27,000 people evacuated so far; 150 structures burned including an apartment complex. The wind is hellacious (it knocked me to the ground yesterday afternoon and I am not a wisp of a thing; quite the opposite; man, I really hurt my shoulder) and is supposed to be blowing like this til Thursday – Santa Anas but cold, not hot winds – and I think the fire is zero percent contained. I have friends and family who are under mandatory evacuation in Ventura in areas which never burn and are within the city at the base of the foothills; it’s not high in the backcountry now; it’s ‘way too close , this fire. My husband is not going to work today; all the schools are closed. We are rimmed in smoke and orange sky to the north and west although the sun is breaking thru. Now, to the south, I’m seeing a lot of white smoke and I fear that’s the river bed. I’ve got a vintage car and a garage-unit (offsite storage unit) with 85 packing boxes near there and there is simply nothing I can do about it (our home is in forever-remodeling, so I’ve got a lot of stuff packed up, and that’s what’s so hard, too, to not be able to get to a lot of precious things I’d like to save). A freeway separates me from that, but the problem for our house will be flying embers. Although we had no electrical power last night for several hours (can’t use the furnace, which is electrical ignition although gas; stove/oven is electric; water heater is gas but electrical ignition, so no hot water; we taped up the frig/freezer to remind ourselves not to open it), we packed the cars under flashlight power from about 9pm to midnight in violent wind (so are exhausted and, of course, hardly any sleep, keeping the curtains open all night to watch the sky for worse changes; remaining vigilant as we’ve been instructed – all the neighbors are keeping tabs on one another) and we are ready to evacuate right now if we’re ordered to (just trying to figure out which direction we’d head); it’s beyond scary. Fortunately, nine friends have already opened up their homes to us if need be; if we’re made to leave by authorities. Places where I’ve lived in my life have been leveled by fire just hours ago. And it has happened SO fast, too fast; just 14 hours. The air tankers haven’t been able to fly in the dark and the wind. My husband is a volunteer emergency responder but he’s staying in our neighborhood to help family/neighbors first, if called upon, which is his order right now. We are so dry here, the humidity is like 10%, we never really got out of the drought and there’s been no rain now for some number of months. Wildfire and earthquakes are a part of life here, but we haven’t had fire like this in 11 years and it’s usually on the ridges, not this far down the mountains; not since I was a kid so many years ago have I seen anything like this. Again, all prayers for everyone here are appreciated; critical. Thanks. I can’t possibly round up my feral cats and have to pray they’ll know what to do; animal instinct. There are a lot more people in worse danger than us at this moment. We’ll probably be okay, us personally (fingers crossed) but it can also change in a nanosecond under these conditions. I’m pretty tense. Tears in my eyes.
Vicki, after what happened in Northern CA, near where I love, I totally empathize what you are going through. I went through the Loma Prieta earthquake of ‘89 and the Oakland Hills firestorm of ‘91 so I know the feeling of being on edge. Glad you are packed and ready to go but sending positive thoughts that won’t be necessary. In any case, stay vigilant, flexible, and safe.
Wendy T, thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate it. I gave an update here on Claudia’s blog today (Friday).
Saying prayers. Two of our dearest friends live in Ventura. The fire was 6 blocks away from them, but somehow it was contained a few hours ago. Thinking of you, holding you in my prayers, Vicki.
I’m sitting here at the computer because I don’t know what else to do. I’m ready to leave. The fire has jumped a ridge and my husband has just left to help our friend evacuate with flames directly across his street (this is one mile from where my own house is). He’s a car collector and has two Mercedes Benz cars and a Tesla besides others; we’re not usually acquainted with anyone of those means but my husband knows him through work. I believe we are going to lose our beloved family cottage from 1923 where my great-aunt and great-uncle had lived since the 1940s, and then my husband and I moved in after they were gone and renovated it for almost ten years, selling it just 4 yrs ago. My best friend, Cheri, in Ventura lost her home in the last hour; she’d lived there since 1976. It is unbelievable. Unbelievable. This is when I wish I did more Social Media like Facebook and Twitter rather than mucking up Claudia’s blog. I’ll check in again in a few days but things are pretty desperate for Southern California right now. The wind literally knocks a person off their feet; it is violent. It isn’t a reach that towns like Ventura could burn to the sea if this keeps up; it’s happened before, in Malibu, where fire raced down the canyons and left people standing in the ocean as the only safe place. The problem is that Ventura is running thin on firetrucks, firefighters and water; there’s some problem happening where the water can’t be pumped and there can be a large subdivision with only two trucks. It’s just a long, long-in-length/miles fire and it happened out of nowhere and I’m now seeing perhaps the greatest destruction of my years as a lifelong Californian. I don’t see how my friend Shirley’s house could be spared by now either; it was in the direct path of the fire near Ventura’s City Hall; the fire is like a block from City Hall and a block from Ventura College and THAT is simply unheard of; there are two huge hospitals nearby for the city, both new construction. I just heard again that copters and tankers can’t fly because of the wind, so we’re sunk. Mother Nature will win. Lights are flickering; I’m signing off. Don’t mean to sound like The Drama Queen but this is bad, bad, bad.
Vicki, we’re praying for you. We all feel so powerless but nothing like you must feel. Keep in touch when you can. My heart breaks for everyone who is experiencing such devastating loss. xoxo
Thank you again. I’m losing the timeline as day bleeds into day but I think it was Wednesday when the fire was too close to me, the wind shifted/died enough for the fight from the air to begin (the bombers/copters/jets doing the ‘water’ drops). I had a small window to take a shower (hot water; like the 1-minute shower before likely having to evacuate, after having no hot water earlier) and the sound inside the shower with especially helicopters overhead (magnified) made it sound like a war zone but neighbors in the street were screaming with joy, cheering on the helicopters with water/retardant buckets (scoopers) going back and forth over our neighborhood to the other neighborhood. I seriously was crying with joy. They got in a good 90 minutes of drops and it saved hundreds of homes. I want to get a tee-shirt made that says “Hug a firefighter today!” I wish I could afford to have a hundred of them made and pass them out, telling people to wear them. We do have handmade signs all over town along main streets/roads/neighborhoods which say in big letters, “THANK YOU FIREFIGHTERS FOR SAVING OUR HOUSES.”
They are such heroes. Words can’t express what they do – facing enormous danger to save homes and people and pets. Bless them.
Oh Vicki…I heard about this earlier when I was out shopping and the first thing I thought of was you!…Please take care and be safe…I know it is hard to lose things…I lost many things in a flood when I was younger.,..but nothing is worth losing your life…take care and let us know how you are doing! Hugs, Nancy
Dear Vicki,
Your words are so raw …wherever you are may you find some calm within.
Prayers for you and all of you in this frightful scenario.
Grace, yes, raw; emotions wild; fear does awful things to sanity! I haven’t had too many periods of calm yet but I know it will come. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I’m so grateful to Claudia that she lets us write and communicate on her blog; it’s incredibly generous. I’m still prepared to evacuate as this monster fire is far from over but I was out in the car today and saw so much presence of fire and emergency personnel; they’re doing the work of true heroes (they ARE our heroes!). I’ve been lucky that, so far, I haven’t lost my home when it seems each day I’m learning of someone else who has (it is a gruesome, horrible, horrible wildfire with a devil’s grip on us). Thanks again.
Wonderful to hear from you Vicki….and yes Claudia is a beautiful and generous soul ! It is a nightmarish situation and prayers for you and everyone affected to feel supported and loved in the midst of it.
Nancy, I so appreciate you and everyone thinking of me; thank you. I updated on Friday; Claudia’s been so generous to let me ‘spill’ – love you all (we’re hanging in there).
vicki …
i am sorry for what you all are going through and will add you all to prayers. be safe!
kathy in iowa
Oh, kathy, you are always so thoughtful and caring here on the blog and now you’re extending it to me; thank you; it means so much to me. The prayers are so important. My cousin in San Antonio has me on a prayer chain of 4500 people through his church – not just me particularly but for everyone frightened and affected by the California wildfires; he used to live here in the L.A. area and is feeling that helpless feeling (being so far away in Texas) so, like always, turning to prayer in such times is very, very healing! (My husband used to live in Des Moines!)
Thank you, Claudia. You are a gem to let me comment wildly and long on your blog. It was so nice of you to put the PS on your blog post today. A circle of prayer is a wondrous thing.
In the 70’s I saw Jimmy, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and Les Dudek. Son of a son of a Sailor is my favorite. Lawyers guns and money is a close second. And Jackson Browne, well enough said.
That song is in the show, April.
Claudia, Love the salt shaker painted on wood. Just be sure to take it down once in a while to wipe off the cooking grease that will inevitably collect on it, so it will remain in damaged. Sorry Don came home to less than ideal conditions, but he’s home!
Oh, I know to do that. I wipe everything down!
That salt shaker on wood is just perfect…and the memory associated with it is priceless! The timing of this cold of yours, couldn’t be worse…and sounds like your weather is really crummy too. What the heck? It is cold here…after thunderstorms last night, the cold front zoomed right on into the state.
I’ve heard of ZZ plants before…I’ll have to do some research. Yours is doing quite well. Hope you enjoy your day! ;)
It’s just plain yucky around here! And I’m losing my voice!
Ah! No! ;)
I have 2 Z’s now and each one has quadrupled in size in less than one year! This may become a problem as they are quickly outgrowing any space I have to keep them. Oh No! Indeed they are the absolute best plants I have ever grown. I give them Job spikes on a regular basis and they always have at least 3 new babies going.
Yay to the Z’s. Your little Z, me, and our green ones <3
I haven’t fertilized them yet and will wait to spring to do that, but that’s good to know!
Wow, it definitely sounds like the ZZ plant is in my wheelhouse. I have tons of light in my new place though, southern & western exposures, so on the chance that it LIKES light when it can get it, it may do VERY well here – who knows? Either way, it sounds like a winner. I’ll be on the lookout for them. Oh, did I already ask this? Just wondering if MY favorite Jimmy B song is in “Escape” – it’s a rather obscure one I think – “It’s My Job” – from the “Coconut Telegraph” album. Probably not but it’s a really unique, quirky little tune. I love it. Only heard it on the radio a few times back in the 80s when it first came out. Haven’t heard it since either, but I was able to download it from iTunes last year. Hope the sun comes out soon. SUPER breezy here right now. Peace.
#Resist
I think you did ask because I remember checking with Don at the time. Yes, it’s in the show. Sung by Alison Luff, the female lead.
Prayers for Vicki and all involved with the awful fires. Claudia hope you get better soon.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
Marilyn, thank you for your prayers. They have helped!
I have Zamioculcas zamiifolia and in a long time it has been in a small pot, I have decided to change to a bigger pot and it is developing much more, really it is very resistant, only excess water can rot its roots.
Yes, better to underwater, right?
The shaker painting is such a fun thing and perfect to hang above Stella!…I do hope you are feeling better soon Claudia…I am also hoping that Vicki and others are safe in California!
I am, too. I haven’t heard from them today. We also have two friends who live in Ventura and another friend who is seeing the fire spread to her town. It’s very, very frightening.
We’ve had a lot of power failures. Constant flickering. They’re saying for us to be mindful about charging the phones when possible. Am amazed we’ve had power as much as we’ve had in such a furnace blast as this insidious, horrible fire called The Thomas Fire. So many electrical power lines, poles and transmitters/towers have been destroyed by fire. Cal Edison, the cable companies, etc. are all scrambling, working 24/7 to get us online and keep communication open and working but so many phones (land lines; yep, people still have ’em) are dead/scratchy/busy. They’re saying that SoCalGas is the only utility who hasn’t had a lot of probs.
For days, too, speaking for myself (who is the gabby one with the too-long comments and ‘talking’ a mile a minute, rarely at a loss of written words [like, shut the girl up; puleeeze]), I’ve felt somewhat stunned/speechless as if I couldn’t even talk, much less write, due to fear, worry, fatigue; distraction. I’d come on the computer, needing to email friends and family, and didn’t know what to say. I have a cousin visiting Spain right now (on vacay for a month, lucky guy) and he’s going crazy because he hasn’t been able to communicate with me yet he sees the headlines even ‘way over there in Europe of the wildfires. So I’m going to try to compose a group email tonight since I don’t do the social media thing (which, by the way, I’m rethinking because certainly Facebook has been keeping other people I know in touch, and instantly – that is, when they’ve charged up their phones).
Facebook is good for that. I’ve seen many people declare themselves ‘safe’ on Facebook, which is an immediate and direct way to let everyone who is worried about you know you’re okay.
Thank you, Nancy. I’m still sitting here packed up and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. I updated with a comment today, Friday, on Claudia’s wonderful blog here. I’m dodging the bullets; my hubs and I are okay.
I can’t believe this. My husband just walked in the door and said, “Did you get the evac notice on your phone?” I hadn’t. He’d raced here to come in and say, “It’s time to go. We’ve gotta leave, right now.” And then the minute he said it, we got another emergency alert that they’d lifted the mandatory evac. I didn’t even KNOW we were now on mandatory evac, so what the heck is happening with the emergency alerts. Sheesh! We’re supposed to get a knock on the door or a neighborhood patrol with a megaphone. There must have been a glitch but, wow, another case for nail biting. Especially when right now all I’m hearing is one siren after another, although sirens have become commonplace. Sigh.
So, now, we don’t know what to do again. But wait. Endless waiting. I guess we’re in for another night of hell and this is now the 5th night of HELL. It’s Friday now at 5:15 pm and my husband said he can’t see two feet in front of his face due to the dense smoke outside. It’s the worst smoke yet.
See, it’s been like this since Monday night. Do we or don’t we go; what to do. Completely nerve-breaking.
And go precisely where? The evac shelter is, again, just 0.2 miles from my front door, so if we evac, that means they’re evacuating, too. You can’t find a hotel/motel room in Ventura County. Our neighbors had friends who evacuated Tuesday morning at 2am (they live 2 miles from us), couldn’t find a motel/hotel room, drove to the L.A. county line at Santa Clarita/Valencia, found a room, only to evac because then THAT area had The Rye Fire start up. Not to coin a Trump phrase, but this is a frick’in DISASTER. I wish I had a trailer or motor home. You can go in any of the neighborhoods around here and trailers are hooked up to trucks, backed up in driveways ready to nose out at a moment’s notice. At least you’d have a bed for the night…if you can just find a safe place to park a trailer.
I know. My ‘godsister’ Kay has a trailer or motor home of some sort and they went up the coast in it when the last hurricane was coming through Florida. Just got in it and drove away.
Claudia, I haven’t kept up of late due
to some bug that settled in my chest
and haven’t been able to shake the
cough. Is that what you are experiencing?
So glad Don is home and that he got
Well so quickly.
Your plants are amazing. They flourish
In your good care.
Didn’t know about the fires until
Reading your post this morning. Will
Pray and call others to do the same.
Yes, it sounds like what I have, Joan.
Thank you!
I live in the fire zone, Joan. Thank you for any and all prayers!
One very interesting about the ZZ plant is that it can grow an entire new plant from a leaf. Just stick the end that was attached in the soil & wait.
I have them outside and they’ve dropped leaves and spread over an entire area. I have to take a lot of them out. If anyone’s in Ft. Lauderdale, or nearby, I’ll be happy to give them away.
Hoping for the best with the terrible fires
Wonderful ZZ plants! How lucky you are to have them outside, Cara!
I’m in Ventura County in the fire zone, Cara. Thank you for your thoughts; we need everyone’s good, positive, healing thoughts and hopes.