Pretty Peach
4:42 p.m. - 2004-02-11


Another lovely day. I used to get out into the outdoors more when I was a kid, because I had to walk a long way (through snow without shoes) to school, and I was a very noticing kind of person. When my town was young, the area where I would eventually walk was out in the country, and a wealthy doctor and his wife built a country estate on a low hill. They lined their long driveway with almond trees, and though that was a hundred years ago, a few of the trees remain. Houses have been built along what was once the drive, but there used to be an almond tree in every front yard. When I was in high school, a lot more of the trees were alive, and in the spring the street was lined with blossoms. At the foot of the hill the mansion was on (it is still there, actually, but owned by a church which uses it for churchy purposes) is a house built in the Japanese style. It has had several owners since then, but in my day, it was in its prime. It had the rice paper window screens, and a really special peach tree in the front yard with branches trained to hang down like a weeping willow. In the spring, it bloomed thickly with pink blossoms. I always wondered who lived there, and why they had that kind of house.

My house has its own share of early spring wonders. I have violets in the front and back yards, narcissi, and lilies of the valley. Mrs. B used to have the lilies of the valley in her yard, but she gave me a few, and they spread like weeds. We also have a wild flower that I first remember seeing at the Benicia Capitol Museum. The plant looks like clover, but sends up long stalks with clusters of yellow flowers. I always wanted some, and finally found some and put a few in the back yard, only to have them also spread like weeds. As the spring advances, the fruit trees bloom along with the grape hyacinths. I love spring, even though I sneeze through most of it.

I am trying to sew a little every day, and this week I am making another long-sleeved shirt in aqua with little hands and trowels on it. Sounds stupid, looks good.

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Now I am back from Jason's and wanted to put this down while it is fresh in my mind. Remember William Hung from American Idol? He was the engineering student who hadn't "had any professional training", and who was terrible but charmingly so. He goes to Berkeley, and Joel ran into him today. He started laughing when he saw him, and William said "Oh, you recognize me!" Apparently, Joel says, William is having his 15 minutes of fame, and has given a little concert and has thousands of people voting to have him called back on the show. I hope he is having lots of fun with it all. Joel says he has a website that's pretty funny, so I am going to go look for it now.