we had a very special guest this weekend. my 9 (almost 10!) year old cousin comes every year for an annual girls-weekend. no pedicures or manicures for this one, we put her to work. last trip she learned about pouring concrete and leveling hillsides. this time we took it a bit easier and worked in the garden. she planted strawberries, harvested carrots and beets, planted a pepper tree, took in the sunset and made pasta from scratch....

we've been looking for a coffee table for EONS now. my mother knows (from experience) how picky i am. i'm so picky that i swear i'll learn how to do everything myself (making shoes,etc...) because i can't find what i imagine in my head. still haven't learned to cobble.
back to the coffee table. nothing doing. we've been searching and searching and went out to antique flea market (aka antiques market) on saturday, walked miles (dad, didn't count it. don't worry) and found zilch. but i'm not alone here, curt's as nuts as i am. he says he's not, but he's picky too. it's fine. we'll find something.

update: we found something! on ebay...it's on the way.


to make ourselves feel a bit productive after the sun-drenched morning, we swung by our favorite hardware store and rescued a little sequoia that's been there for a while now.
curt had his eye on it for some time now...we figured since the little guy's been living down the street from us he'd be well adjusted to the environment and not get too home sick. we picked a spot on one of the slopes with a nice view of san francisco and moved him to his new home.recognize the mulch around the base of our new friend? it's courtesy of our old dead and shredded friends...some from this very same spot.
next project for the day? dealing with our newly diagnosed case of scale. you can read about battle over here.
after finishing the work, we took off for a sunset hike up to the top of our hill. it's pretty amazing right now....all of the almond trees are in bloom and the air smells sweet and like almond oil.we found poppies in bloom, and finally, sunset and view from hill:
and sunset and view through our binoculars:

oh man, i'm sore. after a weekend of digging, shoveling, digging, shoveling, painting, raking and shoveling, my body is sore. curt too. i'm no lightweight. and look! for reals this time: ta da!
but let's go backwards first: we poured the steps last weekendthen inscribed and decorated (some seashells from various travels and a stone that curt found in our yard that looks like africa). we capped the wall off with a lovely finishing touch (we call it german finesse)of a little ledge all around.pulled yanked coaxed chainsawed took out the funky old stump that stood between us and a clear path in front of the wall,shoveled loads of dirt,and then busted out the painti don't even have pictures of the rose bushes we battled or the battle scars endured, but trust me. it was rough....luckily we still had enough daylight to fawn over the new colors on the persimmon tree, the hawks circling above and our perfect california light. not a bad sunday, eh?
and a quick before and after (click for a larger view):

ta-da! we're done! of course, not really and truly done, but we hammered smashed jackhammered in the last of the rebar on our wall and lay the last piece of wood.

some quick specifications acc. to curt: 1/2", 7ft rebar, 3ft. below the ground, spaced every 4 ft and double reinforced at intersections of 25 ft long wall (4 ft tall); 2, 4x8 deadmans in the middle and at each end we put nice drainage in (look papa! gravel...)and caulked (think the wall might be held together with caulk)...it still needs to be painted, we need to move the dirt behind it and then there's the stairs. oh boy. the projects just keep coming...or we keep bringing them, i guess.
we're rebuilding the first two steps that lead up past the perfect new wall. curt started it last evening as the sun was setting and he was determined to get it framed before we called it quits for the day. i called it quits when we couldn't see any longer, but he kept going. that blur below is him and the light of his handy new flashlight.
check out what a few days of rain has done for the backyard. it's pretty wonderful.

and finally, some photos of the living room:

the fabled ebay couch arrived and after much frustration, clamping and wood glue, it made it to the living room. the cushions are pretty hideous so you'll have to do your best to imagine them covered with a deep forest green velvet. until then maybe just squint your eyes.we just brought our little wood-burning stove back in from it's outdoor summer storage place. we still need to get him all fixed up and get a chimney for him but here's where he'll live.
craigslist vintage cabinet turned in to our makeshift tv storage (originally from bullocks!)and the gorgeous hand-me-down vinyl wingback chair....my favorite knitting corner. we've yet to find the perfect coffee table (curt tells me it might live in germany, at his mother's home), there's no molding or baseboards and the curtains haven't been hemmed but it's coming along. we haven't decorated or put any art up, that'll come soon, but we did bring home a new bookcase today. photos of that will be next.