I'm Walking on Sunshine

When the weather is nice I like to walk home from the gym.  In Benicia the weather is nice more often than it isn't.  The gym is one mile from my house and the walk is always enjoyable.  I almost always choose the same because it has the most sidewalks.  Today I snapped some pics as I walked along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Almost home!

 Ah, Wellington.

 Look who was waiting for me!

 She knows where we're going.

 Time for kitty cat lunch.  And yogurt for me!

Houses of Benicia

The light was gorgeous in the evening when we took our walk.  It had been a fairly hot day, but it's always a bit cooler down by the water, so The Hub and I often take a bit of a stroll downtown as the sun sets.

 

This row of houses was particularly evocative.  On the right is an apartment building which looks to have been built in the 1950s.  Next to it are a couple of typical bungalows.  This is the 100 block of West J Street.

Speaking of bungalows, how's my favorite Benicia bungalow?  Just frickin gorgeous.  Part of the upstairs had a bit of rot from what I like to call an attack of the weather.  It could happen to anyone.  So The Hub got some special lumber milled and replaced the rotted area, then he painted it with special paint he had gotten matched since the architect couldn't remember the paint colors.  We spent quite a few weeks in 2011 trying to match the color and we got pretty close.  A couple of weeks ago someone ding-donged and asked for our house color, if we wouldn't mind.  We wouldn't, but I'm not sure how helpful our Ace Hardware "formula" was.  This woman said she has been driving past Wellington for a year and admiring him.  He's become a bit of a celebrity around these parts, at least in my own mind.

We're happy with him, anyway.  And there was a time when no one would have taken a second look at poor old Wellington.  Luckily those days have past.

Wellington Update 2013

Last July I divided Wellington into Zones and took pictures of every zone.  It's a year later, and it's fun to compare the pictures and see what has changed, grown and acclimated in this last year.  Here is a link to that post, but I have also included the old pictures on this post for easier comparison.

 

Also, last year I used my good camera.  This year I was too lazy and just used my iPhone.

 

Here is the little Christmas Tree in the pot on the porch.

 It has grown and has had its pot changed.  Below is one of the crepe myrtles and Ernie, the oak tree.

The crepe myrtle has really gotten bigger.  And for some reason it's really blooming, even though the top picture was taken July 24, 2012 and the bottom July 21, 2013.  Below is one of the pittosporums, the other crepe myrtle, and in the center the Forest Pansy Redbud.

I didn't get the pittosporum in this picture, unfortunately.  They have really come along nicely.  But you can see the Forest Pansy there behind this crepe myrtle.   The Lady Banks in the picture below is gorgeous in the springtime. 

Here it is this year.  The tea tree in front has really filled in.  Below is the bouganvillia that we are trying to get to grow up the porch post.  It got hit pretty hard this winter by the frost.

But look how gorgeous it is anyway!  Below is the Japanese maple and also the hedge growing below the window.

The Japanese maple has really gotten taller, but look at the hedge!  It is really thickening up.  And the topiary pots on either side of the steps are growing a lot.  I don't have a picture of them last July, but they have really taken off.  Below is the other Lady Banks.

And here is the Lady Banks this year.  You can see a sprout of a branch sticking off towards the left.  Below is the butterfly bush in 2012.

The sun was hitting this spot, but you can see how the butterfly bush has grown quite a bit.  I heard from a friend that this bush will be hard to keep this size.  But Justin is pretty good at keeping after it.  Below is the little Granny Smith apple tree.

 This year the apple tree has two apples.  Below is the little sitting area.

And here it is this year with its avocado pot.  Below is the Arbor Walk in 2012.

And here is the lovely Arbor Walk in 2013.  It's still my favorite spot in the garden.  Below is the baby olive tree and the vines we're trying to grow to obscure the neighbor's awful garage.  Also the little cypress tree growing along the fence.

And in 2013.  It's filling in nicely.  I can't wait to see how it looks in 2014! 

Flowers and Fruit

As usual, there has been a lot of planting here at Wellington.  A new lime tree named Winthrop, various flowering grasses and this gorgeous clematis that was on sale.  It has only been in the ground a few days and it is already showing off!

Even more exciting is the single apricot.  Two and a half years ago we planted this poor little apricot tree in the Arbor Walk.  I never saw a blossom on it.  But apparently there was at least one blossom, because this year he produced this single apricot.  And this afternoon I ate it.

I actually shared it with the big guy.  But only one bite.  It was the best apricot I've ever eaten, and I'm not just saying that.  It was tangy, yet sweet.  Firm, yet juicy.  Yummy, yet eaten.

We had a huge crop of peaches.  They were pretty good, too.  Except we left the last batch on the tree too long and they got mealy.  But while they were ripe, they were very good.  We were really happy with this batch.  And we're very happy with Wellington.

Benicia Sightings

Yesterday at the harbor there was a fairly cool sight which I failed to capture.  A rather large ship was passing by with tugboats on either end.  I think there was some kind of a barge in there also, but I can't tell by looking at this picture.  It was another nice day, though.

On Friday the little boy and his friend were taking a walk to the water, so I tagged along.  It was hot and beautiful.

Meanwhile back at Wellington, the little snippet that I clipped from the plant in Grass Valley one year ago is positively THRIVING.  Loyal readers will remember that I had the cutting in water in a jar in my kitchen for a while.  It rooted.  The Hub planted it, after which all three of its leaves fell off.  But they came back!

It's mother was gorgeous, so I have high hopes.

The Fruits of Wellington and a Trip to Carmel

Some of us have been out of town.  Mostly to New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.  But they're all close together so it hardly counts.

Back in town, I noticed that Wellington's fruits are positively POPPING.

This is our very first apricot!  This poor little tree was a hand-me-down that was planted as we were making the Arbor Walk.  He arrived all wind-blown from his trip 35 miles in a truck.  His trunk is scarred.  It took him two and a half years to pop out a piece of fruit.  And frankly I don't remember seeing a blossom on this tree.  But there's the apricot!  Proof of fertility if I ever saw it.

Speaking of apricots, here is one of Sybil's plums.  She has quite a few.  But her apricot stick remains fruitless.  She has a couple of peaches, but I think they're duds.

The red apple tree has zero apples.  The green apple tree has two apples, a green one and this reddish one. I'm not complaining.  I'll take what I get.

The problem with living at Wellington is that he is so beautifully located that it's hard to think of somewhere ELSE to go when someone has a birthday or other special occasion to celebrate.  The Dot had her 25th birthday this weekend and decided that she would like to take a family drive to Carmel.  Carmel is a beautiful town only two hours from Wellington.  It was very hot at Wellington, so Carmel seemed like a perfect solution.  72 degrees and sunny.  My favorite.

A saw this cute little house and snapped this cute little pic.  There were a couple of houses for sale along this street, called Ocean Boulevard on account of the fact that it leads to the ocean.  One house was a cute little brick four bedroom with a guest house.  It is a mere $5,500,000.  Another house right at the beach is just over $8,000,000.  Luckily we're happy at Wellington.

 But Carmel is beautiful.

We finished up with a glass of wine at The Lodge.  Some people were playing a round of golf or so.  It was a gorgeous day.