Author Archives: Sonrisa

My kitty woke me up early on my birthday to this beautiful sunrise. What a gift! It reminded me that in spite of the tough year we had in 2020, there was still much beauty in the world to be thankful for this morning. And now we are about to turn the page to spring,Continue reading “BIRTHDAY GIFT”

The Golden Orb spiders arrived early this year. In mid-August, they came in droves to my property. They spin the most beautiful big spiral webs. The first one caught me unawares as I walked outside to get the newspaper. It had attached itself from our hedge to my car. I walked right into it inContinue reading “THE GOLDEN ORB SPIDERS”

I have a very old cactus growing in a pot by our back patio. It has been there since we moved into the house. Friends have suggested I get rid of the ugly, old, half dead looking cactus. It is true that it is old and grey, but when it blooms, it is gorgeous. TheContinue reading “NIGHT BLOOMING CACTUS”

As I was out watering today, the Monarch came to me nearly landing on my hand. As I moved around the garden to where my Golden Barrel cactus sat, I looked down and to my surprise, found a Monarch caterpillar eating the milkweed that grew oddly in that pot. The Golden cactus is quite sharp.Continue reading “THE MONARCH HAS CHOSEN ITS SITE”

(Written May 22, 2020) The breeze has kicked up this afternoon. We are sitting outside on our patio listening to Cuban music –Congo de Cuba. I look over and see my sunflowers gently swaying in time to the music. Even when the breeze stills, the sunflowers dance on. My husband and I like to danceContinue reading “THE DANCE OF THE SUNFLOWERS”

Finally we spotted a Monarch in our garden. It is happily flying around and even comes quite close to my husband and I. I planted lots of tropical milkweed for them along with a fuzzy variety with pink flowers that my friend told me about. I am still waiting for those fuzzy seeds to comeContinue reading “THE MONARCHS”

I awoke to the sweet sound of rain last Monday morning. It’s mid May so rain is a gift in California. My cat Lilly woke me early to let her out. She loves drinking the rain water from our table on the porch. For a cat, she loves water and even the rain. I plantedContinue reading “MAY SHOWERS BRING JUNE FLOWERS”

I have a small vineyard in my backyard. Depending on the weather, I can get 8-10 gallons of wine out of my grapes which are mostly Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, with a few Syrah and Grenache vines in the mix. The Sangiovese grapes were already here when we bought the house growing in a wild profusionContinue reading “I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE”

Somewhere in the dark days of late fall, before the coronavirus hit, I decided to tear up my weed cloth by my back patio and outside my office window to plant a garden for the bees. I had planted a smaller bee garden last summer and was so successful that the bees took up homeContinue reading “THE BEE GARDEN”