Hi, everyone,

It’s been many weeks since I last put up a status report, and I apologize.  My attention has been divided in several directions this past few months, so this will be kind of a catch-up blog.

Nana Camp

After a few weeks of opening boxes and settling into my apartment in Calabasas, I began hosting my nearly five-year-old granddaughter for adventures, meals, and naps. Meanwhile, her father spent six weeks driving daily between Woodland Hills and Westwood to be with my expecting daughter-in-law, who was on bed rest at UCLA medical center.   I waited anxiously for the chance to hold this newest granddaughter. She was born by Cesarean section on August 9 but spent a month in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to finish gestating. I had to be satisfied with daily iPhone photos from her mom and dad, who spent most of every day in the NICU with their tiny daughter. 

Homeowner Angst

During this time of waiting, my heart ached for my lovely little house in Santa Cruz. It was being torn apart in search of a leak that had been raising a lump in the living room floor. The beautiful hardwood flooring was removed, and the subfloor, and the kitchen floor too. Rotten pipes were replaced with new ones, and the hardwood was replaced with synthetic flooring, which isn’t half so attractive. All in all, it took a month, disrupted the lives of my lovely tenants, and cost an amazing amount of money.

No one told me that when you purchase an old house, you should open a separate bank account for its care and feeding – and maybe take a second job. Since purchasing that 1960s house ten years ago, I’ve installed gutters, replaced two roof vents that were installed upside down, repaired the water damage from the leaking roof vents, re-landscaped the back yard to keep water from seeping into my bedroom whenever it rained, replaced most of the plumbing in the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry, and so much more. I painted, carpeted, replaced sagging gates and installed new hinges and latches, dug out the shallow pond to make a raccoon-proof home for my goldfish, constructed a deck and pergola, and installed the hot tub I write about so often.  I miss my house and my prolific garden. It is the source of the homesickness I feel most days, but I balance that with the pleasure I experience living near my son and his family and being included in family activities.

Apartment Gardening

The latest draw on my attention has been the construction of my patio garden here in Calabasas, which many of you have asked about.  I finally found a solution to my Border Collie, Kismet, scaling the 3-1/2 foot wall around the patio – installing planters that fit over the wall, and add just enough height to discourage her from even trying.  I explored all the garden centers within ten miles and purchased potting soil and a random selection of sun-loving plants in order to see which survive and which don’t. The challenge is that the wall is under a balcony, and only gets sun about four hours a day — but it gets 90-100 degree heat eight to ten hours.  I spend a lot of time walking back and forth with the little yellow watering can I bought for my granddaughter, and I enjoy looking at all the colors. 

It’s been a busy month.  But the waiting is over at last.  Baby Brighton came home late last week, and I finally got to hold her. Several times.

Family Time

Her mama is home too, and just in time for soccer season. Just getting from the middle school parking lot to the playing field on Sunday was an adventure: my son pulled a wagon that held soccer equipment, four water bottles, a sunshade and snacks, a seat up front for Adelaide, and a suspended cot for her baby sister; mama and grandma power-walked to keep up. Then there was the game. Under-Six soccer doesn’t bear much resemblance to international league soccer, but it was lots of fun to watch and to cheer our little player on from the sidelines. I must say, she and her assistant coach dad looked pretty cool in their matching Day-Glo green shirts.

Much as I enjoyed being the backup driver and child care provider during this period, I hope life settles down a bit now, and that I can find a routine. I’m still teaching two sections of child development online, which gives some structure to my days. I’m also editing my new version of Organic Cooking for publication before Christmas. So – I have many hours to go of staring at a screen and making decisions about sentence structure, word choice, and punctuation.  Not the fun part of writing a book, but necessary. I’m looking forward to fall weather (do they have fall weather in Southern California?) and working on my new mystery novel.

Perhaps I’ll share the first chapter with you next time!

What have you been up to this summer? I hope you’ll share in the comments section.

Marlene

Marlene Anne Bumgarner moved to the California coast when her first grandchild was born. The author of The Book of Whole Grains, Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Mothers and Working with SchoolAge Children, her latest book is Back to the Land in Silicon Valley.