Category Archives: Backyard
Inspiration from Maui
While visiting Maui over New Years, I saw the best example of modern tropical landscaping. The Mauian, a boutique hotel on Napili Bay was originally built in the 1950s. It was recently renovated and I think they did a great job marrying the retro vibe with modern aesthetics.
This is exactly the look I want for the back porch. I love the look of the deep greens and purples. I think they would look fabulous against our celery green house and grey concrete.
A what? Our Kumquat Tree
One of my favorite things about our backyard is our little kumquat tree. Kumquats are small, oval citrus fruit that have a sour sweet flavor. You eat the fruit whole – rind and all – minus the seeds. I think they are wonderful, but you have to enjoy tangy fruits to eat them raw.
To expand my knowledge about this little fruit, I have been researching on the old internet for some good kumquat recipes. It seems the most popular ways to use kumquats is in a marmalade, cocktails or in a glaze for a protein like chicken.
I’ve printed out a bunch of recipes that sounded the most intriguing to try including a vinaigrette, a hot tea, fresh juice, scones, grilled chicken, slaw, cookies, daal, a cocktail and liqueur.
I plan on starting with fresh juice and vinaigrette then moving to the main dishes. This weekend will be a perfect time to set up my liqueur.
King of Fruits? Things I learned about the Avocado Tree.
One of the best surprises about our house was learning that our neighbors have a giant avocado tree that hangs over our property. Like most California natives, I grew up on avocados. I thing they are one of the best fruits full of good fats and nutrients.
Last year was a bummer. The trees didn’t produce very much fruit. Guess the weather wasn’t good for it. It was a major let down, but I hoped the harvest would be better this year.
So you can imagine my excitement now that our tree is now covered with fruit.
So are the squirrels who have been dropping the fruit like mad after eating one bite. (Don’t worry – I try to save as many as I can that they bite into. I just cut that part off the fruit before using.)
I did learn an interesting fact though – avocados do not ripen until they fall or are picked from the tree, so the squirrels are actually doing me a favor by dropping the fruit.
California produces about 90 percent of the nation’s avocado crop, but most are grown in Southern California because avocado trees are very susceptible to severe cold. How this particular tree survives the winter frost is a mystery. From what I can tell, it must be a Mexican variety that has the greatest tolerance to cold.
Speaking of the actual avocados. Our avocados are not your typical Hass variety you find in the grocery store. They have a smooth black skin and are smaller than the Hass avocado with little tiny seeds. The skin is very thin and a little difficult to peel, but I am working on my technique.
At first I was going to try and pick as many as I could at once, but now I am just using what drops which is plenty.
I see a fruitful month ahead of me. 
A single California Avocado tree can produce about 500 avocados (or 200 pounds of fruit) a year so I am just taking it one avocado at a time.
Door Install Part 1
Although the new windows were very exciting, Nate and I were both thrilled to finally get in our new working doors. Their installation made an instant visual upgrade to our house.
The most complicated install was our double slider. Its original configuration was not structurally sound so the new door was pre-built with the panes of glass above the actual door to give it as much support as possible.
Now all the windows and doors just need to be framed with trim and we are good to go!
Windows Part Three
Crazy how one change can make the house look so different.
It’s such a relief to see that our dream of opening up the front room not only looks great, but looks right.
The actual opening for the window was not easy. The installers had to cut each side of the concrete block before they could bust out the opening.
Then frame the unfinished concrete with wood and set in the window.
A lot of hard work, buy boy does it look good.
And now we finally have light in the front room.
It is so much more inviting. I love it.
Windows Install Part 2
I think I mentioned that today is the BEGINNING of our entire house window and door install. We have been waiting almost three months for these babies to get placed in our house. Needless to say, as my work day progressed I was more and more nervous to drive home and see what progress had been made.
As I pulled into the driveway, I immediately saw a difference.
All the windows minus the front window next to the door had been replaced.
Because of the cost associated with completely removing the frames from our concrete block construction, our windows are actually retrofitted. This means that the installers removed as much of the original window frame as the could from the opening and then installed the new window on top of the original frame. Basically all the windows are a little smaller to fit and the framing is a little larger.
You can see the extra “frame” on this window compared to the older one.
If we had the resource to remove all the frames, I would have done it. No question, but given our choices I don’t think the larger frame is too bad. Certainly something I can work with!
Our giant panes of glass along the interior patio were also replaced with two paned glass. This was one of the jobs that I did not want to do myself! It was an easy decision to leave the removing and disposal of the glass to the professionals.
The interior framing of all the windows will happen next week when the doors are installed.
Tomorrow the guys will finish the front picture window. This should be our most dramatic change. Stay tuned!!
Windows Install Part 1
I am so happy to announce that our windows are being installed today. (Can I have a big woo hoo!!!) The wait has been excruciating long, but now I can finally see what all this patience has earned me. (Double paned windows, baby!!)
The crew arrived right before 8AM with a trailer packed tightly with all our new windows. I saw a few glimpses before I headed to work, but I will have to wait through the work day before I see the transformation. We have been told that the window install will take two days so this is only the very beginning of the process.
