I’ve been wanting to take the Jelly Belly factory tour ever since we passed it the first time on I80 between Berkeley and Davis.  This past weekend, we finally made it.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos on the tour, which disappointed me, as I had been looking forward to capturing vast vats of shining cinnamon beans, but I can definitely say that we learned a few things we hadn’t known before.  For example, when you walk in, it is hard to determine if the mascot of the candy company is a big red bean, or President Ronald Reagan.  Eventually, one finds out that the former president is pretty much single-handedly responsible for the popularity of Jelly Belly jellybeans in the United States, having made them the candy of choice in both the California governor’s mansion, and later, in the White House.  They must have had at least five different jellybean mosaic portraits of him displayed prominently next to Washington, Lincoln, Franklin, and Monroe (Marilyn, not James in this case).

Here are two of them, and one I was particularly drawn to of young Queen Elizabeth:

Throughout the tour, at different stopping points, they give each member of the group a single bean. This is a particularly effective way to make everyone salivate for a bag by the end, and as I nursed my second bean, a bubblegum-flavored uncured morsel of sugar and cornstarch, I remembered learning about fasting at church in Connecticut.  Our Sunday-school teacher told us that while amateurs will rush for a hamburger after a several-day fast, her brother, who had apparently become quite good at it, would spend his first post-fast hours cherishing a single raisin.

I must admit that I was far more in tune to the subtleties of the three beans they gave us on the tour than the many we ate (way too fast) after we were released and able to purchase a two pound bag of Belly Flops, which are the beans that are rejected from the conveyor belt for being either too big, too small, deformed, or discolored.  (I have compiled a little collection of the more extreme examples from our bag above.)

And that, my friends, is a sweet way to spend a rainy weekend in California.

Just in case you were wondering how the ceramic piece from the previous post looks when it is filled with foliage, here’s a glimpse.  I ran into a few planting issues.  For example, planting the little succulents in the opening on the side of the vase was a little tricky, plus I had to cut away about half of the root base of the orchid because I mis-remembered the size of the vase opening.  So, I think this orchid might last about 24 hours, but isn’t she gorgeous now.  I refer to her as she, because I think she looks like she is singing in an opera!  Okay, so I added the eyes, but the singing mouth is totally real!  Can’t you just hear her?  “O sole mio-ooooo!”
Thank you Jules for my new Opera Stage Vase.  I plan to use it as a venue for many visiting orchid stars.  Bravo!

Now that it’s not a secret anymore, here’s how Jules’s flower pot turned out after glazing.  (This is Mom posing with it on Christmas day.)  I don’t know if there is anything gorgeous pouring out of the peep-hole yet or not, but it’s only a matter of time!  I feel like we need to find a yellow orchid with black stripes to put in this beehive-motif pot…

We are FINALLY taking down our Christmas tree.  Is there anyone else out there as late as we are?  Anyway, I was sort of intrigued with the groups of ornaments which were waiting in Ornament Purgatory … somewhere between hanging on the tree and returning to their off-season homes, so I snapped this picture.  And it’s a good thing I did, because it turned out to be Exhibit A!

When we did finally begin to place them into their proper ornament boxes, I noticed that the Bunny Groom was missing.  I noticed, because I always put him in the same ziploc bag as the Bunny Bride.  My helpers suggested that maybe he had not made it onto the tree this year, but I was positive that I had taken him down with his bride.  And, in fact, I had taken a photo of him … See?!  There he is … upper right … our handsome groom bunny. Proof positive.
So we searched hither and yon and the dapper groom was nowhere to be found.  Hmmmm … we  turned to Neville (our carol-singing dog of whom we were so proud at Christmastime) … “Neville, you didn’t steal the bunny groom did you?”
“He couldn’t have,” I said, trying to defend my obedient fella.  “I have been here all along, and all the other ornaments are still here … he would have had to pluck it out of the pile like a pick-up stick game!”  Then, suddenly, and I kid you not, Neville raced out the back door to the back gate, where he immediately turned himself in as the culprit and pointed to the mutilated groom … okay, well he did seem to be proud rather than remorseful, but still, he did fess up!  See his handiwork below.
We think our husband-to-be now looks like a groom who was mugged on the way to the wedding, but his adoring bride loves him anyway. It’s a rough start for this little bunny fella in the new year, but things can only look up from here.  Happy 2010 everyone.

(And, just so you know, Neville has been placed in Maximum Security (the backyard) until all ornaments are boxed and stored safely.  We are hoping that he will only have to endure two or three hours before being released for good behavior.  However, now that he has had a little taste of bunny ornament, our question is, will he try it again next year … and perhaps, right off the tree?  We may have to hire a rehabilitation officer to work with Nev to help him with his new problem. We’ll keep you posted on his progress.)

We have planted and replanted these pots for years.  And this year, we filled them with succulents, which to our delight, have been thriving, except for one small snaffoo … rain! Often, after a big rain, the water coming off of our roof forms deep rivulets forcing hunks of soil and roots out of the pots. Although we are grateful for the rain, we are not happy to have to buy replacement plants and start anew.  So this year, and I’m not sure why it took me so long to think of this idea, I bought three umbrellas at the grocery store for the pots under the heaviest downpour areas, and guess what?  IT WORKED!  All of our shallow-rooted succulents are in perfect condition.  Plus, everyone who has come by has remarked on the fashionable attire of our potted plants during inclement weather … no rainy day blues here!

In her early years, my sister Jules had an incredible gift for finding those tiny little hidden objects in the pages of I Spy books. I was more of a Little House on the Prairie girl myself, but I remember spending many hours with Jules looking through those spreads of things – so many things – and wondering, where on earth did the people who made these books find all that stuff?

Well, they definitely could have found them at Creative Reuse a Goodwill-like donation and purchase shop on Telegraph in Oakland, where you can donate your old art materials and get a great deal on…well…stuff.

Yes, boxes and baskets and bins of shells, corks, bottles, crayons, caps, candles, stoppers, beakers, and anything else that might have been donated by someone who – for whatever reason – had a few extra boxes of, say, cards that say “this product is organic.”

I went down there hoping to pick up a stockpile of backing cardboard, but I think that Creative Reuse is a place you have to go without any hopes or expectations – like a garage sale, really.  Because you may not find your cardboard, but you will certainly stand there wondering, “What could I possibly do with ten pounds of corks and an old cassette box?”

Any ideas?

Recently, one of our favorite babysitters from Margaret’s little years, came to town for a visit and brought her own precious little ones.  Here is her cute toddler christening her Little Pond melamine dish set.  It was good to see that it could be bonked, dropped and dinked, and still be ready for mac and cheese.  Also, Neville, our all-boy puppy would like to thank Charity’s adorable all-boy son, for taking him on an adventure trek in our backyard wilderness.  Neville had so much fun that he had to take a four-hour nap afterward!
We loved seeing Charity, our great babysitter-now-teacher and her adorable family.  Maybe one of our girls can babysit for her now!

Here’s a picture we found of Margaret, our now 16-year-old, when she was four, with her wonderful babysitter, Charity, mother of cute toddler above, who was a student at UT at the time.  You just have to love a babysitter who is willing to play dress-up, and hide in tents, and crawl into club houses, and whose name is Charity!

It was a rainy day and Neville reeked.  So off we went to Dirty Dog, a washateria for dogs, or we like to think of it as a day at the spa for Nev.

Let’s just say that spa life is not his cup of tea.  He did not like the special ear-cleaning towelettes. He did not like the shampoo. He did not like the rinse.  He did not like the blow drying. And when we tried to spray him with the Doggy Cologne, he just wanted to eat it.  But, after all that agony, he did smell great, and he was as soft as chenille.  If he could have spoken English, I’m pretty sure he would have said, “Hey, I look good!”

After his uneasy day at the self-serve groomer (he had figured out by now that it wasn’t really a spa), we treated Neville with a visit to Petco.  (They actually allow dogs to shop with their owners–brilliant marketing–sort of like walking with a toddler on the sugar-cereal aisle.)  Neville talked us into buying some fresh acrylic chew-bones and a new pheasant toy since he had been such a good sport at the washateria.

And, since he was feeling all gussied up and frisky, he sidled up to the rawhide bar and had himself a much deserved fancy treat.  Ahhh, this is the life.