Tunnel Tops Field Trip

There are so many things I would like to be doing but I swear I am just absolutely bone tired. SO TIRED. All the time. Like, really, really, really tired. I suspect perimenopause and I do not like it.

Anyway, my tiny baby is going off to college and before that he is heading off to Iceland with his Dad. I am not joining them because it is a biking trip and like I said, I am too freaking tired to do that shit. I can however muster the energy for a local field trip to Tunnel Tops park.

We started with lunch at the cute little cafe and then lounged around in the windy sun. There are lots of good seating areas to choose from and we tried them all. I do love the wooden benches that echo the distant landscape of Marin.

I may have talked a bit too much about plants. but look how gorgeous these colors and shapes are. I just want to paint them.

We visited the very cool natural playscape. I stacked some wood with some little girls and had fun with them. I absolutely love a playscape with natural loose parts. They had an area with smaller loose parts and this area with much larger sticks to build with. So cool! I took a picture of Jack jumping on some tree stumps and I MUST find the pic of him doing the same thing at the playscape I designed at his elementary school. It looks like they might be expanding the garden in some way too. there is a new undeveloped area fenced off.

Our ultimate goal was to make it all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Walking along the beach and lagoon areas was also very beautiful!

Gorgeous color and texture along the SF bay coast

As we approach the bridge I am getting a bit tired and it is so cold and windy!!!

It has been like 30 years since I have been around this particular area. I swear there were not so many gift shops back then.

We got like 5 steps onto the bridge and turned around. :D

There was no way I was making it back so we rented Lime scooters and zoomed back really satisfyingly. This was definitely a very good and satisfying field trip.

Children's Garden

This was a delightful garden to work on. The client had purchased a home with an enchanting, wonderfully quirky garden full of surprises around every corner. As someone who grew up loving the book 'A Secret Garden', I found myself not so secretly envious of the children who would grow up with is garden.

There was an area that was designatied as a children's garden and it needed a redo. It was hard packed dirt and weeds after refurbishing the two story playhouse. Other parts the garden were overgrown, the grape stake fence was overbearing and the gates no longer worked.

The designated children's area needed a complete makeover after the two-story playhouse renovation, leaving behind hard-packed dirt and weeds. Other sections had become overgrown, the grape stake fencing felt overwhelming, and the gates were no longer functional.

Our goal was to open up the space while maintaining its character as a children's haven. Given the shady conditions, we chose kurapia over traditional grass for the lawn. We were fortunate to find sod rather than plugs, creating an instant lawn that would also reduce bee activity in this shadier spot.

We installed a round TerraTrellis as the garden entrance and replaced the heavy grape stake fencing with an airy cable rail system. Both will eventually be softened with climbing vines for added privacy. The design includes a circular gravel seating area with a curved bench, plus natural tree stumps and boulders for play. A concrete patio with a picnic table for crafts, while raised beds provide space for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Time for a Tea Party

Just a few pics from our back porch tea party. We have some delicious treats from Lovejoy’s in SF plus some extra crumpets and pastries.

A trip to Lake Merritt Garden

A little stir crazy during this dumb pandemic? Thankfully, we have so many lovely places to visit and the weather that makes it even nicer.

This is a fun new area with pots and succulents.

I spy a new play area over there.

This looks like another new area. some awesome boulders and a twig teepee structure. I def want to play here.

I’m currently obsessed with Daniel Smith Pyroll Orange. It is perfect for this cone.

Watercolor sketchbook with some pots and succulents and an orange cone.

Discovering the Extraordinary Playscapes Exhibit

During our trip, we had a totally unexpected but amazing moment. We stumbled upon The Boston Society for Architecture's Extraordinary Playscapes exhibit while walking around Boston. As someone obsessed with playscapes, I was thrilled by this discovery!

The Science of Play

The exhibit was extensive, filled with information mostly about commercial play spaces but also delving into the reasons for play and how play spaces influence child development. There were interactive exhibits, outdoor installations that I couldn’t visit, and plenty of beautiful drawings, plans, and models.

We spent a lot of time at the "Imagination Playground" exhibit by David Rockwell. This featured large blue foam blocks that you could manipulate. Much like small-scale building blocks, these large ones allowed you to create your own world and build your space. I loved how these blocks enabled people (kids and adults) to interact in various ways. Whether you’re a builder, a zoomer, or a quiet hider, you could use these blocks to play for hours.

I just love plan view drawings. They are one of the reasons I was attracted to the career. :D.

Nature play is near and dear to my heart. Not only did I create a forest pre school for my kid but I also worked on the play environment at his k-8 school. I also have a whole workshop I have taught at the Mothership Hackermoms in Berkeley.

Here is a link with exhibit info:

https://www.architects.org/exhibitions/extraordinary-playscapes

https://www.architects.org/about/bsa-space/visit

Tiny fairy garden planter

I can’t even describe how delighted I was when I realized that fairy gardens are A THING. This combines two of my favorite things: gardens and tiny things.

As a kid I spent so much time with my tiny glass animals. I had a dollhouse for them and I loved taking them outside to create houses for them on the moss patches in our yard.

fairy-IMG_4724.jpg

I’m not so much in to the fairy aspect. I prefer to think of trundling badgers in smoking jackets setting up a living room in my backyard. But I have found that most littles nowadays will respond to the idea that fairies might visit their garden and would enjoy having a place to rest and hang out. If I was a fairy i would totally want to hangout in the above picture. Look at that tiny little pot! squeee

I made this garden in a wide and low plastic container that I bought

Visit to Tah.Mah.Lah.

Tah.Mah.Lah. is a really neat example of eXtreme green building for rich people. I’m glad rich people are trying out new techniques for green building and while trickle down economics is a giant piece of bullshit I can at least hope that trickle down green building can be a thing.

The entire site was amazingly gorgeous and the homeowners were so generous to let us visit and even tour the inside of the home! This was a tour with my classmates. I tried hard to not get other people or other people’s butts in my photos. :)

I am still overwhelmed by this visit. The property is huge and every nook felt highly deigned and fantastically executed. The first thing I was drawn to where the amazing willow structures made by Patrick Dougherty. They are billed as a play structure but honeslty they were BIG and DARK and not at kid scale really. So, while there was evidence of kids playing there, I didn’t feel like it was exactly FOR KIDS. It felt more like land art for rich people. Which is great and I’m all for that. It was beautiful.

I was also so intrigued by the swimming pool. I thought it was a natural pool and i had never hear dof that being a thing but damn! what a cool thingthat would be to have/build! Anyway, this pool is not that but they did build adjacent ponds to it looks like one. I am in love with the wooden walkway seperating the pool from the pond area. I felt like I could be walking through The Great Swamp I remember from RI. Not exactly but I did feel there was great scope for the imagination in that spot.

The warm gold of the paving materials was very inviting. It managed to soften the huge stone blocks around the driveway area. I also just loved the way the paving materials transitioned. In some fo the abve pics you can see how the paving softly transitions to the meadow or other areas.

Lake Merritt Gardens - Sensory Garden

I love the Lake Merritt gardens. It is the perfect place to take a 2 year old! We often come to the sensory garden and J. also loves the Japanese Garden.