The flagpole is just one of the symptoms of a bigger problem.

This post today isn’t about food, so if you’re looking for a neat new recipe, today isn’t it. Maybe panic soup? Distressing stew?

We’re experiencing one of those moments when you regret owning a home. When you wish you had thought twice about buying a home on a hill, with a slope. Even with a glorious view. When you wish you had a large apartment and somebody else had to deal with issues of maintenance.

Photos of different areas around our patio and pool area. These are relatively new cracks. Top right is the core hole where we can see standing water.

My DH has not been sleeping well at night for about two weeks now. We’re at our wit’s end trying to figure out what’s happening under and around our home. There were cracks around our pool when we bought the house 6 years ago, but the pool is about 28 or 29 years old, so we assumed it was normal. Anybody living in Southern California experiences some earth movement. And yes, we do have earthquakes too. Cracks appear here and there. It’s considered standard behavior. We had a geologist come look at things about 2 years ago and his assessment was: your house is built on a bedrock of sandstone. It’s not going anywhere. It’s solid. Don’t worry about it.

But, in the last 6-9 months or so, more cracks have appeared. A French door is hard to open. A small crack has appeared in our living room (the windows that look out to our lovely view), separating a vertical beam from the floor. A crack opened wider around our jacuzzi. New cracks and fissures have appeared all around the entertaining side of our patio (all covered in cement and brickwork). The flagpole is leaning, more than it ever has. A flower bed, lined with a block wall is tilting. Down. So we hired another geologist who brought in some high-tech seizmic do-dad, which sat here for 6 weeks or so measuring earth movement. None. (That was a huge relief, but didn’t solve the problem.) Then they went all around our property digging 6-10 foot deep core samples. Initially they found nothing. Finally at about core sample 6 or so, they found water. Lots of water. Uh-oh. We’d had neglible rain up to that point, so there shouldn’t be any water underground.

Our water company came out last week and again yesterday, to confirm that we have no leak from our meter. None of the neighbors seem to have any water leaks either. We don’t have much info on our 1978 house (no blueprints left with the house, and none on record at the county building dept. either) other than what we’ve learned over the years with plumbing and building issues. Normal, sewer drain backup kind of issues. And what we learned when the kitchen addition was built. Nothing really of any importance. Nothing to add to this water problem.

We have no water source in the area where the water is pooling. As you look down into this core hole (the top right one in the collage above) you can see water about a foot below ground. The hole is about 3-4 feet from our living room windows. The water company mentioned we might have an aquifer, one of those natural occurring water sources. Seems unlikely since most of Southern California is desert. Sandy soil. But, some of our drinking water comes from natural aquifers deep underground. So, who knows. Anything’s possible. If we have an aquifer, let’s tap it and use it for watering our property. We’d just have to figure out where to put a storage tank. Uhm. Hmmm. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The geologist thinks it’s just water that’s accumulated over a period of time (that was also a relief to hear since we were having concerns our house was sinking or sliding – he says no). He also assured us again, yesterday, that the house is built on solid sandstone, and it’s not moving. The plumber says there is a backup in one of our area drains, near where the water is, likely from tree roots. So today the geology firm is going to start digging. With all the rain we’ve had, it’s going to be pretty messy, but at least the soil is very, VERY soft. Part of our patio will have to come up. Maybe a brick walkway too. The geologist is going to open up an 18-inch wide hole, about 3 feet deep, so he can install a semi-permanent pump. If and when water reaches a certain level, the pump will turn on. And we’ll cover it with some kind of cap and leave it there.

The area by the flagpole is probably another problem – they will likely drill a hole horizontally from the side of our hill to try to find a water pool. That’s the thinking at the moment. Once they find it, they’ll install a more permanent drain. Then we’ll likely install some kind of new patio floor. Maybe interlocking paving stones so the water will dissipate more evenly all over the property, rather than just through the relatively few, but wide cracks, which allows water to pool. More will be revealed. Meanwhile, my DH Dave, is going to take a nap.

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We very rarely have views like this. Thunderclouds – or big massive cloud formations are more a standard in the midwest than here on the California coastline. But the other day, just after we’d had a couple days of rain, this was the view from our hill. This shot was taken facing northwest. If the visibility had been better, you might have been able to see the skyline of downtown Los Angeles just to the left of the two palm trees. It’s very rare that we can see those far off images since downtown LA is about 45 miles away. But on occasion we do see it.

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This is one side of my kitchen. When I designed this new kitchen 2 years ago, I knew I wanted a place where I could sit down with my recipes. My red-topped Dell laptop sits here at all times. I change the message that scrolls across the screensaver now and then. Right now it says “Are you ready for Valentine’s Day?” The background is red, the type in white. This area is also my baking center. Behind those wood backsplashes (behind the laptop) are appliance garages that house my Kitchen Aid mixer, blender, food processor and toaster. The lowest drawers below are a specific height to house my big plastic Tupperware bins of flour and sugar. Above on the left I keep my spices (you already saw the herbs – they live over by the range).

Hanging up above the laptop is a fold-down TV screen (it’s small) and DVD player. Sometimes when I sit here I turn on morning television. I do most of my blogging early in the morning. The laptop houses all of my photography, there’s a convenient USB hookup here for my digital camera, and my main MasterCook cookbook (my own) gets updated here. Sometimes I have stories already composed, and I merely have to press a few keys and it’s posted on those internet highways. Other times, like today, for instance, I didn’t have a story ready and had to write one. Often I write up posts in the evening after I’ve prepared dinner. After the pictures are taken, the last morsel digested. My loving DH always does the dishes, bless his heart, so after I put away any remaining food, I can go upstairs to my home office (where my Tivo lives, another gadget that I adore) and do whatever I want.

Our family room, from the kitchen

Since there aren’t all that many spices, they are confined in a relatively small space on two lazy susan rounders. I even have a tad of empty space up there on the top shelves. Only reason is that I can’t reach up that far without getting out my kitchen ladder.

So now, you can picture me perched on the chair, allowing my mind to wander, writing away. Blogging.

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My pull-out herb racks.

One of the blogs I read regularly is The Perfect Pantry. Lydia is a very accomplished writer (she’s a professional food writer) and composes the funniest postings. I just love reading her blog. A week or so ago Lydia included a post (actually two posts – here’s the first one, and here’s the second one by a guest. The part about the laxative tea really made me laugh. I don’t make up my own spice mixes as some people do (you know, spice mixes lose their potency when combined). I’ve mentioned this before, I buy many of my spices at Penzey’s. They have stores around the country – not many, but a few, and I have read there is one up near the Los Angeles airport. In Torrance, on Hawthorne Blvd.

This cute little wooden box lives next to my range, and contains my most used items. The two red things are my newest, and most favorite toys. Battery-operated pepper and salt grinders. I bought mine at least a year ago or more, but I purchased one as a gift for my daughter before Christmas – at Bed, Bath & Beyond (the product doesn’t show up online there) for about $20 apiece. I found it online at another retailer for $26. They’re made by Trudeau, and is called the Graviti. The gizmos only come with pepper in them, but just empty out the pepper and replace with coarse salt if you want one of each like I do. You can adjust the grind with a small knob on the top.

In the right hand (front) cubbyhole are two small stackable plastic containers of thyme and oregano, probably my most-used herbs. They’re available from The Container Store. In the back pockets of the box are: sherry wine vinegar from Spain, some fancy sea salts from Michael Chiarello and my favorite Fini balsamic vinegar with a pour spout on top. Standing up behind are agave nectars and fancy balsamics that haven’t been put away since before Christmas.

So, okay, what does YOUR herb and spice cupboard look like?

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These little mice are candle snuffers. Such things are very popular in England, and whenever I visit there, I seek them out. I think I actually bought these here in the U.S. about 20 years ago, but they were imported. There’s a whole series of them, all in funny stances. They really aren’t a Christmas item, but I think they’re cute to add to my Christmas decorating around the house. They always find a way to sit somewhere during December. To make me laugh.

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Isn’t he cute? He’s a kitchen nutcracker, with his knives, ladle, bread boards, bottles and bowls. My friend Cherrie gave me this for Christmas. Thank you, Cherrie!

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Hope you are having a very Merry Christmas. We are. Yesterday we drove from Southern California to Northern California, to Placerville, where our daughter and her family live. We were apprehensive about going over the Grapevine (that’s local jargon for the Mt. Tejon Pass that separates No. from So. California, the mountain range that separates the desert land from the fertile central valley, the San Joaquin, pronounced san wah-KEEN, Valley). The pass is at 4144 feet, and if there is any inclement weather, it could sock in the pass altogether. The inclemency this time of year means snow, and that means trouble in River City. It means a detour of about 50 miles on somewhat treacherous roads. So we were relieved there was no weather, just sunny blue skies and near freezing temperatures.

Then we got down to the Valley floor and found tulle (pronounced TOO-lee) fog. Every winter there is a pile-up or two of cars, anywhere from 10-30 cars) because people are insane enough to drive normal speeds when they can’t see but about 2 car lengths ahead of them. There are always lots of injuries and deaths. Fortunately the tulle fog wasn’t quite that bad, but it slowed us down for about an hour or two. We made it through safely. No accidents and no pile-ups.

Now we’re going to enjoy the grandchildren (and everyone else too) opening their gifts tomorrow morning. I may not blog much, although I do have some photos I may post. I won’t be doing much cooking in the next 10 days or so.

I wish for all of you and very Merry Christmas. Give everyone you love a big hug.

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Last night, it was absolutely great fun to meet with friends of ours, Marty & Julie, to attend a performance at our gorgeous Concert Hall here in Orange County, CA. The acoustics are amazing in this place. I probably wouldn’t have gone to the trouble to buy the tickets for this show, knowing very little about the Von Trapp group other than they are descendants of the famous Sound of Music family. But our friends did, and asked us to go along with them. I’m so glad they did…

here, you’ll learn all about them, their tour schedule, etc. In case you’re interested. If you’d like to read an outsider’s article about the facts behind the Von Trapp family, read Movie vs. Reality: The Real Story of the von Trapp Family, by Joan Gearino from the National Archives.

It was a wonderful program. Our Pacific Symphony played for the first half, a combination of secular and non-secular music of the season. Even a sing-along was included. Then the Von Trapps arrived on stage. The four children, ranging in age from 13 to 19, are the four grandchildren of Kurt, one of the imps you’ll likely remember from the movie. These four, great grandchildren of Georg Von Trapp, billed The Von Trapp Family Children, have their own CD’s and have traveled the world over giving performances. They’re adorable. They’re sweet, with lovely, mostly undeveloped voices, although certainly professionally trained voices. The 13-year old, the boy, has a near soprano voice. So far. He was and is the imp, I guess. All the children performed in native Austrian dress, including using coins as buttons, which were ones Maria and Georg brought with them on the escape. They’re singing was good. Very good. They sang some of the tunes from the musical, told stories about themselves and their family (they live in Montana, one of the few Von Trapps who live outside of Vermont, where the family’s inn is located in Stowe), and sang Christmas carols and other songs which got us all in the Christmas spirit. If you go to their website

We did learn that the musical compressed the Von Trapp story into a mere 3 months of time with Georg and Maria. By doing some online snooping today from the National Archives story above, I learned more about the true facts: in actuality, they met in 1926, when Maria was hired to be a tutor to one of the Von Trapp daughters who had contracted scarlet fever. Georg fell in love with Maria. Maria fell in love with the children. When Georg asked her to marry him, he specifically asked that she become the mother to the children. She wasn’t in love with Georg, but agreed, because she adored the children. She eventually fell in love with Georg too. So, by 1938, they had been married for 11 years, and had two of their own children, before escaping in 1938, by train to Italy (and then on to the United States). The family says that Georg was not the tyrant portrayed in the movie; he was actually a very loving and kind man, also extremely musical. Nor was Maria quite the sweet young, demure thing portrayed by Julie Andrews. Maria was a strong woman, knew what she wanted in life, and even had a temper.

Oh yes, the children also told us that Maria never did make clothes out of drapes. Poof. Another myth blown into thin air.

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Is this not gorgeous? There it was, all wet and dewy from the rain we’d had on Thursday night. My DH cut this very last rose on Friday morning and brought it to me, all trimmed and vased to set in front of me here at my kitchen computer. He’s the gardener in the family. I positively have a black thumb. His specialty, I’d say, is roses. And this one, a hybrid tea rose, a Mr. Lincoln by name, is so very fragrant, even here in December. Even though I don’t garden, I know what I like when it comes to roses. I love the hybrid teas. Our favorite is the Chrysler Imperial, for its fragrance. It’s similar to Mr. Lincoln. On the rare occasions when we visit some gorgeous commercial gardens, I usually have a notepad in hand, stopping to admire the varieties and to smell each one, making notes about the more fragrant ones to add to our small collection. In this house where we live now we have few places to grow roses, but we’ve hollowed out a little space about 6 feet square and it houses a few plants.

But this Mr. Lincoln, we’ve both stopped to admire, to smell it’s glorious aroma several times since. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us the beauty of nature to admire and enjoy.

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