Taking Photos at Filoli

Yesterday I was fortunate to do two of my favorite activities: strolling through flower gardens and fruit orchards, and taking photos during this venture. My sister Nicky and I went to Filoli Estate in Woodside, California, and we probably spent a couple hours touring the 16-acre English Renaissance style garden. And then we walked through the Georgian Residence and browsed in the Filoli gift shop.

Filoli was designed and built between 1915 and 1917 for Mr. and Mrs. Bourn, prominent San Franciscans whose chief source of wealth was the Empire Mine in Grass Valley, California. The formal garden was originally planned and planted as construction of the house neared completion. The lawns and shrubs around the house were planted by the fall of 1917. The woodlands surrounding the estate provide a beautiful backdrop for the garden.

After both Mr. and Mrs. Bourn died in 1936, the estate was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William Roth, who owned the Matson Navigation company. Under their supervision, the maintained gardens gained worldwide recognition. Mrs. Roth lived at Filoli until 1975. She then donated the house and formal garden to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Today the garden is maintained by fourteen full-time horticulturists, student interns, and over one hundred volunteers.

The house on the estate is worth seeing, but my interest lies in the garden. My sister doesn't enjoy taking "cheese" pics of people; she'd rather catch someone unaware, immersed in their surroundings. Here I am, trying to get a nice shot without visitors traipsing through my photo.



Here I am again in all my glory, surrounded by Mother Nature's perfume and color wheel. Nicky took both these photos with her Nikon D40X. I spent the afternoon coveting my sister's camera. Have I mentioned she's my older sister? Haha.



Filoli has a pleasant but pricey cafe. Since we paid $12 each to enter and $5 to cross the Hayward/San Mateo Bridge, we brought our lunch and ate in the car. (Filoli does not allow visitors to bring food onto the property.) Nicky prepared delicious sandwiches for us made of tri-tip roast and seasoned tomatoes. I brought potato salad and banana bread. We made sure to eat before we started our walk. As baby boomers, we've finally learned to take care of ourselves before our blood sugar takes a sudden dip and we become too cranky to enjoy ourselves. We had a great time.

I took this picture of the "Sunken Garden" with my Kodak EasyShare V803.



My Kodak is a handy gadget that fits in my pocket. I rarely leave the house without it. But, as I said, I love my sister's Nikon that has a rapid shutter speed that will take up to three pictures per second. My poor little Kodak lags so much that whenever I take pictures of my grandchildren, the kids are long gone by the time the shutter releases.

Okay. I confess. After the trip to Filoli, I came home and purchased the Nikon D40X from Amazon. When I get proficient at using it, I'll review it and post a link.

In the meantime, I highly recommend--for anyone living in the San Francisco Bay Area--spending the afternoon at Filoli: (650) 364-8300. And you can read all about Filoli here.

Dyson Is a Feminist Issue

As a young woman, I boycotted cooking and cleaning. Feminism was in full swing, and I wanted more out of life than menial jobs that were relegated to women. Someone had to cook and clean; when I had to do it, I refused to enjoy it.

Through the years I've shed the contraints I put on myself in the name of feminism and realized that I love to cook. Most of the men in my life are great cooks. I exchange recipes with my brother and with my son who's a professional cook.

Do I also love to clean? Not necessarily, but like most people, I feel more comfortable and emotionally uncluttered in a tidy and clean room.

Enter the Dyson brand vacuums. Awhile back, my cleaning lady brought her Dyson to my house, and she was kind enough to try vacuuming the back of my car, as nothing would remove the dog hair. It took her awhile because German Shepherd hair gets embedded in the fabric, but the car looked pretty dang good.

I don't have the luxury of a cleaning lady right now, and I decided to invest in a Dyson vacuum. I'll say right now that the Dyson brand is expensive. But Dyson is in a category of its own. There are vacuums and then there is the Dyson. There are several dog hair models. Mine is the D14.



The first time I used the D14, I had already vacuumed my family room, which is about 9 x 12 feet, with my other vacuum. With the first pass, I filled up the whole bagless chamber with dog hair. I have grandbabies and don't like them crawling or lying in dog hair. Working with the right tool makes a difference, and I can truthfully say that I love to vacuum, using the Dyson.

I've tried various methods to pick up dog hair. With previous vacuums, I had them repaired regularly because the dog hair clogged them and put too much stress on the motor. If the Dyson gets sluggish, I glance at the see-through chamber and see that it's full of dog hair. This basket is simple to change.

The Dyson is cleverly designed. When it is totally upright, the suction comes out of the top that hooks to the attachments. When the Dyson is tipped backwards in vacuuming position, the suction comes out of the base on the carpet or floor. The permanent hose miraculously stretches far enough to vacuum the stairs. The D14 is relatively easy to carry upstairs, especially with the basket removed.

One caveat: I noticed that the cleaning lady's Dyson was getting a little banged up. She may have been throwing it down the stairs or using it for a doorstop. It might not be built to shove in and out of a trunk. It has plastic parts. But I've had my D14 for probably a year, and nothing is broken, nicked or scratched.

I consider my Dyson an investment, so I shopped around. At that time, the price was the same everywhere: at the Dyson site itself, at Costco, and at Walmart.

On my blog I like to share things I like a lot (I'm the Oprah of blogland). My blog is not a store, but I do post links to items I write about. If I don't own it and love it, I don't write about it or post a link to it.

I'm posting a link below to Amazon. You can read about the hepa filter, the mini-turbine head, and the lifetime filter. I often find good deals at Amazon. At the time of this writing, the D14 costs less at Amazon than at Costco or Walmart.

All the Dyson models are similar. If you buy one for your family, everyone will want to use it. Warning: Don't try using the Dyson to vacuum bathroom rugs. The suction is too strong.