"WHERE THE ANIMALS ARE SERVED FIRST...AND AREN'T ON THE MENU!"

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Annual Spring Home & Garden Tour on a Blistering Hot Day

We decided at the last minute to purchase tickets to the annual Spring Home & Garden Tour, a benefit for Food for Thought. It was a fun thing to do on a very hot day- getting into the air conditioned car inbetween homes made it especially nice! The tour this year seemed to be more of a house tour than a garden tour. Just about every home had a swimming pool, and it was very tempting to dive in! I closed up our own home early in the morning and with everything shut it remained amazingly cool by the time we returned- which was good news for Boulder and the dogs. The donkeys seem to handle the heat just fine...must be something they inherit from their ancestors!
The annual tour is a benefit for Food for Thought- Sonoma County AIDS food bank, which provides free weekly grocery bags of food for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
I have to say that I was NOT the only one there with a camera!
Beautiful black rooster. The theme this year seemed to be chickens and roosters- at almost every place we spotted them.

I would have taken this adorable crew home in a heartbeat!

This was my favorite pool of all. Not too big and a nice design.
The foreman takes in the view- and all the ideas!

Hanging ornamental lights.


There were a lot of rooster sculptures just like the one we own (copycats!). This one was converted to a little fountain.
Metal doors against a beautiful green wall.
This particular house was a converted old dairy ranch.
It must have been the heat- ALL of the pools looked very inviting!


One of our favorite stops was at the garden for the French Garden restaurant. Long ago I used to babysit the daughter of the owners- her nickname was "Bagel"! The veggie garden was immense and very impressive & well laid out.

Rows and rows of all different kinds of produce.

The Master Gardener soaks it all up!


At another home, a smaller scale vegetable garden was enclosed by a deer proof beautiful fence.

A view of the pool and vineyard.

Fresh lemon water from their own citrus grove was served at this place on Jonive Rd.

There were quite a few people milling about but not as big a crowd as we've seen in the past. It could be the pricey tickets scared people off this year.

These cute pigeons had a wonderful, open-door cedar home all to themselves!

They seemed very content.


MORE rooster sculptures! I like the little chicks, too.

A casual sitting area with decorative flags.

This home had a beautiful Spanish flair.


And a waterfall & pond.

I don't know if this is a trend or not, but many homes had paintings of birds above the master bed.
The foreman checks out a glass shower not unlike the one he just completed!

Zooming off to the next stop!

It was so hot I wouldn't have minded if I accidentally fell in!

Little touches at the entrance.

I love this sunflower sink!

Then it was home to The Lazy Vegan...greeted by our donkeys!

A hummingbird drinks from our fountain.

And here's OUR rooster!

On hot days Boulder loves to lie on the cool tile.
Despite all the nice places we visited, it was great to be home...maybe some day we'll put The Lazy Vegan on the tour!