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Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, Santa Rosa, California

October 8, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

On our last weekend in California, Pete and I found ourselves at Big Bounce America, the world’s largest bounce house (aka jumping castle). We were, without doubt, the oldest people in there…

After an hour of vigorous exercise (for some, Pete and I mostly sat and watched the kids break out their dance moves), we grabbed a quick bite of lunch at Bibi’s Burgers in Santa Rosa. I had the chili, which was served with Saltine crackers…

Then we headed off to visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center.

For this lifelong fan, happiness was…spending an afternoon exploring all things Peanuts…

We began at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena…

Built and owned by Schulz and his then wife Joyce in 1969, it’s a scene straight out of the Snoopy and Peppermint Patty strips…

Charlie Brown stands outside the entrance…

A newly created “Abbey Road” features provides a fun photo opportunity…

The museum is a short walk from the ice rink…

The space is a loving, elegant, and beautifully curated tribute to the life and work of Charles “Sparky” Schulz (1922 – 2000)…

There are scores of original strips on rotating display…

This huge seven metre high mural was created by Japanese artist Yoshiteru Otani. It’s impossible to see from the photo below, but the 3,588 ceramic tile creation of Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown contains ten years’ worth of carefully selected comic strips…

Here’s a close-up…

Sparky’s work area from his studio at One Snoopy Place, Santa Rosa has been lovingly recreated on the second floor. It includes his original desk and drawing board…

Aside from cartooning, ice hockey was his other great passion…

A fan of the art of Christo and Jean-Claude, Schulz paid tribute to them in one of his strips in the late 1970s…

Twenty-five years later, Christo created and gifted his Wrapped Snoopy House to the museum…

One of our favourite items was this bedroom wall painted by Schulz for his daughter Meredith in 1951. After their house in Colorado Springs was sold the following year, the wall was painted over at least four times until it was purchased by Polly and Stanley Travnicek. Over the course of three months, Polly carefully stripped back the top layers of paint, revealing the original artwork underneath. In 2001, the Travniceks donated the entire wall to the museum…

On our way back to the car, we stopped at the Warm Puppy Cafe for a cold drink…

Situated inside the Ice Arena, Sparky Schulz’s table is permanently reserved. He ate there most days…

I toyed with the idea of bringing these lemonade cups home, but decided it wasn’t wise to pack sticky paper in our luggage…

A final photo before heading back to San Francisco – I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be Lucy! ♥

Posted in Cool Things | 19 Comments »

Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevada Mountains

September 30, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Pete and I have been in San Francisco for most of September.

We’ve had the best time, staying with our beloved friends Danielle, Patrick, their wonderful children, and Obi Dog Kenobi.

A week before we left Sydney, Dan phoned us at home.

She knew we were keen to visit Yosemite National Park and had been scouting out accommodation for us. We had the option of checking into a motel outside and driving in, or renting a “tent cabin” in Half Dome Valley. Staying right in the middle of the national park was very appealing, but the downside was that we’d have to share the public amenities – there were no bathrooms in the tents.

“Oh well, so long as the toilets are clean and there aren’t any bed bugs, I guess I can manage”, I told her reluctantly.

My friend snorted with laughter.

“Bed bugs! You should be worried about the BEARS, not bed bugs!”

Err…right. Ten minutes and several expletives later, I rang her back.

“Dan, I’m 52. If I need to get up and pee in the middle of the night, a bear will EAT me. I can do public toilets OR bears, but not both together. We need another option…”

Bless her, after she stopped laughing, our darling friend managed to get us a proper cabin with a bathroom, but it meant making the four hour drive from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges the day after we arrived. Thankfully, Yosemite was so mindblowingly awesome that we didn’t even notice the jetlag.

As we entered the park, we passed El Capitan, a giant 900m tall granite monolith. The striking sheer cliff faces of Yosemite, carved by glacial action over a million years ago, were completely different to anything Pete and I had seen before…

Our cabin was in Half Dome Valley, with trees and mountains all around…

. . . . .

The following morning, we woke early to watch the sun rise over the mountains. The moon shone brightly in the sky, which was hazy from wildfires in other parts of the park…

The smoky haze wasn’t too bad in the morning, but it muted the blue of the sky and resulted in some hauntingly beautiful photos…

As the sun rose, Half Dome cast a shadow on the smoke particles, resulting in a clear line of light in the sky…

The meadows in the valley are a wealth of diverse plant life, bordered by ancient tree forests. Boardwalks are in place to protect them from tourist traffic. As we walked through, we could see small wallows of flattened grass where deer had bedded down for the night…

We explored the Merced River…

…and hiked the short distance to Lower Yosemite Falls…

Ansel Adams, the American photographer and environmentalist whose advocacy and black and white photos of Yosemite helped to expand the National Park service, has a gallery in Yosemite Village…

As we drove out of the park, we stopped at Tunnel View for one parting glimpse…

Sometimes, life gives us opportunities to do things that we never dreamed possible. Visiting Yosemite National Park was definitely one of those moments! ♥

Posted in Cool Things, Food & Friends | 21 Comments »

Chrysanthemum Stone

September 23, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I was sitting at the dining room table, singing to myself.

“You don’t bring me flowers…anymore..”

Pete interrupted me.

“I think you mean…’at all’. I never bring you flowers.”

Sigh. Such is life when you’re married to an engineer.

. . . . .

Shortly after this conversation, it was Small Man’s 21st birthday. I pointed out that it was technically my “birth day” as well, so that wonderful husband of mine bought me the most amazing thing.

It’s a chrysanthemum stone, a quite rare and unique piece from Hunan, China. Formed during the Permian period (248 – 290 million years ago), the unusual floral shape was created by celestite and calcite crystals growing in a radial “petal” formation in between layers of mud. The stone was then carved to emphasise the natural flower-like shape of the white crystals.

It’s a substantial piece, weighing over 5kg and standing nearly 30cm tall. Intriguingly, the flower formation goes right through to the back of the rock…

I’ve read that the chrysanthemum stone was the official symbol of the Chinese imperial family. It is still highly prized in China, where it is believed to promote harmony and change. Here’s a photo taken from the side – you can see the thick layer of white crystals over the black matrix…

The stone was purchased from RocksnCrystals in Paddington, a wonderful store run by the lovely Stu and Sarah. It’s definitely worth popping in if you’re in the area, as they have some beautiful specimens on offer.

The chrysanthemum stone has found a perfect home on our living room corner shelves…

Pete refers to his gift as the “eternal bloom” and claims that he never has to buy me flowers again. I think he’s probably right! ♥

Posted in Cool Things | 18 Comments »

Furoshiki Tutorial: How To Wrap A Watermelon

September 16, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

The latest furoshiki technique I’ve been practising is called Suika Tsutsumi (Watermelon Wrapping).

It’s a bit fiddlier than the simple bag (tutorial here) or the library bag (here), but still only needs two square knots. Tie these carefully and correctly to ensure they don’t pull undone…

1. Lay the furoshiki face down and place the melon (or other round object) in the centre…

2.  Bring up two corners and tie them in a square knot, leaving a small gap…

3. Turn the furoshiki and melon/pot around and repeat on the other side…

Leave a slightly bigger gap this time…

4. Holding a knot in each hand…

…pass the second knot through the gap beneath the first one…

5. Adjust the knots to neaten and to ensure that the item is well balanced. Make sure they’re all securely tied. You should be able to carry the item with one hand holding onto the top loop…

6. Variation: if you’re using a larger furoshiki, pass one knot through the other, then untie and twist the ends before re-tying…

I rarely have a melon (or a bowling ball) to wrap, but this technique works well for everything from a pot of rice to a bowl of salad. If you enjoy cooking or baking, you’ll probably find it very useful. Here’s how I wrapped two loaves of sourdough, flat sides together, for delivery to a friend…

The furoshiki fever is spreading fast – I’m making them as birthday gifts, mailing them to friends interstate, and haunting Daiso stores to find unusual tenugui (Japanese hand towels) to sew together (panda and sumo furoshiki in the photos above).

Last Sunday, I tied a backpack from two cloths and used it to carry meat home from the butcher. Later that evening, I made a smaller version for my adorable little neighbour…

If you’d like to have a go, you might enjoy our earlier posts. Have fun! ♥

Posted in Frugal Living | 7 Comments »

Upcycling Party Leftovers

September 9, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Thank you all for your lovely comments on Small Man’s birthday post, and for sharing the happy occasion with us! ♥

. . . . .

The conundrum with party food is this: I can’t bear the thought that there might not be enough, but prepping on that principle always results in a mountain of leftovers, and I can’t bear to waste any of them. So visitors are always pressed to take home boxes of food, while we attempt to creatively upcycle whatever remains.

With all the pastry offcuts from the sausage rolls…

…we made a dozen curry puffs. Filled with chicken and potato, they were good both hot and cold…

. . . . .

I used the leftover antipasti in a quadruple batch of our filled foccacia. Double-smoked ham, Italian Prosciutto, Parmesan, Fromage D’Affinois, membrillo and sun-dried tomatoes all went into the mix…

Two giant slabs of focaccia came out of the oven…

Half a slab went to Will and Bethany, who’d brought an antipasto platter, and the rest was cut into large squares and frozen. The boys have been eating them for lunch with leftover hummus…

This worked particularly well and I’d urge you to give it a go the next time you have leftover antipasti. Almost anything can go in, even the tiny scrappy bits!

Posted in Food & Friends | 15 Comments »

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