All posts by Nate

Nate is the Techie / Barbecue-y half of the House of Annie team. Born in Hawaii, his favorite hobby is surfing...WEB surfing that is. Visit my Google+ Profile
Gardening

How I Espaliered My Backyard Fruit Trees

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Today I spent a few hours in the backyard tending to our fruit trees. Along our back retaining wall, we planted an apricot, a donut peach, and a sugar plum tree. They are a year old at this point, and I’ve been wanting to train them as an espalier.

What is an espalier?

An espalier is a plant (such as a fruit tree) that is trained to grow flat on one plane, usually against a wall, trellis, or fence instead of the usual domed tree shape. Here’s a side view of our apricot tree after we got done:

Apricot espalier

I thought I’d document step by step how I espaliered our backyard fruit trees.

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Theatre

Chicago @ The Stage, San Jose

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Whatever happened to fair dealing?
And pure ethics
And nice manners?
Why is it everyone now so a pain in the ass?
Whatever happened to class?

An egotistical, self-absorbed narcissist literally gets away with murder, thanks to a slick defense lawyer who’s in it for the money, a supportive media willing to print sensational lies, and a sympathetic jury unwilling to convict. No, this isn’t about the Trump Impeachment trial. This is a story “ripped from the headlines” of  1920’s  Chicago and turned into a Tony Award-winning musical. Annie and I were fortunate to see an adaptation of the musical put on by The Stage in San Jose.

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Here we go again…

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Annie and I are huge, huge fans of musical theater. “My Fair Lady” is one of our absolute favorites. Most of the time, we just watch musicals at home on DVD which is the most convenient, not to mention affordable option.

Whenever a traveling Broadway show like Hamilton comes to the Bay Area, we may splurge for it. Every so often though, we will take in a local production of a popular musical, which allows us to enjoy the songs and acting in a more intimate (and less expensive) setting. So we are happy to know that the San Jose Stage Company will be performing “Mamma Mia!” this season, throughout the month of June into July.

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Annie is a huge ABBA fan. “Mamma Mia!” is a musical that takes its name from one of ABBA’s hit songs. I was not such a huge fan of ABBA at first, but after seeing the musical when it played at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco many years ago, I became a fan as well. The show was put together so well, and incorporated so many ABBA favorites. By the end of the show, I was dancing, clapping and cheering along as if I was at an actual ABBA concert!

When “Mamma Mia!” came out on film we went to go see it. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed. I like Meryl Streep, but this wasn’t her best performance. And Pierce Brosnan positively reeked – he canNOT sing!

So I am looking forward to seeing “Mamma Mia!” on the stage again. I am always impressed by how talented these actors are who do live performances on stage.

What’s your favorite musical? Leave a comment below!

Aloha, Nate