Friday Roundup: Under the Pressure, Lost in the Dream

The xeriscaped front yard (via designsbykim.biz and habiscapes.net)

Not a rain check but a fire check: A week ago we were scouting locations for a big rig video and photo shoot. Shot list, truck rental, lunch orders? Check, check, check. A forest fire a week later, in the middle of our prime location? Check. So if you know any other places that look as picturesque as Marsing (and only 45 minutes away from Boise), keep me posted.

Naked as We Came: On the upside, the forest fire smoke did make for a more-than-usually-colorful backdrop at Brandi Carlile / Iron & Wine show at the Botanical Gardens. The other upside: Brandi Carlile / Iron & Wine at the Botanical Garden. 

When it rains...: It was a cataclysmic week for The Fairfield. A week ago, the fridge on the fritz again, we sprung for a $100 Whirlpool Limited Edition Garage Fridge Craigslist Special (circa the-year-of-my-birth) and salvaged the food we could. Then, early Monday morning, Siggy and I woke to a windstorm that generously deposited half a willow tree against the side of our house. (Thanks to some timely trimming by my brother and I and a stroke of luck, it mostly just dinged up the gutters). Later that morning, a landscaper sliced our weed-infested pit of a front yard clear to the bone (in preparation for a total overhaul). The next day, the flood irrigation backed up for the first time in two years and turned the backyard into the everglades for three days straight. But it all came together: the fridge had a change of heart after defrosting, the landscapers chopped up and hauled away the fallen limb, the waters receded, and a xeriscaping project three years in the making was finally completed (see pic above). 

Under the pressure, lost in the dream: Late to the show but I'm really digging The War on Drugs' "Lost in a Dream." Get it.