{"id":2857,"date":"2012-04-22T17:45:30","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T00:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2016-05-31T10:48:36","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T17:48:36","slug":"pistachio-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/pistachio-house\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sunday at Pistachio House"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>

Your obd't servant<\/p><\/div>
\nS<\/span>o. My wife and I live in an urban neighbourhood known as Hilltop<\/a>, or “The Hill” as I prefer to call it. The Hill is one of the oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods in the city of Tacoma<\/a> Washington, a place that sometimes calls itself “Grit City”. <\/p>\n

So that’s a whole lot of grit.<\/p>\n

There are quite a few of us here who are trying to turn this little corner of the City of Destiny<\/a> into something resembling Hobbiton. Or at least Bree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Simply, we have become urban farmers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Part of the Frank Mastini Memorial Garden,
showing the chicken coops<\/p><\/div>Francine and I have transformed our back yard, once lawn, into a piazza with raised-bed garden boxes. We have six chickens<\/a>, two cats, and a rabbit. The chickens produce three or four eggs a day, the rabbit makes compost like nobody’s business, and the cats (in theory) guard Pistachio House against the local predators<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given that I work as a writer five days a week, and that I spend much of my free time writing on other projects, you might ask when I have time to be an urban farmer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vera (L), Amelia (R), a little tuft of Thelma Lou in the back<\/p><\/div>The truth is that my beautiful bride Francine does most of the work. She tends the garden, and she raised the chickens. I joke that my job is essentially to dig holes where she tells me to dig, but of course we work together on planning the big picture.<\/p>\n

And what a plan! <\/p>\n

Eventually, we’ll have an English garden in the front (it’s well on its way). We’ll have a grape arbour on the side of the house. Thanks to the help of many friends, we’ve been slowly transforming the old shed in the back into a chapel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Front Garden in Progress<\/p><\/div>The attic will be a family room and guestroom.<\/p>\n

Our garage will eventually be split in half – half garden shed and workshop, half pub and game room.<\/p>\n

We’ve planned our little village together, and we each have different jobs that come out of that plan. And that’s a pretty good metaphor for our marriage. Together we plan, and then each of us works according to our strengths and aptitudes.<\/p>\n

Today after Church – we continue to attend Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Tacoma<\/a> – we spent a chunk of our Sunday tending the Lord’s garden.<\/p>\n

In no particular order, today I replaced a rotten board in the back porch steps, planted a fig tree, mowed what’s left of the lawn, helped muck out the coop, did some work in our last garden box.<\/p>\n

Lunch by Francine on the piazza.<\/p>\n

Ran some errands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Some other stuff too that I’m forgetting. <\/p>\n

Not work, mind you. Working on a Sunday is something I really do try to avoid, but none of this I consider work. This is just us being co-creators with God in the mystery of unfolding Creation.<\/p>\n

A truly wonderful day, and now I’m writing this and consuming a tasty beverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This day has been a celebration of God’s creation. A glorious day. Truly, the day the Lord has made!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So. My wife and I live in an urban neighbourhood known as Hilltop, or “The Hill” as I prefer to call it. The Hill is one of the oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods in the city of Tacoma Washington, a place that sometimes calls itself “Grit City”. So that’s a whole lot of grit. There are quite a few of us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,15,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-francine-my-love","category-meditations","category-pistachio-house"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-K5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":89403,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/requiem-for-a-hen\/","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":0},"title":"Requiem for a Hen","author":"Thom","date":"28 February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Although we live in a city, we keep hens. Our very first egg was laid and eaten on Ash Wednesday 2012. The hen that laid that first egg died today. Violet de Pistachio was preceded in death by her sister, Vera, who died on Thanksgiving day, 2012. She is survived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86127,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-feast-on-the-feast\/","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":1},"title":"A Feast on the Feast","author":"Thom","date":"23 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, we held our annual feast of thanksgiving at Pistachio House. We had a houseful of guests for dinner, including family and friends. We ate good food, drank good vino tinto (or beer, tonic, cider, water, coffee, or tea as the occasion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christ the King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109109,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saturday-gardening-at-pistachio-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":2},"title":"Saturday Gardening at Pistachio House","author":"Thom","date":"09 November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine and I spent two or three hours this morning working on the garden. Honestly, we've been neglecting it this year, so there's still a lot to do. The plan was to get as much done as we could before the rain came today. I focused my energies on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":110511,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/small-steps-in-the-oratory\/","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":3},"title":"Small Steps in the Oratory","author":"Thom","date":"14 July 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"chapel at Pistachio House is the oldest building on the property. It began its life in about 1904 as the shack in which the folks who built Pistachio House lived during construction. Over the decades and century since then, it has served at various times as a coal bin, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Moments in Time"","block_context":{"text":"Moments in Time","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/moments-in-time\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-14-09.43.04-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110292,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/fridays-the-thirteenth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":4},"title":"Fridays the Thirteenth","author":"Thom","date":"13 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"before we bought Pistachio House, Francine and I shared an apartment with the various children and cats. The address was 13o2 Division Avenue, and we were in apartment 13. Francine was convinced that 13 was a lucky number (\"it's lucky in Italy!\"), so on most Fridays the 13th we would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86321,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/class-of-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":2857,"position":5},"title":"Class of 2015","author":"Thom","date":"21 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, my son Tristan graduated from the Art Institute of Portland with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Game Art and Design. He's a 3-D modeler, and a good one. For my long-time readers, you know that Tristan's life has not been without it's troubles. That sentence there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Victoria Ryng","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tristan-graduation-03-e1450721421534-240x377.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2857"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87240,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions\/87240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}