Zann Cannon Goff @zanncannongoff - Tumblr Blog

Life As a John Irving Character

A new story of recent events and revelations, "My Life As a John Irving Character".

I grew up reading massive volumes of books. We moved around frequently and I rarely got connected to the libraries outside of the elementary school ones, with their age-specific selection, but Ma was also an avid reader and often had books on hand that I would read after she’d finished, before giving them back to the lender. My two all-time favorite “childhood” books were written by John Irving:…

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#grief #life stories #memoir #storytelling

Book Review: Bonsai and Penjing (Win a Free Copy!)

I am pleased to once again be asked by Tuttle Publishing to preview a book and write a review for my blog. Like with my previous reviews, they are offering a free copy to one of my followers as well! Read through to the bottom to participate in the drawing. The book I received this time is Bonsai and Penjing: Ambassadors of Peace & Beauty, by Ann McClellan. From the introductory email: In…

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#bonsai #garden #gardening #horticultural #plants #trees

Pop's Home Turf

Pop’s Home Turf

After four days of getting to know Pop during a transnational road trip, our intensive “captive audience” journey was nearing its end. Ahead of us lay Calhoun County, Pop’s home turf, in a very minimally populated part of the Florida Panhandle. There are offices in San Francisco that have more employees than the entire county’s 14000 or so people. As I said before, this is what you’d call an…

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#florida panhandle #life stories #memoir #road trips #storytelling

Meeting Pop: Reunion on a Transnational Road Trip

After thirty years’ absence, I was finally off to meet Pop for the first time since my parents’ divorce when I was three years old. Flying to meet Pop was in itself an experience. He lives in the Florida Panhandle about halfway between Tallahassee and Pensacola. West, in fact, of a line that cuts off a little piece of the Panhandle from the rest of the state and sticks it into the Central Time…

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#life stories #memoir #michigan #road trips #san francisco #storytelling

Embracing Pop

One day in late 2003, I came home to a phone message. The voice on the other end had that familiar slow, deliberate Southern drawl that I immediately recognized from a single phone call over twenty years prior. “Ahm loookin’ fowah Zayan Caaayannon Gaowf. Ah think this heyah is heyis nuumba. Ahm his daayad.” After a lifetime of having virtually no contact with Pop, having a message from him out of…

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Denver Ghost Story

I remember living in many different places in Denver as a young child, but not exactly which memory flash fits in where when it comes to sequence. I do recall the last two very clearly, though. Both were distinctive, thanks to events relating to felony, police, hidden basement nooks, a zucchini, and a ghost. But we’ll get to that. I was born in Flint, Michigan in October 1970, and landed in…

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#denver #ghost stories #life stories #memoir

Miraloma Mediterranean Curb Appeal: Design for Flora Grubb Gardens

Like with my last posted garden design, this little number involved designing a pieced front garden and rear garden, with a container planting for inside a courtyard entrance in SF’s Miraloma neighborhood. This, too, was a design I did last year for Flora Grubb Gardens‘ design team, and the installation took place in phases over a few months. The clients had recently begun renovations on an…

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#flora grubb gardens #garden #garden design #gardening #palms #san francisco #succulents #trees #urban

Miraloma Hilltop Garden: Design for Flora Grubb Gardens

A big part of my growth in plant palette over the past six-plus years working at Flora Grubb Gardens has been in palms. Prior to working at the nursery, I naively thought I knew the five or so palms of the world. It was daunting to learn there are well over twice that many (snicker), and even more so to learn the different growth habits and preferred habitats for so many. I’ve been working at the…

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#california natives #flora grubb gardens #microclimate #palms #san francisco #trees #urban

boZannical Design + Installation: Small and Semi-Formal

Sometime last fall I was contacted by a friend of a friend to see about designing and planting a very small patch of front garden for his condo up the hill from us near the Seward Slides. After a bit of a delay from getting his building-mates on board, I ultimately got the call to come up with a new plant scheme for them. A few years ago I remember admiring this little front garden for its…

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boZannical Commission: Moss Sculptures for Dropbox

In the several months since my last post I’ve been extremely busy with installations and designs, both freelance and through my job. One of the most exciting and rewarding projects to ever come my way just installed this past week – hanging moss sculptures! We were contacted at Flora Grubb Gardens to do an interior plant design for the new headquarters for Dropbox, a great free cloud storage…

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cappstreetcrap

Dolores Park then and now

In honor of Dolores Park’s grand re-opening celebration tonight (can’t wait!), here’s a cool photo from the park’s less polished days in the early 1990s. Friend of Capp Street Crap Megan tells us this shot of lady bike messengers was taken for the women’s issue of the messenger zine Mercury Rising. Tonight’s celebration, which marks the end of years of park renovations, begins at 4 p.m. Attendees…

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grindlebone

Speaking Engagement: Urban Agriculture

I’ve been busy with all sorts of installations and maintenance lately, and am behind on getting the photos posted. I’m thrilled to be asked to do another upcoming speaking engagement, though! A friend and former classmate who’s involved with the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance has asked me to give a short and informal talk during next week’s quarterly meeting. The meeting’s theme is…

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#botanical #composting #diy #edible plants #food gardening #gardening #horticultural #parks #plants #san francisco #urban

Food's put away, clothing stashed, and pool skimmed. Vacation switch is officially ON.

Squee! My new blue tiger eye ear jewelry arrived today. ☺

Speaking Engagement: Vertical Gardening DIY for Bromeliad Society

I’m getting lots of opportunities to speak at events and workshops lately. Love it!

Tonight I’ll be putting my varied vertical gardening expertise to use as I do a presentation and demonstration at the monthly meeting of the Bromeliad Society of San Francisco. I’ll have a lovely slideshow highlighting a wide variety of vertical gardening methods that are accessible to all of us as DIY projects,…

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#botanical #diy #flora grubb gardens #horticultural #plants #san francisco #shoutouts #succulents #urban #vertical gardens #woolly pockets

Aww, poor palm. :( #blueballs

#blueballs

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Zann Cannon Goff