Melting

It was 90°+ one day last week. When you are large and fluffy you get a little hot and just melt when you get in the house. 

I ❤️ Frank

All my family was very nice (spell check gave me Mary vice there, which made me laugh). 

But Frank went above and beyond. 

Art. 

Cake. 

Humor. 

And a pretty. 

Thank you dear! 

Brunch

It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of canteloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you would at breakfast, but you get a good meal.

Day Trip

Handy and I took a "personal day" and did something fun. 

He doesn't really like going on the weekend in the same direction he drives every day, 

but it is pretty spectacular drive and the end result was fun. 

He sees this car often. 

Not only is it antenna-laden, 

there are gauges and keyboards all over the dash. 

What type of mobile unit is this driver commanding?

It was a gorgeous day at the beach.

A grilled shrimp sandwich sounded great in theory,

but the shrimp kept falling out!

Visiting my alma mater, I was a little miffed.

There were no massages and dog therapy when I was there!

The exhibit of Michael Westmore's creations was small but very interesting.

We saw Data's brain!!!

Huntsman

The young huntsman was attempting camouflage in the garden, 

pretending to be another cat statue.

Advancing on his prey - me!

Turning into a dust bunny.

Disgusted

I'm really disgusted.

1) All but one of these onion rings.

And 2) I couldn't rant on my own Facebook page without everyone defending the purveyors.

So I am ranting here.

They were disgusting.

Comments closed.

Sent from the depths of disgust.

Darling Dog

The Handy Grandpa invited us to a catered dinner at his mobile home park. The Dog-in-Law was very eager to be included.

She was clearly anticipating table scraps. Unfortunately she was not invited! She did have some chicken in her food dish and I hope she got treaties afterwards. Who am I kidding? Of course she did.

Grandpa pulled a fast one on us. "She's famous," he said.  Like maybe on the cover of the park's newsletter, I wondered?

Nope.  He showed off his latest postage stamps. "There she is, top and bottom corners."

He got us.

Chillaxing Cats

Everyone was ready for a cat nap Saturday afternoon, except the felines were not in the usual places. 

Fifi stole Homer's living room bed. We are always so proud of her when she's brave enough to do that!

Homer stole my chair, unsurprisingly. He wishes to point out how full and lush his tail looks here. He suffers from a little tail envy.

Hunter just plopped on the first available space nearest the cat door. Good natured little buddy. 

There was a brief period of rest, then their game of musical cat beds resumed and they were found in completely different places. I did get my chair back for a while, Homer found Jeff's lap, and so on and so on. I didn't get a nap but I got a little reading done so that's always good!

Bon Temps Bathroom

We had a nice lunch out today at Bon Temps Creole Cafe in SLO. I wish I'd gotten a picture of my half muffuletta sandwich. It was tasty and almost the size of this Dutch crunch Italian I had at Mr. Pickles a couple weeks ago. Just pretend this is the right sandwich, thanks. The muffuletta was enhanced by the olive tapenade. 

I like to try new restaurants every time but I think we'll go back here. I want to try the Eggs Sardou, like Eggs Benedict but on artichoke hearts. Handy had a nice crawfish etouffe. We gave ourself a memory refresher on the differences between etoufee, gumbo, and jambalaya, all of which we sampled in New Orleans.

The restroom was truly memorable. My favorite color!

Hats

Today I saw a poo emoji hat. It seemed to go along with some of the news of the day. 

You're welcome. 

No Comfortable Place

This house, I call it my dream home but there is only one chair which has enough light for reading.  Many times Homer steals it.

Today has been especially difficult. I hurt yet another toe. The logical explanation is I have been stressing it, putting a lot of weight on it whilst sitting at desk or table.  The hypochondriacal explanation is gout. We shall see. 

Meanwhile there is the chair thief and lap stealer. 

It was really like this:

I eventually made it to my chair but didn't have the attention span to read more than a picture book.

Spring Flowers

Another project for the window.

Butterfly has a garden now.

Don't squeeze

Which would you rather eat?  

This? 

Or this?

You think I'm joking. One more time...

STOP SQUEEZING THE AVOCADOS!

I want to use this disgruntled cat for EVERYTHING. He is Stripes, the Cat Tiger.

Unsupported

I am having so much trouble with the blogger app on my phone. It is apparently unsupported. I can upload pictures but it crashes every time I type text. I am experimenting with emailing the text, then adding the pictures using the app.

It makes me feel like this.

Sent from my iPhone

The Wrong Beds

Those leopard beds are supposed to be Homer's but the other cats disregard his wishes. Maybe I should just get more leopard beds so everyone can have two. Or three. We never had cat beds before and were completely surprised by their popularity.

Ahhh, finally the right cat is in the right bed and all is right with the world.

Sometimes I Need to Stop Momming

Once a mom...it's hard to let go of that, even when they are grown up.

Frank asked me for my meatball recipe. I offered a bit too much help and unsolicited advice. He politely stopped listening to me and made a lovely dinner.

Thank you, Frank!

Purple Rain, and a Beautiful Lesson

My favorite time of year is when the wisteria blooms. I know I post about this every year but it's my happy time. This year, I was a little late taking the pictures. A small rain caused what last year I called wisteria snow. This year I am calling it purple rain for princely reasons.

There are still many blooms showing off their beauty.

One morning last week, as I was on the phone with someone, I saw a small white pickup truck pull up in front of the house. A woman got out and approached the house. This is most unusual. I finished up the call and answered the door with some trepidation.

Not to worry! She lives in the neighborhood and loves driving by our house. She thinks it's so cute and charming. And she loves my wisteria! She had bought a flowering vine but it hadn't flowered yet. She thought it was wisteria. What did the wisteria leaves look like? Well, mine didn't have leaves yet. So maybe she has something else? I politely suggested she ask at a nursery, since I am no plant expert. But oh I was happy that she took the time to stop by. 

It was a beautiful lesson. This experience, plus the compliments I have received on the caterpillar and butterfly windows, really lifted my spirits and pulled me out of the doldrums, so much that I began blogging again. 

If you love and appreciate something or someone, let the person know. I've been working on reciprocating that this week. There was a customer with a gorgeous purple (I KNOW!) knit purse. It turns out her mother made it! And I had a lovely chat about British TV series with a founder of the Betsy-Tacy Society.

Poached, Both The Egg and the Idea

Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.

I finally learned how to poach an egg.

I'm letting a co-worker take credit for giving me the tip. He saw it on a YouTube video. I didn't tell him that I had already read about it in the Food Lab cookbook. Let him think he taught me something. I intimidate him enough with my crossword puzzle skills.

Anyway, you crack the egg into a sieve and drain off the runny part of the white, then drop it into simmering water. Voila!

Hmmm. That looks a bit skimpy. I think I need another egg.

Better!

That was one of the best breakfasts I've made in a long time.

I sent the coworker a picture and he responded:

We talk about food a lot.