Post Easter Apocalypse - Tuesday 4/14/2009

Peaches had two too many chocolate bunnies in the house after Easter, so she brought them in to meet their fate at the hands of a bunch of women who have been really working way too hard for the past six months.



Jens deals with the bunny.

Harshly.



We stage a scene from a classic movie! Do you know which one?




Maybe these added effects will help...?



This one may be a little harder to get without the theme music.

Dum-dum. Dum-dum. Dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum!

Sunday Sick Day Outside - Sunday 4/12/2009

Well, it could be worse.

It could be raining.

I woke up feeling lousy again today. The Never-Ending Bronchitis, plus the long day yesterday. Hydra was also seriously under the weather on Saturday, too, but there was celebrating to be done that involved, food, chocolate and assembling jigsaw puzzles and we weren't about to miss it.

We had a great time, but about 40 minutes into our two-hour drive home, we had a call letting us know that I'd left my antibiotics prescription there.

Oh no. We'd left the house at 7:15 a.m. and didn't get home until a little after 9 p.m.

Anyway, this is the view from the little swinging bench we put between the house and the slope that leads to the open hillside. We call this the back of the house. We also call the back yard the back of the house.

We have no sides.


This is taken from my reclined position. Very good advice from Hydra to get outside to continue my convalescence. It lifts the spirits.




He busied himself cutting the lawn and cleaning up the shrubs and stuff while I hung out with the lady bugs in the vinca. I've never seen as many flying lady bugs as I did today. I wasn't even sure what they were at first.


Giant (overexposed) California poppy in the back yard. He's not really threatening it, just showing how big it is.



How is it that California poppies are so fragile that you can't pick them and bring them inside, and yet they have the strength to fold up at night to protect themselves?

I really love this about poppies. Poppies have good boundaries.

If you've gotten this far, here's a reward. Or a punishment. It depends on how much you like amateur poetry.

Still writing a poem a day for the month of April. Here's today's :

From Where I Lie

Mint and vinca mingling on the slope
The old table, decaying
The shed waiting for paint
The tilled soil waiting for herbs
The grape vine sprouting
The tip of my shoe resting
on the far end of the sheltered bench
The book
The water glass, sweating
The cedar, the willow,
the apricot, peach and plum showing promise
The lady bugs defying gravity,
orange asterisks on the breeze
The geranium sprouting from the nest
of last year’s bloom
The round brown bird of unknown origin
who nevertheless enjoys
a good reputation in our back yard
for bug consumption and dancing
The man who told me, rightly,
to rest outside.

Tree in the House - Monday 12/15/2008

We put up our tree yesterday. One of my favorite parts is looking at all the decorations we've bought or been given over the years.

My first tree of my own, I decorated with little bundles of cinnamon tied in red ribbon and fuzzy brightly colored hair ribbons. I think I bought one fancy decoration in the museum gift shop across the street from my apartment. It was a mirrored apple that reflected a lot of light, which I still have. I strapped a yellow stuffed Woodstock doll to the top instead of an angel.

I found out today that it's hard to take photos of ornaments. Either they're too reflective or it's too dark. This may end up being a project!

Craaaaazy Pumpkin

A decoration that EastCoast sent us for the office.



More decor.


Who knew there were other flavors of candy corn? There are caramel and caramel apple, at least.

Celebrating Our Own Little Patch of the USA - Friday 7/4/2008

We started our weekend with a dawn hike around our neighborhood.


Overseen by ravens, quail, jackrabbits, cottontails and a coyote. We decided not to brave the expected midday 100 degree heat and didn't go to the big Acton parade. We've gone a couple of times and really enjoyed it...small town parades tend to choke me up.



This band was playing in the parking lot at Vallarta Market when we went there to pick up ceviche from their deli section. Refreshing on a hot day!



I made a cake. Just really wanted some cake, and making a whole one was cheaper than buying a slice of something not as tasty.

Half vanilla buttercream and half orange buttercream frosting. Yum again!

Easter Saturday - Saturday 3/22/2008

I'm really looking forward to seeing the family today and sharing a meal. We're not religious, but we look for opportunities to get together. I'm going to suggest we name a random weekend to do this again before Thanksgiving... our own midsummer holiday. Otherwise, we don't see each other quite enough.

I'm really glad that we get to head off through the desert rather than hitting a major freeway the whole way down. We'll pass Mormon Rocks and go through the Cajon Pass on our way. Maybe I'll get some more photos to share.

It's 100 miles each way. Thank goodness Hydra and I both like driving.

Good Friday - Friday 3/21/2008

I worked a half day from home today, and then I went to sit out in the back yard.

It just doesn't pay to drive 45 minutes to work and 45 back on a day the boss is going to let people go early.

Also doesn't pay for me to start at my usual 6:30 and be let off at 1:00, which is about the halfway point for everyone else, but by which time I've put in 6 1/2 hours. (That pesky math rears its ugly head again.)



I swear, the last time I looked at this tree it was still bare!


Ice plant and gazanias under that tree. The first time someone told me the name of the orange flowers, I thought she was pulling my leg. Right, I'll repeat that!

As I sat there just out of the direct sunlight, with Dodger in his travel cage on the table next to me, reading Tomasina's truly wonderful novel, I began to hear...something. Was that dry leaves skittering across the sidewalk between the house and garage?

No. That was running water! Running water under the house, and nothing was even using water inside. Phooey.

I turned off the main water supply to the house and it eventually stopped. Called a plumber, who is generally local but also happened to be nearby. I was thinking that this is a holiday and it's an emergency, and it could cost between $200-300, especially if he had to go under our house.

Boy, did this go smoothly. The plumber came over right after Hydra came home and fixed it pretty quickly and only charged $100.

I love Acton.

Taking the Cake - Thanksgiving Day 2007

This is what it's supposed to look like. Except that it's supposed to be four layers rather than three.

But four won't fit in my vintage cake carrier!

So yesterday I frosted and caramel-glazed and pecaned the extra layer and put it on a paper plate and took it over to the retired single guy in our neighborhood who follows his dog around the hills half the day. I was a little nervous that he might think it was odd or that I thought he needed charity, but--yay!--he was just very pleased and maybe a little moved.

Everybody wins!



The mysterious city of oil. A couple of times a year we pass the Signal Hill/Long Beach area at dusk and I wish I knew where to set up a tripod and get a shot of this massive refinery all lit up.

Someday, maybe.

All It's Peeped Up to Be? You Decide - Monday 4/9/2007

First off, a word to the uninitiated: If you're going to nuke your Peeps, whether you're forcing them to joust or not, don't name them. If you do, no matter how adult your audience, you can be assured that there will be tears and possibly even recriminations.




Pre-nuke. Peachy and I square off. I'm backing the green Peep.



Sugary skin has been breached, but the much-ballyhooed deflation of the loser has not been acheived. Still, I claim victory.




Momalisa and Patches do battle on the same playing field seconds after the previous competitors' bodies have been removed and consumed. Momalisa's double-toothpick armed green Peep may have been hoisted upon its own petard.




Jenks goes all ninja on us, setting her pink Peep up for a reverse jab on the fly!




Not satisfied with the ambiguous outcome of the bout, Jenks got creative and performed some sort of corpse melding ceremony. Having at least one deeply disturbed person at your event is actually recommended. (Jenks might be available for parties for the right money.)



BTW, unlike the vein in a jumbo shrimp, the brown stuff inside a nuked Peep is yummy. It should not be removed before consumption.

Final word to the uninitiated: Use regular plates. The clean-up isn't that bad, and you won't spend the rest of the day picking paper out of your teeth.

Hondista could not be pulled into the festivities. But all in all I think the event was a success.

And Peeps are about a zillion times better hot and toasty. (Or is that the sugar high talking?)

[Edit: Check out the hot Peep-on-Peep action over at The Moon Topples!]

Easter Treats - Saturday 4/7/2007

We wended our way down to Riverside County for an Easter feast with the cousins, and scored these little candy-filled fellows.

We win!

Rose Parade : Part 2 - Monday 1/1/2007

Light in leaves on the side street in Pasadena where B&J parked their car. A resident assured us that we could leave it there while we went to view the floats. What a pleasant town.



I got a kick out of seeing this on the sidewalk. Yeah, I get a kick out of odd things sometimes. But you see this used in various motifs in the Craftsman architecture and decor that is so prominent in Pasadena. Like, in ceramic tile patterns or as newel posts.


I like this one because it has easily recognizable components. Limes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beans, etc. This is from the viewing area at Pasadena High School.


Up close and personal with a Native American headdress.


The sky was so gorgeous that day!

Rose Parade: Part 1 - Monday 1/1/2007

We went to the Rose Parade! It took our friends, B&J coming from Indiana to get us to go. They treated us to bleacher seats, a program, and tickets to the viewing afterward. We drove to Union Station and took the Gold Line from there. Very smooth.

B pointed out that Mother Nature was a little scary. Guess all those hurricanes, etc., have put us off her a bit!



This one's for Ween! See? I told you I thought of you and Blue!


My personal favorite. A Dino Rock band. This guy's hair moved in the coolest way as the float moved down the street. All the dinos on this one were great.



The dog of Hydra's youth was a bulldog. I thought the cat's expression was pretty terrific on this one.

Yes, that was the party that was. Out with the old year, in with the new!


B told us that when they arrived just before dawn, there were still fires going... Logs burning right on the street! But everything went very calmly and people were 99.9 % thoughtful and friendly.

Antici.... Sunday, 12/31/2006

...pation!

A fuzzy photo of my new calendar book. Oh, the places it will go!

We were busy cleaning and cooking most of the day. T&M came for our traditional New Year's Eve dinner. Nice to be with people who don't feel compelled to stay up till midnight.

Well, it was midnight in Texas anyway, when we turned in. And it was a very nice evening, though we were to miss our usual breakfast together because we were taking off early for the Rose Parade!