Working from Home - Thursday 6/12/2008

Nice to be home to catch the sunlight coming in through the kitchen window. I avoided the commute today. I get good gas mileage in my Toyota Echo, but my commute still burns about 2 gallons a day.

And you know what that means lately.



After working eight hours, I used the extra time to run a couple of errands in Palmdale before going to a Pilates Pulse class at the gym. (Whew! Tough!)

Then I got creative with the shrimp Hydra cooked up. Penne with shrimp, asparagus, wilted red lettuce, really good olive oil (thanks to Tomasina), Parmesan cheese and spices. Mmmm.

Early Girl - Wednesday 6/11/2008

There she is! Ain't she a hot tomato?


Here come her sisters!


They seem to be enjoying their spot in pots on the patio.


Cool Thing : Check out this Chris Ware animation that's on the This American Life website. Very cute story from a long-time married couple. I've had this happen with stories my siblings told about living in other houses before I was born.

I adore Ira Glass and the stories he and his crew bring to NPR every week. You can download podcasts or listen on your computer. I just donated to the podcast.

The story "Giant Pool of Money" explains the current mortgage crisis so well...

Giant Bowl o' Butter - Tuesday 6/10/2008

Apparently this giant bowl of butter has intrigued others before me.

"People are fascinated with it," the night waitress tells me when I ask if I can take a picture of it. "They want to touch it."

Some have gone further.

One night a couple of drunk college students were in the all-night diner early in the morning. They were horsing around, and one of them grabbed the butter and dumped it on the other's head. (Thank goodness it's whipped!)

"Butter went everywhere! It was all over the guys, on the counter, on the floor. They were both slipping around in it. We call it the Great Butter Caper."

They have a pretty good attitude at Andrew's.





When I opened the car door outside the gym, there was this leaf on the asphalt. The arc is the shadow of my steering wheel.

Sometimes all you have to do is pay attention.

Lurking - Monday 6/9/2008

This shadow on the other side of the glass at Andrew's looked pretty spooky. Add to that the profile of the lurker with what looked like a big chainsaw and it was exciting for a moment.

But I've seen this before. It's a young man using a hedge trimmer on the shrubs outside the window.

He was still out there when I left. He flashed me a wide smile when I said good morning.

Not so scary after all.

First Watermelon - Sunday 6/8/2008

Fabulous sweet watermelon from Trader Joe's. A squeeze of lemon from Ann's tree. Freshly scissored spearmint from my yard.

Amazing!

Car Wash - Saturday 6/7/2008

In the parking lot of the gym, Saturday morning.

One of those high school car wash events that make me feel like I'm living in a community more like the one I grew up with than I did when I lived in L.A.

High school kids are actually quite often polite out here in the high desert. Maybe it's just because I look like I might know their mom, but hey, kindness just makes the world spin a little easier.

Ann's Lemons - Friday 6/6/2008

Now they're mine!

Picked from the tree in her back yard during the break in the hoot.

Music and lemons. Mmm.