Two Friday memes and a side of fries.

Two very fine, and fun MEMEs for Friday.  First is.....

Friday Five Minutes...

Want to play along?

I put the button in the side bar under Memes

The word this week is HERO

My Hero will always be the man who rescued me.  He felt the fear I was living with on the day that I met him, and his heart went out to me.
He and I have been together for 50 years now, and he's still my Hero.  There really isn't all that much to say beyond that, is there?  I'm sorry to have so little to say about Heroes.  But that's the long and the short of it.  We've been through a lot together, and it's always been sort of magical how everything has worked out.

The button for this meme is also in the side bar:

Friday 5 meme:

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!
Lest you think these questions are a bit on the negative side, fear not: next week’s are very similar, but favor the positives. So stick with me
Thanks for participating, and may you have the mother of all weekends!

1. In what not-so-good way are you like your father?  Now I'm nothing like my paternal unit, at all, whose major fault was being so very, very selfish.  I was a little selfish when DH met me.  I hope that's changed.  I worked hard on that, and think it has.
2. In what not-so-good way are you like your mother? My mother always seemed a little reserved, some took this for selfishness but I know it to be self protection.  I am this way to some extent.  She didn't like to put herself forward, so to speak, and neither do I.  I don't like to give advice, and probably this is because I fear that my advice might cause pain by being wrong.  I'm just reticent.
3. In what not-so-good way are you like your siblings?  I don't think it's very good to carry so much anxiety around, and we do. One of the components of all of our health problems is stress.
4. In what not-so-good way are you like a relative outside your immediate family?  I'm nothing like any of my other relatives.  In this I mean they weren't around when my most formative years were being lived.
5. If members of your family voted, what would they elect as the thing about you they’d most like to change?  Maybe they would like me to encourage them more?  I have no idea because I have so few living relatives.  My sister and I are very close, and we are both close to our brother.

Wow, that was a downer.  

Ok, Now for the news of Wolfie.  His eye is starting to heal a little more every day, but slowly.  We have to keep him from rubbing it with his paw which was only adding to the problem.  He's such a sweetheart!  We must watch out for those little ShihTzu Eyes!

Little windchime Hearts - Lomished and Ortished

We had rain!  Nature's Fecund Blessing!

Raindrops on the grasses near the edge of the shade patio

Not the buckets that we need, but enough to give us some hope.  The snow pack on the Sierras is not good.  So, officially, Northern and Central are in trouble again, and have to ration water.  We have to conserve but it's voluntary.  I'm not pleased that we haven't been put under restrictions because, frankly, I have trouble with supplementing water for golf courses, when the farmers have to fallow fields.

The rain yesterday will also make all the waiting weed seeds pop up and rejoice.  As you can see, the dormant grasses on the hill in the first picture haven't gotten enough rain to send shoots up through their dead leaves of yesteryear.

But the Mother of Millions succulent plant was happy!

So, like the succulents, we must make the most of our watery Grace from the Heavens!  We are getting rain barrels!  Yay!

Thankful Thursday. The Great Whale Conservancy Rescue of Humpback female

I'm thankful that for every clueless person or even cruel person, there are people like these out there who never stop helping.  It's going to take all those who care to actually change things for the better, but I trust humans to change, once they understand what's at stake.

Be sure to watch the whole thing.  It's amazing and wonderful what happens after the save.



These nets should be outlawed.  They are very cruel.

Kudos to DH for finding this video.  Thank you!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday tails: Wolfie, 1, knitting, Nil; Some little revelations and opinions re: Just about everything

This is being written earlier in the preceding day, Monday, for publishing on Tuesday.

The little Wolf's Vet visit went well.  His eye is still not putting out enough tears, but what looked like a cataract was the eye protecting itself from the dryness with a cloudy film.  He has a severely dry left eye. 

Wolfie is feeling better because his vet took all the gunk out of his eye, medicated it a bit and tested for tear output.  She found that it's actually gone down, which isn't so good.  Mon Dieu! 

The medicines are so high cost that I've given up, forever, in having another dog because if two of them - and the other dog would be a ShiPoo rescue for certain - were to fall ill we couldn't afford the care.  It's hard enough as it is.  Actually, I am going to go to the web to buy the medications if it is to be a long term thing.

We got back about 45 minutes ago.  The traffic wasn't too bad but there was a retaining wall down along the small, mountainy road we take to get to over the hill to the clinics.  Sadly, it brought down part of someone's house with it.  It's been so dry here lately that it seems odd for a concrete wall to collapse like that.  Usually they will give way when it's been raining for a long time.  Then again, a hillside always has soil creep, and that might be the cause.  Anyway, it  was pretty spectacular.

We stopped off at the park to let the doggie walk a little, and it was freezing.   I just collected a few twigs for paint roller snowman arms and beat a hasty retreat back to the comfort of the Jeep so as to warm up.  Once the sun goes down around here, it starts into frigid ranges-by Californian standards.  65°F.  Ok, now all of you can laugh.  ;o)

Knitting, and my hands: 

IMAGE Source

(Wouldn't we get a lot of knitting done with hands like these?  Think of the tiny crafts we could make!)

I tried to pin in the other sleeve the last couple of days  but the left thumb has decided that it does not want to behave.  It is so sore that I'm trying to retrain the hands to have the right thumb bang down on the space bar of the computer.  After 63 years of using the left thumb for the space bar, the brain doesn't get it.  Maybe a brain transplant?  I got my first typewriter when I was 8 years old or so, for my Birthday.  It's what I wanted.  I meant to be a writer for a newspaper.  Well, that didn't work out now, did it?

To cheer myself up, I remember that Downton Abby, Season 4 is coming tomorrow in the mail.  And, I am going to entertain my brain by  watching  the prequel*  to Morse Mysteries tonight, which I like very much!

ATT and Verizon are trying to squeeze Netflix to get at some of it's profits.  Never mind that they themselves are already charging an arm and a leg to run High Speed Internet to houses, they also want to hack their way into Netflix profits.  It's time to switch to cable.  Why pay for DSL from those two behemoths if they are just going to suck the life out of Netflix,   I ask you?!

Vandals leave big footprints, So... Fie upon thee, Ma Bell - you Restructured Fracture; and fie to thee as well, Verizon, you Venal Witch.

An Internet Vandal's sneaky feet - Stinky, too!

Midst Other NO less Odious Things....

Just doing my bit to help keep the Internet FREE!  Go Cruzio!  You Rock!

* I slept through the prequel.  

Homegrown Spying by our own Government

No music Monday this week.  This is more important.  Now, after reading this, I recommend a good cry, not some sissy little tears and sniffles, but one of those good old fashioned  Terrible Two's "Throw yourself to the floor kicking and screaming bawl" sort of cry.  Yes, even Guy types!  It helps with all forms of  STRESS! 

After that, get up, wash your face and write to every one in Washington DC, from the PREZ clear down to the freshman House members about this.   They need to hear the PULSE OF THE NATION, not just of the NRA.  *spits*

Here's the Opening statement:

"Media reports since last June have revealed that the US government conducts domestic and international surveillance on a massive scale, that it engages in deliberate and covert weakening of Internet security standards, and that it pressures US technology companies to deploy backdoors and other data-collection features. As leading members of the US cryptography and information-security research communities, we deplore these practices and urge that they be changed."

This is the LINKIE to the Open Letter (from a PDF file from the web).  The Professors and others who signed this Letter are not against enough surveillance to protect the American People.  The signatories to the document make that plain.

Blue Monday.  Just slap me!

Sunday Stealing, and sewing with a fat iron needle.

First, a word to a reader:

D, I am blushing, and of course, you are right.  The word "beauty" has many meanings.  How could I miss thinking of the multitude of meanings for it?  All these things in combination are what creates the Good, and the Hope, and the Joy without which Life would be barren.  You, my sister, have a beautiful soul!

Knitting update:  I sewed one sleeve in today, tomorrow I'll sew the next one, and start on the side seams which will probably be sewn up in the ladder method.  The yarn is a little weak, so doubling it seemed smart. When I reached the end of the strands, I put spit splices into them remembering to string on the needle before doing so, and carried on.  Not wanting to have highly stressed weak yarn near the end of any stretch, I intend to use shorter pieces and spit splice again.  That is, for the sleeves.  I'm going to pin it, this is the plan anyway, to my dress form and spritz it heavily to block the body.  The sleeves I may just block on the Sweater blocker.  At last!  That thing will get some use!

Wolfie's Eye- Update:  He sees his vet again on Monday.  His eye looks like it has a cataract in it, but we are hoping it's just the medicine taking action.  I'm going to start putting regular eye drops in his eyes three time a day a few minutes before we put in the antibiotic.  He's starting to open it a little bit wider and a little bit longer each day.  It is also not that fire engine red it was a few days ago!  Mon Dieu!  Our fingers are crossed on this one.  He is such a good little guy, so patient.

Now, for some fun:  Sunday Stealing!




Let's go!!!

Ask Me Meme

from "Just keep swimming." -Dorthy, Finding Nemo

1:What was the last argument you had about? 
My last argument was about whether to put eye drops into Wolfie's sore eye.  I've done it before when we first got him, having been advised to do so regularly by a sales associate at PetSmart who had three Shih Tzus.

2:How long is your longest relationship? 
My longest relationship, friendship, is with my friend in Turkey.  We have known each other since high school, and that would be since 1960.  I met DH in 1963.  :-)

  3:What is something not many people know about you? 
Something I'll never tell again.

 4:Two truths and a lie. Go.
I'm supposed to lie?
 I have impeccable English table manners.
 My father taught me French which I dared not NOT learn.
 I had the chance to run away and join the circus and be an animal trainer but they said I was too short.

  5:Do you believe in fate/destiny? 
I believe in Karma but with some exceptions.  I believe that we can, by our actions, change our fates.  We are not blindly led on by a preordained Template of life. I do believe that we are born with things to  work on.

  6:Where is somewhere you've always wanted to live? 
Central Coast.  And if not there, The Marquesas Islands.

 7:Has there ever been a song that made you cry? 
Songs make my cry all the time.  Music is beautiful.  Opera makes me cry.  Wagner makes me cry!

  8:Do you jump/scare easily? 
Oh yes! "Psycho* Dad insured that all his children had overly large fight or flight reactions.

9:Which birthday has been your favorite? 
 My last one.  I'm now "living on borrowed time" and like the sound of that sort of joke.  I have one foot in the grave and the other one on a banana peel.  lol!  

10:Have you ever been pulled over? Arrested?  

Pulled over, yes; arrested? No.  I did come Close during the 60's!  I haven't been protesting things since the police went Ballistic and sort of Nasty..


11:Have you ever been to a fortune teller?
No, but I've BEEN a fortune teller, for fun, at a grade school Renaissance Fair.  One of the other parents set up a neat little tent, I dressed up like a Gypsy and sat inside it with a Crystal Ball on a card table.  Another teacher had rigged that bit of foolery up from a Globe light fixture..  I wore my curly black wig, piles of bangles and necklaces, and a headscarf.   It was so much fun!  I wore false eyelashes and people said I looked just like a a doll.  It was fun until this tiny girl came in, and asked if I could see her little goat, which had been stolen.  That wasn't so much fun.  

12:What’s your favorite series of books? 
Of all time?  Probably the Ring Series, Hobbit, etc.  But a close second is The Laura Ingals Wilder Books.

  13:Who is someone that you think knows the most about you outside of family? 
Honestly?  People who read this blog know more about me than most of my family, well, in laws anyway.

  14:What is the weirdest thing you've eaten? 
I tasted calimari, those fried rubber bands.  The weirdest thing I ever ate was an EVERYTHING cake that my brother and I made one day when mother was gone at work.  We made it from scratch because I'd just learned how to do it.  It was sickening to eat, but smelled pretty good.  He my willing accomplice declared it tasted like HELL and smelt worse.  I asked him how he knew.  We were 11 and 6 at the time.
  15:List one of your quirks.
I hear and see dead people? 

16:State 1 bad habit of yours. 
I stay up too late answering meme questions?

17:Has a scary movie ever given you nightmares?
No.  My nightmares come from things that can actually occur.

18:When was the last time you got your hair done in a salon?
 When I was 15 and got an Accidental Afro.  My hair takes to curl easily, and the poor woman fried it.  Happily, hair grows out.

19:What was the last thing you did with your friends? 

Attended a funeral.

  20:What’s something that you like to do that others might see as weird? 
I like to dance in moonlight,or rather I did.  Now I'd probably trip and break a leg.
  21:What was the last trip you took? 
Central Coast and Santa Cruz, Baby!

Saturday 9. Some pretty boring stuff.

I'm boring, not the meme.  It's always good.

I'm having trouble getting Saturday 9 to come out the right size....again.  Bear with me please.

Saturday 9: I Will Always Love You 

1) The Bodyguard is the best-selling movie soundtrack ever and this is the song most often associated with Whitney Houston. Is it on your iPod/mp3 player?   

No, but I think she had a beautiful voice, as well as personality.  She' was in the remake - with a slightly different title - of "The Bishop's Wife", and I love to watch that every Christmas Season.

 2) In the movie, Rachel (Whitney) sings "I Will Always Love You" after she realizes she can never see Frank (Kevin Costner) again. What song reminds you of a past love?  

None actually.  I don't have any other loves stuck in what is now the dusty past.

3) Despite the movie's and the song's overwhelming popularity, Whitney Houston was awarded a Razzie Award as the worst actress of 1992. What's the most recent criticism you received? 

To be honest, I must have the hide of a rhino, because I never hear it, but then, I'm pretty quiet and unobtrusive most of the time. 

4) On the bright side, share the last compliment you received.  

I don't think I ever get those either, well, sometimes my looks but who can take credit for that?  Beauty is as beauty does.
 
5) In the 1980s, when Whitney first burst onto the scene, a trendy woman wore big hair, big bows and big shoulder pads. Can you think of anything you wore that was fashionable at the time, but looking back, makes you cringe? (An embarrassing photo to accompany your answer would be nice!)   

Me?  Trendy?  hahahaha

6) When this song was popular, cell phones were uncommon and Facebook was unheard of. Which has had a bigger impact on your life -- smart phones or social networking?   

I don't have a smart phone.  So, the thing with the most impact has to be social media.  But I speak not of the modern SM, but the old.  I still miss the freedom of IRC and the ease of bulletin boards, though I do love blogging.

7) Whitney's marriage to Bobby Brown left many people shaking their heads. Whitney and Bobby's daughter recently married the young man who was raised as her brother. Have you ever been in a relationship your friends/family didn't approve of?   

Only the paternal unit, but who listened to that wretch?  My Aunts, Uncles, and mother were thrilled for me, and for good reason, as 50 years of good marriage have proven.

8) Whitney Houston's grave marker reads, "I Will Always Love You," so obviously her family is very proud of the success of this recording. How would you like to be remembered?   

I think you've taken the wrong message from the gravestone.  But, be that as it may, I will, I hope, be remembered for kindness and compassion for all of God's creation. 

9) Whitney was born in Newark, the largest city in New Jersey. It's a major air, rail and shipping hub, and it's in the Eastern Time zone. Have you ever been to Newark ... or any town in New Jersey?   

No, but I've had friends in New Jersey.  And I've seen "Shimmer" and thought, "What a beautiful place."

Friday 5: And Updated to include Five Minute Friday

First:

Alternate Uses

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

A sticky note is supposed to be used for sticking notes temporarily to stuff. What’s a different way you’ve used a sticky note?  I use them for bookmarks, at least I did before I found a tube of repositionable glue stick from Elmer's Glue.  Now I just make bookmarks that stay PUT in my books instead of slipping out the bottom or otherwise misbehaving.

Plastic cutlery is supposed to be used for moving food from a plate to your mouth a few times before being discarded. What’s a different way you’ve used plastic cutlery?  I use the forks for the garden, because the tines make good seed packet or other note holders for pots of seeds.  I use the spoons for repotting, and the knives for cutting up succulents to repot.  I'm sure there are lots of secondary uses for these things.

Books are supposed to be for reading. What’s a different way you’ve used a book?  I've always used books for straight edges.  They make very handy straight edges when crafting on the fly.

A file folder is supposed to be used for holding and organizing important papers. What’s a different way you've used a file folder?  File folders are the perfect weight of paper for crafting.  There are approximately a million different things you can make out of them, from greeting cards to shapes for large letters on a sign, to you name it.

A shoe is an article of clothing meant for wearing on a foot. What’s a different way you’ve used a shoe?  I've used the tops of tall boots for the heavy leather.  This leather costs the EARTH to buy for making little purses and such.  Otherwise, unless you want to plant something in them - they do make nice biodegradable pots- or send the not so bad ones to the Goodwill Industries, which hands them out to the homeless, worn out shoes are good for making statements to corporations.

Friday Five Minutes:

Visit:
The year that my Aunt B came to visit was when she brought my cousins along.  I hadn't seen any of them since I was five years old, and now I was a teenager.  By that time I had a small one room "house" of my own, and we stayed overnight in it.  My cousins were very nutty, and a little wild.  Happily they were all girls.  We decided that we'd talked enough about everything that had happened in the years since we'd played together as kids, they were a couple years older than I was, three and four I think.  So we were a pretty wild little bunch of teenage girls.  I told them about the peach tree that had these wonderful peaches on it, and being summer time, there were so many that they fell onto the ground.  So we mounted a posse and off we went, across the little river to get us some of those Peaches!  I told them they had to be very quiet because we didn't want to wake up my Dad, who guarded everything with his Army pistol.  So, in a full moonlit night we set off around 2 am for our raid, and we meant to garner walnuts, too.  As we crossed the river through the willow glade, and came up to the tree, we were pretty quiet.  All was going well until we got the giggles.  Hurridly we picked as many peaches as we could get into the folds of our nightgowns in front of us, and started back across the river with them.  We heard my Dad come out the door, and so we absolutely FLEW across that willow glade and floated at top speed like ghosts in the shadows.  We slipped into the little house, and got very,very quiet, and my Dad came up to the door, listening.  I knew he was out there, and told everyone to BE QUIET!  He called out to me, and in my sleepiest voice I answered that we hadn't heard anything.  Five minutes up.

Anyway, I'll tell you the rest.  Dad must have believed me because he went off, back across the river, and we could see him patrolling his workshop area and the places around where the truck and car were parked.  When we were sure he was back in the house, we just split a rib laughing into our pillows.  Then we ate those delicious peaches.

That was the most fun I've ever had with my back east cousins, until one of them visited again when we were young mothers after her mom,  my Aunt B had passed away.  I showed Cousin J.  my secret spot, down a hill and into some trees at Balboa Park.  I sure miss my cousins.

Thankful Thursday: Guru Wizard Mr. Z, Wolfie update and Actual knitting pictures, Canyoubelieveit?!

Three things, at least three... that I'm thankful for today:

1. I'm grateful that Wolfie is responding well to his medicine.  He does not like getting it put in his eye but we have to remember that he's, perpetually, a four legged human two year old.

September 2013.  This shows his colors the best of any other photo of him.
He's asking where HIS treats are.

2. I am thankful for being able to be Knitting again!  Hands, Eyes, and the Brain are all rolling right along!
3. I am so very grateful for DH, who can Wrangle all things computer related.  Yay!

Here's the skinny on the knitting:

Pre-Collar Mass,
looking just a little like chitlins from an unfortunate multi-colored animal

"Collar" on, and ready for sleeves and side seam sewing tomorrow
So Sorry about that horrid red fleece under the sweater.  The little bit of black "fleece" is Wolfie, who, I might add, is doing well now that eyes got some friendlies fighting for him.  

About Wrangler, Dr Z.  He worked as a hardware guru for many years, and knows a shed load about wrangling software, too.  For fixing my problems with this blog I just have to finish that Aran Sweater for him next.  I will do it along with the Pink Stardust for the Kid (Elle)since that's almost finished, too.  I'm so happy to have my brain, eyes, and hands back up and behaving.

No Wordless Wednesday today! Google Rant!

This started on the day that I uploaded pictures to Google's site for that.

I'm mad as hell at Google.  I can't log into my own blog page but I can log into the Dashboard.  What sort of game is played when you finally take on Google 1 and it screws up your blog?

CHANGES:  the second problem is with embedded comment forms.  I've switched away from the embedded one and to a full page comment page from the dashboard page of the blog.  This made it possible to be able to comment on my OWN blog!

I'll just use Wordpress for other blogs which are not Blogger blogs until/and if Google fixes this mess. 

Am I the only one who is unable to log onto my own blog?

Yes, I've gone to their help.  They said to toss all the cookies, empty the cache, toss the history and restart.  I've done all that.  One woman in their help chat just said she would use her other blog and can the one she was having problems on.  Maybe I'll do that do?  I am paying them to keep my pictures so it's not like this is free. 

I knew Google 1 was a big mistake.  I should trust my instincts.

Let me count the ways!

Good bye cruel Google World!  For the night anyway. I hope it's the ONLY valentine you get!

UPDATE:  Google can't get it right even on their Chrome Browser.   There are a lot of complaints but when you go to help, they want you to put your info up in a public forum.  DUH!  

Tuesday Tails:Wolfie to the vet/ Dachshund to the rescue. Knitting content..

Poodles and Shih Tzu's can have dry eyes.  They have big, forward-facing, and expressive brown eyes that take in every move and every nuance of a person's body language.  Therefore, when one of those big brown eyes is half way closed, as in a wince,  a pet lover takes notice!  One of Wolfie's Baby Browns was wonky.

So, off he went to his vet.  The test was for tear production;  one eye produced the required 20+ tear drops, measured by an absorbing strip of something looking like litmus paper, and the wonky, wincing eye only managed 10.   So, he's got a very dry eye.   He is now, back home, getting goop in his eye three times a day for a week, and then he'll be checked again in a week when the antibiotic has done it's work.

Wolf is so sweet.  This afternoon, when I threw myself on the bed in tears, having seen a pet rescue site with not one, but two, white ShiPoos in imminent danger of the dreaded euthanasia,  Wolfie tore into the bedroom, lept up on the bed, and snuggled right up against me.  I came back in and put up a button for RescueMe.Org, and vowed to find out a LOT more about fostering animals.

And now, about that Dachshund  It's a very sweet story, and maybe you didn't see it.    Some big hearted person was able to adopt them both!

I still want one of these: 

Can you blame me?
  Or a White one.

Knitting report:  After an epic wrestling match with size three needles and worsening myopia, I've succeeded in picking up all 211 stitches, in that splitty and lumpy Noro- I've grown to HATE Noro and will probably never use it again - yarn.   The kid picked the yarn, and it is beautiful.

It wasn't going at all well last night, so with fresh eyes, an Optivisor, and a ton of GRIT, I managed to lasso the stitches onto the needles.  GAD!  Do any of you remember discussions on Knitter's Review about whether or not it was cool to find that you'd knit your own hair into a sweater?  Well, I think some of Noro's hair - and maybe even the dust from the workroom floor - is in that yarn.

There was a story going around the weaver's guilds of a woman who won a weaving contest with yarns she'd made from what she'd swept off her workroom floor.  I believe it's probably true, too!  So, apologies to Noro if that's not the case, and probably isn't, but I'm glad to be done wrangling his yarn for awhile.  I still have to stitch up the sleeves and put them onto the body.  Hopefully there won't be any new problems.

Music Monday: India Arie, "A Beautiful Day"

 "Life is a Journey, not a destination"  Hope you enjoy this video from India Arie

As the song says:

"Life is a challenge, not a competition
You can still smell the Rose and be on a mission.
Just take a moment to get in touch with your heart."

Sunday Thieving and bird report

Let's go!!!

The Last Night Meme

From By The Way Sunday, a now defunct meme blog.

Did anyone call you last night?
No, not anyone who braved the wrath of Mr.Z  announcement anyway.  Mr. Z.is sick and tired of phone solicitors, and they have earned his best attempt at fierce intimidation.  This guy can really roar!

How late were you on the computer last night  I was on until one am, like a lot of nights this week.
 
What did you have to eat last night?  Home made udon noodle/chicken soup with crated carrots. Also, I had harvest bread with Earthbalance, and lemon ginger tea to drink after.

Did you watch any good TV shows or movies last night?  Not last night but I'm watching Downton Abby tonight.  Yay!  O' Brien did a flit but why didn't she take that nasty Thomas with her?  And why is Lady Grantham such a ditz?

Did any news items stand out to you last night? Don't watch TV news.  Hate it.  I did read in the local rag, and I do not say that with much affection for said fish wrapper, that California is in for the worst drought in 18 years.  The drought before that I lost 15 roses bushes.  Never again will I try to grow them. We are almost down to all succulents now.

Did you go out last night?  Nope, me and my mild case of flu stayed home and spent time with online friends playing with dragons. It's always fun!

What was the weather like last night?  Unseasonably warm just like the past few days, or rather week.  We should be getting big soaking rains by now.
 
What was the last thing you said last night?  "Thank you,Lord, for such a nice quiet day to stay home and rest.".

What time did you go to bed last night?  One thirty.  I'm having a little trouble sleeping.  So, I just listen to the silence and talk to the great spirit and hope She/he doesn't mind.  I reckon She/He could stop my heart to shut me up, eh?

FOR the Birds: 

This is last year's nest

The mourning dove female of last year has returned with a new mate - sadly, the big male last year was caught and eaten by the cooper's hawk.  Anyway, the doves are nesting in her favorite spot -under the shade cloth of the patio.  I've decided to leave them alone to do this since wildlife is struggling this year.  No chippies have shown up, and even the tiny house finch and English sparrows are not coming around.  They are usually nesting by now.  We leave piles of dry grasses for them which the doves enjoy as well.  This may turn out to be a very strange year for birds.

Have a very nice Sunday! 

Google is screwed up. Answers to comment, as I can't sign in. But I can make a new post! It's mind boggling!

But it auto signs me in when I try to sign in.  BUT, it doesn't really sign me iN!  I think it is time to move away from Blogger.

Two comments made on Thankful Thursday.   That I could not reply to, thanks to Google's drunken cloud demons.

Christy, Thank you for your nice comments.  I feel we need to always encourage people to think of this treasure we have inside ourselves, and strength, to help and encourage others.  True!   We find out over time that most things that happen to us have some teaching tools clanking along the undersides of the buses that hit us.  These "tools" are ours to take and learn from.

Pealogic, I'm slowly getting better, and will feel strong enough to wrestle with the rest of those front trim stitches tomorrow.  Best Wishes for your recovery soon!

Saturday Freakout! Devil Baby attacks New York! Saturday Nine

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Want to Play along?  Go HERE

Saturday Nine

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here. (This is their official video and it begins with a skit; music starts at 2:25.)

1) Dancing all night to the best song ever would be good for the cardiovascular system. When is the last time you exercised?   On Monday.  I went to the gym and met some people who should have stayed home.  By Thursday Morning, I had the flu.  Yes, sometimes you get the flu if you've had a shot.  I've been enjoying myself while wheezing and reading that tome by Elizabeth George called, Believing the Lie.

2) The girl in this song is the daughter of a dentist. "Dentophobia" is fear of dentists. How do you feel about going to the dentist?   I like my dentist.

3) One Direction performed this on Good Morning, America. Do you watch morning TV? If so, which show?  No, I don't have a television that is on until there is something on netflix or PBS I want to watch.  Sorry. 

4) Listening to upbeat pop songs like this one makes Sam feel young. When is the last time you participated in an activity commonly connected to childen (like swinging on a swing, drinking chocolate milk, playing a board game, etc.)?  Not since our last time when we played that fun little game LRC at Christmas Eve.  It's loads of fun, and actually might be called something else.
 
5) One of the boys, Louis Tomlinson, was an actor before joining the band. How many different professions have you tried? What were they?  I was a seamstress and made clothes for other people for money for awhile.  I've also run a small craft business, does that qualify for a profession?  I've only acted a couple of times, so it's definitely under the radar.
 
6) The fans that have made One Direction millionaires are also the target audience for series like The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Wimpy Kid. Do you read Young Adult literature?  Not often.  I did read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

7) If this is the "best song ever," what song do you consider the worst? Tell us which song just sets your teeth on edge.    I'm not a fan of Tiny Tim, or anything he sang.

8) One Direction performed at the Royal Variety Show for Queen Elizabeth. If you found yourself presented to Her Majesty, what would you say?  "I would say, Your Majesty,  It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you."

9) Right now, is your life moving in the right direction or are you feeling a bit aimless?  It's moving in the right direction.  I'm never aimless, as I always have too much to do that must be done, and I'm getting old and slow.

Five Minute Friday: Encouragement, knitbits, Skywatcher

Join in?  My contribution will be short.  I can't type fast on the netbook.  I'm staying out of DH's way at the moment.

You see, I've caught a much milder version of the flu, because I always get my flu shot. DH does not so now I'm worrying.
 Me?  I just sound a little like a frog right now but am otherwise doing remarkably well!

 I encourage everyone to protect themselves with a flu shot unless you can't for medical reasons.  When our daughters were here, they were recovering from this thing, and it was awful even in recovery!  I picked mine up on Monday, at the gym or maybe at JoAnn's.  It's so easily done! 


Encouragement, The word for this Friday:

When I think of this word, Encouragement,  I think of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.  All the things he says in that prayer are to encourage others:

 "Let me be an instrument of your Peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love,
 Where there is injury, pardon...."

I encourage you to accept the gifts of a Peacemaker, of a councilor, and of Grace.

Knitting update:  I'm picking up and knitting the rest of the 211 stitches 

around the neck of the Noro Manhattan by Jane Ellison.  Seems like a great project for layabouts.  Today is planned to do just that and drink lots of nice hot tea, too.


I'll leave you with a Skywatcher post, one of the most beautiful clouds that has ever floated overhead:

Scripp's, looking south

Have a great weekend!

Thankful Thursday

Sorry, I can't find the first person to have started this, or I would link their picture above.  So, I made my own picture.  It is of one of the pink Rhododendrons in the Botanical Gardens in San Francisco.

Let me say that I am thankful for Firefighters.  May Good Bless you all,  and keep you safe!

And, I am ever thankful for Love's abiding miracles.

Wordless Wednesday: Origin- Los Angeles County, Fossil Trilobites, Fern, and Quartz Cobble from my collection

Actual knitting content, and Tuesday Tails: How to Play with the big, wild animals and Maybe, just Maybe not get eaten.

I write late at night and miss mistakes.  Sorry I also don't EDIT until morning, having fallen, totally exhausted, into bed with my eyes blurry.

Mr. Z and I have been watching the reality show, "My Cat From Hell", and these cats are nothing like the big ones, ferocious as they may be.


Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!  Huff Post Good News Spot.

Animal Tails: My daughter sent me something else about unusual Human/Other Earthling interactions.  READ it here, it's good for the heart but beware, there are potentially upsetting things about it, and if you follow all the side posts, You may find some REALLY bad news amongst the stories, as well as (gasp!) some bad language.

I find it odd that people who do these things are always expecting that their encounters with dangerous animals will not end up as a Horrible news headline.  This is because, unfortunately, for all their emoting, and loving, they just don't speak animal language that well, especially animal BODY languages, which are all different for most species.

After all, body language results in odd behavior in closely related bird species, which then start a divergence between species, not bonding.  And this usually results in Odd birds being ignored or rejected as a mate.  In human/animal bonding, it's OK when the animals we are bonded with aren't capable of a fatal play swipe.  A Macaw can detach a finger but it usually doesn't open up an artery in the neck, too.

Anyway, read with caution.  One thing it did help me out on was the pronunciation of Roibos Tea!

Today, I received more lovely material remnants and even some leathers from a couple who have been collecting and passing out furniture samples to groups who then turn said samples into totes, vests or purses.  I'm passing some along to The Fábrica, a Santa Cruz Sewing Co-op, when we next go there.

Organizing things:
I'm so thrilled to be getting the sewing room back in order, too.  I'm working on it a little every day, and I can already see an improvement in the sewing machine area.  It's not a giant space but it is well put together if I just don't pile things up on the cutting table and machine tables.  The Tables form a C in part of the room and that configuration works nicely.  I even found the dress form, under hats and other things, scarves etc, in the other part of the room.  I thought that sometime before my knee operation, I'd tossed it!  Usually I know where every single thing is in that room.

Knitting Report:
I've gotten the stitches counted for the neckline on the Noro Sweater.  Half of them are on, and I'll work on the other half tomorrow, God willing and the Crick don't Rise.   While at Jo-Ann's today to buy a new Rotary cutter and blades at half price- they are SO EXPENSIVE even then! - I ogled some of that scarf making yarn.  How it works I can't decide,  It widens I suppose.

And knit picks had the perfect little purses to knit for girls as a downloadable pattern.   Check it out!

I'm through with large projects after these sweaters, but small things look like something I can make.   I'm getting excited about knitting again.  Lord knows I have enough yarns!

A tiny portion of the Sock Yarn

Have a great Tuesday!  I'm going to finish some ceramic things and get them into a Kiln!

2 Music Mondays:

"Monday Monday"  by the Mamas and the Papas:
 


It's going to be a very busy day today, and here it is the wee hours and I can't get to sleep.

Bonnie Raiite and Randi Newman, "Feels Like Home".  For DH...

 

Sunday Stealing: the fast dozen meme

Let's go!!!

The Fast Dozen Meme


From the archives at All Stace, All The Time


1. What is the last book that you passed on to someone else to read? PD James, Cover Her Face.

2. The one song you secretly or not so secretly want to sing at karaoke?  I've always longed to sing the Bernstein/Sondheim song, "America", from the opera, "West Side Story", with a male singer of course.

3. If you had to pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?  Ashaneo so my friends could call me Asha.

4. What do you wish your administrator or boss would notice?  na

5. What is your biggest pet peeve? The noisy chewing of gum, I mean, outside of lying politicians.

6. What holds you back in pursuing your biggest dream? Age and being too tired to build that life for myself.

7.Why do you think you are a lovable person?  This isn't a question someone can answer for themselves.  I'd ask DH but he's reading, and HIS pet peeve is to be interrupted when he's reading!

8. If every day had an extra hour in it, what would you do with it?  I would sit quietly and watch it get dark.   I love to watch the sun go down but it's rush,rush, rush!

9. The last song you turned up in your car or house was?  IZ singing "Kamalani"  I know this song and sing it with IZ.  It makes me less sad that he is gone.  Too bad it's this Video is cut off at the end.

10. What is a secret talent you may have?  I have no more secrets.  Well, I have one secret talent that only three others besides myself know of.


11. Your favorite thing to do outside when it's not too cold out in the winter?  I like to walk around and take pictures of the sky, trees and flowers.

12. How do you respond if someone asks you an inappropriate or nosy question?   The last time it happened, I told the man he was just about the rudest person to make it to 60 that I'd ever met.  He's still a friend but he doesn't say things like that to me anymore.

Saturday 9, Saturday Komeekz, Fish stew, Inukshuk.

And, away we go!  Join in the fun at the linked title below or button logo above:
Saturday 9: That's My Kind of Night

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) In this song, our hero offers to take his girl down to the river to catch a catfish dinner. What is your favorite seafood?  Sadly, I can't eat my favorite one, Lobster, anymore.  But, I can eat all finned fish, and then my favorite got endangered: Red Snapper.  So!  I now I have Halibut, which is still very good, and Cod, which I love as fish and chips, and in Mamma Vera's  fish stew.  Recipe follows.

2) Luke Bryan went to Georgia State University, home of the Panthers. What was your school mascot? A Great Big Bear!

3) Have you ever tried acupuncture?  No.  But I'd like to try it next time I have a flare-up.

4) Just last night, Crazy Sam threw away a jar of Miracle Whip because it expired in September 2013. Is your refrigerator neat and organized? Or is it a disaster area, like Sam's?  I'm head of  the Casa Zippita Range and Fridge Police, so yes, it is.
5) Which is more important to you -- saving time or saving money?  Both are important.  I do both and it keeps my spending under control and I like doing things that take time anyway.
 
6) Sam's next door neighbor is named Jim. He's retired, smokes a pipe and drives a red Corolla. Tell us about one of your neighbors.  The last of the old guard?  She's nice to me now.  It took years but she's finally figured out that we are normal, just not her normal, and we always liked her in our funny little way.
 
7) What's the most recent magazine you flipped through?  Sunset.  My kid gave me a gift subscription.  There was a yummy ginger cookie recipe in it and we enjoyed those over the holidays.
 
8) Could your vehicle use a trip to the car wash right now?  Yes, it's SoCal.  You get wet nights and then the trash trucks (or UPS/FedEx) come by and stir up all manner of yuckie dust!


 
9) Did you hit the snooze button this morning?
No, but I did see what time it was and rolled over and slept another half hour.  hehe.  This is the beauty of being retired.


Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday Komeekz:  Keeping with a semi-nautical theme

Mama Vera's Fish Stew

Ingredients:
One pound of fillets of any white, firm fish. Little more is ok.
3/4 cup of sliced onion.
One cup of sliced carrots
One half cup of sliced celery 
Fresh dill  and fresh basil leaves
One medium can of Whole Tomatoes
A quart of water.

Directions:

In big sauce pan, brown the onions, then cool them a bit and add water.  Don't get burned!

Bring water back up to a simmer.  Simmer the fillets, with about a tablespoon of fresh dill, a few basil leaves, and all the onions, until fish is done - it flakes and turns opaque - usually from 7 to 10 minutes, give or take. 

This with a slotted spoon, carefully remove fish and onion and you can try for the herbs, too, but no sweat.  Set aside in a bowl.

Bring back to a simmer.  Into the simmering fish stock put a cup of sliced carrots, a half cup of sliced celery, little bit more dill and basil, and cook until they are tender.  

Add a medium sized can of whole tomatoes, juice and all, first breaking up the tomatoes with fingers,  and reheat.

Add back in the fish and the onion and bring them to heat.
 
Serve in bowls  with a nice crusty Italian bread.

I doubled this recipe for my family.  I also used frozen halibut, thawed, for the fish when fresh wasn't available.  Actually, most of the time. lol

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Fun stuff:   Just for fun, some rock people at the door.
I can see that mine need some improvement, so I'll rebuild them soon.  They have lots of friends on the other side of the plant pot now.  I was a busy bee!
Mine need round heads!!
Have a lovely Saturday!

Friday Five Minutes: See. and a little Wordpress problem

First of all, I'd like to apologize to my Wordpress friends.   There is a problem with following your blogs right now that doesn't seem to have a resolution.  So, I'll pick you up again - because I love to keep up with you and your blogs are part of my life now.  Don't want to lose ya. 

I'll do this as soon as a good solution floats up out of NOwhere to me.  I have searched high and low EVERYwhere else for a solution..... so it has to come out of nowhere...*sigh*




If you want to play along with us, use the link in the picture


See - In five minutes flat:
 
I used to think I knew what it was to "see".    About a quarter of my way into this life I was given a gift that I wasn't sure I wanted.  It could have been hormones from Motherhood or any of the many causes set forth by scientists who study this thing and declare it to be Woman's Intuition.  Yes, I did go back and forth on the spelling and lost 3o seconds.  Anyway, I'm sort of glad to have it (even though) now it's too late to do anything with it.  But it's an interesting ability even though it's relatively worthless.

You can't ordinarily talk much about it, people get it, and then they get nasty about it, or they don't and probably get scared that you are a nut case.  This is one sort of seeing.  Seeing in so many more colors that it sometimes hurts.

I don't think I can get five whole minutes out of this but I'm trying.  My Uncle had a sort of inkling of this when I was a child.  He said that I was the most different child he'd ever met, did I never play like a kid?  Well, I once did, until I started living with a Psycho and had to know what was just around the corner, in quotes, I was sort of normal.  two more minutes.  gad I'll never be able to say what this thing does to you.  Sometimes you think you are just a nut and sometimes you really believe that you were meant to be this way and God has a plan.

One wonder's if some of the Charismatics were this way;, you know, the ones that got burnt at the stake for heresy.  One more minute.  I belief that it is just that I had to live with a very dangerous man, and it made me hyper alert.  I don't generally miss anything when in the company of strangers or people I'm  a little bit afraid of.  I'm going to hate this and erase it!

See?  Truly, the best thing to say about SEE is that I'm so glad we have color vision.  It really makes dreams vivid.  there we are 5 minutos!

Can I make up for all of this with a nice photo about inner peace?

Psalm 55.6: "Oh for the wings of a Dove,  to fly away and make a new home in the desert."

Thankful Thursday

One thing I'm thankful for is my hands. 

I'm also  thankful that I didn't start out as a potter.  I've seen what a hard art it is in which to earn money.  And when I started, the kick wheel was IT unless you hand built things, and slabs are so hard without a slab roller    But the hands just really took a lot of abuse from being a carpenter from the time I was 10 until I was 19.

This is the potter who created the famous yellow glaze I was talking about, in a comment to Kim.  

 Anyway, I really like this blog:           Change in the Wind Blog
I'll will add it to favorites under the Pink day lily button.

Wordless Wednesday: For Jimmy

Tuesday rant about a rut I've fallen into. UPDate...

This Tuesday rut- routine - of going to ceramics to accomplish practically nothing has to change.  I want to do other things with the time other than traveling in a car to go do something that's getting more difficult by the year to do.  My tender hands want to sew, knit, work in the garden, and paint the house.

I'm very dissatisfied with myself for having so many of what one could only call "hobbies" now that there is no longer a business to drain off the production.  There, a public rant about having too many crafts in life which complicate it.  I'd like to stay home and work on plant pots and just fire once or twice a year!

Lord, surely there is a Tuesday meme that would fill the rest of the page!   I feel like life is just too complicated now, and I want to get rid of things from it.  Also, I guess the Midwest/Eastern weather has me shocked and dismayed.   I'm sorry for all the creatures who cannot get warm enough.  I hope the birds are OK, for instance, as well as Fuzzerelly's outdoor rabbits.

picture source

In case anyone wondered what a melt down was like, now you can see one online!  

  I found something for a meme, sort of.  Tuesday is a hard day to fill, isn't it?

It's a grey sort of day, ya think?  I need to go watch something on Netflix.  Oh, an Asteroid hit the earth but it was little.  Keep enjoying the little things from Space!

What else is new?  I'm cleaning the sewing machine tables.  But just where will all that stuff go?  Looking at that room is to realize that I'm certifiably insane.

When the twins were here, my daughter told me that I'm a packrat.  She's a crafter and should understand these things!  I was awash both with indignation and chagrin.  Do you know how many colors your face turns when this event occurs?

Music Monday: "Crime of the Century", Supertramp- in concert-- also Roger Hodgton, "Fool's Overture".

This band was very Deep Waters...  God Love em, an inspiration.

Two stanzas from Fool's Overture:

"History recalls how great the fall can be
While everybody's sleeping, the boats put out to sea
Borne on the wings of time
It seemed the answers were so easy to find
"Too late," the prophets cry
The island's sinking, let's take to the sky

Called the man a fool, striped him of his pride
Everyone was laughing up until the day he died
And though the wound went deep
Still he's calling us out of our sleep
My friends, we're not alone
He waits in silence to lead us all home"