Huntington Botanical Gardens

Spent the day at the Huntington Botanical Gardens. Yes, we actually went on a day that it was open. Lots of really interesting things there. One of the coolest was a preying mantis that Ralph spotted on a trumpet vine. I even saw it catch a bug, and came *this close* to getting that on video. I clicked the "record" button just as it made its grab, so it starts with the bug being yanked away and not actually being grabbed first. I also liked the little fountains in the Children's Garden; they were pots of water, and every few seconds a big "bloop" of water would pop out of a small hole next to the pot, and land inside it. The lake at the Japanese Garden was very peaceful--we sat at a table next to it to eat the lunch we packed--with big koi in the water and dragonflies flying around. We spent three hours there which was both not long enough (we didn't see even half of the place) and a bit too long (my knee aches & even with SPF 50 sunblock I think I got a bit of a burn). After we got home I sat in my green chair & read until I woke up :-)

I just noticed that the last picture is kind of difficult to make out. It's the preying mantis we saw, eating the head off the bug it caught.

Last Saturday of August

I must be getting old, because the weeks & months & years go by so fast. Time is slow when you're a kid, but once you're grown up it just flies by. Here it is the end of August (2008!!) already.

Had a nice, if quiet, day. After breakfast we drove up to Venice Beach & wandered around a bit. Had all the usual swap meet crap for sale, of course, but it was pleasant to walk along & people watch. There was one shop selling those "flying" toys--you know, planes, birds, winged cows & pigs on a wire, which "fly" around & around. As we were looking at them a woman came up and looked also, and said, "Oh, aren't those imaginary!" It was all I could do not to look at her and say, "Um, no, they aren't, although they might be considered *imaginative.* Unless you can see something that I can't, in which case that just might be imaginary."

On the drive home we stopped at Starbucks & split a vanilla creme frappuccino. Very tasty indeed, especially after spending an hour in the hot sun at the beach. Once we got home we both had quiet days reading, napping, brainsucking and in my case doing a bit of knitting. I'll probably frog it because I'm not entirely please with it (I'm making a cell phone cozy & I'm just winging the pattern as I go along) however the basic pattern is coming out nicely and I think I can do it right the second go-round.

We ended up having leftover chili for dinne rlast night, so had the burgers for dinner today instead, with some grilled corn on the cob to go with it. Very delicious! Our tomato was finally ripe so we sliced that up to go on the burgers along with some cheddar cheese & grilled onions. Better than burgers from a restaurant if you ask me.

Now we're watching "Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix." A non-taxing end to a quiet day :-)

Start of the Labor Day Weekend

Another good day today. Got lots done at work. At 1:00 pm The Powers That Be ordered in pizza & munchies and showed a movie in the conference room (The Phantom Menace). I didn't watch it because a) we own it b) I don't like that movie and c) I had a lot of work to do, but I did have some pizza, chipsnsalsa, and one Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Hey, free lunch is free lunch! Then we got to go home early; off at 3:00. Unfortunately there was a LOT of traffic so I didn't get home until 4:30 however that's still 30 minutes earlier than normal quittin' time which is always a plus.

Forgot to mention that the "Frazz" book I ordered on Amazon arrived on Wednesday. Of course, I finished reading it by yesterday. That is one of my favorite comics; it's consistently funny & often thought-provoking. And the strip's writer is obviously an intelligent person, considering I had to look up two words in the dictionary while reading the book (palter and diaphoresus; I already knew trebuchet & callipygian) and that's not something that's likely to happen whilst reading "Cathy."

As you can see from the photo, our one red tomato is almost ready for picking. Actually, I took that picture three days ago so it might be ready now. I hope so; it would be a nice addition to the hamburgers Ralph said he would grill up for dinner tonight.

Wednesday? What about Wednesday?

Can't believe I forgot to post yesterday. What a maroon!

Yesterday we had our quarterly meeting. Not too bad; had some nice improvements in customer satisfaction & quality assurance which was good to hear. The awards part went on a bit too long but all in all it was fairly decent for a 2-1/2 hour meeting. I was amused when the head of HR talked about health insurance & our "Wellness Wednesdays" & eating right, etc. etc. I just looked over at the breakfast bar provided for us, with its bacon, sausages, eggs, sugary cereals, and trays of pastries, & started to giggle. KF followed my glance & she started giggling too.

Afterwards 99.9% of the company went bowling. They had some fun team names: the Holy Rollers, the Pin Doctors (wearing scrub tops instead of bowling shirts), The Bowling Stones, and Lord of the Pins ("One Ball to Rule Them All"). Mr. Boss Man's team was "All About the Sheets" and they wore sheet "togas" with pictures on them such as a chicken or a bull (think about it). I hate to bowl, I hate to watch others bowl, I hate the noise of a bowling alley, and I didn't want to pay $25 for the privilege of doing things I hate even if it was a half-day off work, so I went back to the office. I got sooooo much stuff done with no one there to interrupt me! Two other girls went back too, but their offices are so far from mine that I may as well have been completely alone. It was a good day.

Today was just sort of a day, though. Looking forward to the three-day weekend, that's for sure!

Boring day

Not really boring, but nothing interesting to post. So all you get today are these two sentences & a picture.

Just a day

Nothing exciting happened today. I did see another baby lizard for about 3/4 of a second before it scurried off. Starting to get replies to the All-iday invite; of the people who have responded I would say it's pretty evenly split between I'll be there and I can't make it.

Went out to dinner with Moon and MH2 last night. I won't say where, because this is a very public forum and we had very poor service. My order & Ralph's were fine, but Moon's was completely messed up & MH2's wasn't much better. First the waiter brought MH2 the wrong beverage, then brought Moon the wrong entree, then we had to remind him to bring the salads, and when the salads did arrive one of them had the wrong dressing on it, then by the time Moon's entree arrived the rest of us were done eating & ready to box up our leftovers, and to top it off we had to remind the waiter to bring Moon's bread! They did comp his meal & gave them a gift certificate for a free dinner for two which was appreciated, but still. . . this is a place where Ralph & I have eaten before and this was the first time we'd ever had bad service so we know it was just a fluke. I doubt our friends will be going back anytime soon, though.

I decided today that I want to knit a small carry-bag so I don't have to haul my big backpack everywhere. Just something big enough to carry my key-card for work, cell phone, the remote to my car, and maybe a few dollars cash. I plan on raiding my remnants basket & seeing if I have enough yarns of similar thickness & complementary colors to make a little stripey bag. I thought I would make an i-cord loop & attach a carabiner to it so I could attach it to a belt loop, or to the bag on those days that I do need the whole shebang.

Crummy start, but got better

Ralph had a D & D game, so I made myself scarce. Used the GPS to try to find somewhere interesting to go. The first place I picked I couldn't find, even with the GPS, so I had to assume they have gone out of business. Second place was closed. There was a bead & craft store near that one, so I went in to look around. They should take "and craft" off of their sign as it was ALL beads & beading tools. None of the beads were anything special, and I thought they were pretty expensive for what you got. I was the only customer in the shop, although there were four employees.

Finally decided to head over to Whittier Narrows--a very large park--to see if I could find their nature center. I had to do a bit of driving around before I found it. Had a very nice walk along their trails, although it was waaaay hot & I didn't bring any water with me so I didn't stay as long as I would have liked. Got a few nice shots (posted 23 of them on Flickr) and all in all was quite pleased with the visit.

After getting a so-called iced tea at a local fast food joint, I headed over to the bookstore where I bought two novels and a Dilbert collection. Went to a couple stores looking for work shirts and actually found two that I liked. They are slightly tighter than I prefer but they are still comfy & look nice on me. Still, I would have been happier with the next size up had they had any. On the other hand, they *were* on sale and I got the pair for less than $25 and that is nothing to complain about.

So now I'm home enjoying the solitude (the game is over, and Ralph went Halloween shopping with our friend Moon) and thinking about reading for a while. Yeah, that sounds nice. . .

Another nice Saturday

Had a pleasant day today. Experimented with dying that froo-froo blue roving. Didn't have quite enough dye for the amount of fiber, so it's a wee bit tie-dyed. No worries; now that I know the method will work (add wet fiber to large bowl of unsweetened grape Kool-ade & microwave until the water is clear), I will get more Kool-ade & overdye it again. I will probably have to drum card it afterwards, especially since when we returned from dinner the dogs had dragged it all across the living room. I know that *I* closed the red room door, so Ralph must have left it open when he went in there to get a t-shirt.

Started reading a new book today, "A Cracked Pot." It's the sequel to "A Murderous Glaze." Definitely a cozy mystery, and I am quite enjoying it. I will have to go to the bookstore tomorrow for sure, though, as I'm nearly halfway through the book & I don't have anything left on my "unread" stack and my Amazon pre-order doesn't arrive until October.

Had dinner at--you guessed it, Johnny Reb's, although this time it was Ralph's suggestion. I suggested Thai, and he said he knew just the place. Then when we were leaving he asked one of The Boys if he wanted us to pick up anything for him at Tony Roma's so of course I thought that was where we were going. Much happier with Johnny Reb's though, especially as our friends Punweaver, MS, and CB arrived as we were finishing up. It was nice to see them, especially as I haven't seen CB in about a decade (he was living in Japan until 18 months ago).

We just finished setting up the inflatable spa that Ralph bought off a co-worker. It seats 4 people and Ralph is most anxious to try it out. It takes 24 hours for the water to heat so we won't know until this time tomorrow whether or not we like it.

It is official: the All-iday Party is scheduled for September 27. The invites will be going out tomorrow. We've notified a few people (the friends we ran into at dinner for example) but the main "spreading of the news" will be when I send the e-mail. I was going to send it today, but wanted to hold off until I was sure that I hadn't forgotten anyone on the invite list. I've already remembered two people that need to be added, so I'm glad I haven't actually hit send yet.

It's the weekend!

One of the Teeming Millions commented recently that I don't seem to have much fiber on the blog these days. She's got a point. Frankly, the merino that I am spinning is just too froo-froo blue for my liking, so I've kinda just got it sitting around. I am working on a new scarf using some old yarn that was hanging around (I think I spun it 2, maybe 3 years ago). It was my first attempt at boucle but it came out more as a snarl yarn. It's handspun soy silk with a millspun cotton thread binder. I'm using US 13 needles, and it's a drop-stitch pattern (knit two rows; K1, YO to end of third row ending with a knit stitch; K1, drop YO to end of fourth row, ending with a knit stitch; repeat these four rows until you run out of yarn, ending on row 2) so it should be fairly long considering how little of the yarn I actually have.

My niece sent out photos of her new son, James. I of course forgot to forward the e-mail home (she sent it to my work address) but I'm sure Big Sis will post one or two on her blog.

My mornings have improved recently. Normally I read, brainsuck, knit, or whatever until 6:00 then get ready for work. This week I switched to getting ready first, and then from 6:00 until 7:00 I watch "Star Trek" with Ralph. We enjoy the show together, and if I'm not quite ready for work when the show starts I've still got the commercials for that. And today was especially good, because it was an episode that I've either never seen before, or it's been so long that I didn't remember it. Now that's a rare thing with Trek!

Don't even say it.

No, there are no pictures of the TWO baby lizards I saw at work today. I'm sure you all know why.

In lieu of anything interesting to say, thought I'd post some LOLs from I Can Has Cheezburger. The first one is one Big Sis made, and I thought it pretty dang funny.


moar funny pictures


moar funny pictures


moar funny pictures

Didn't bring the camera. . .

. . . so I didn't get a picture of the really cute baby lizard that I saw at lunchtime. Sigh. You think I would have learned by now.

Today's picture is my weight on the moon, according to the scale at Griffith Observatory.

Hali is doing just fine; eating well & has almost forgiven us for taking her to the vet.

And that is pretty much all I've got for today. How can one stand the excitement???

Clean teeth!

Another uneventful day, for the most part. Hali had her vet visit today. They cleaned her teeth & her ears, and clipped her nails. She had a fractured tooth which they thought would have to be removed, but after taking the broken part off there was still enough sound tooth below the break that they were able to leave it. She's got some ear drops & antibiotics and has to be on soft foods for a while.

And that's it for today's news. My gosh I lead an exciting life.

Good things

Not much to talk about today. I noticed on one of the other websites I go to that someone posted a topic "Name one thing that made you happy today." So, in lieu of having anything interesting to say, I'll just mention some of the things that made me happy today, or at least amused me. No traffic on the way to work. The iced tea I made tasted really good. We had eleven sales and only one cancellation on the latest sales report (which covers 8/11-8/17) for net ten sales. "Net ten" is a palindrome. Had a very yummy sandwich (turkey, ham & swiss on whole grain bread, warmed up) for lunch. Got off work on time today, which is almost unheard of on a Monday. NO fire drills! No traffic on the way home. I'm enjoying my audiobook (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) even though I've read the book three times & listened to the audiodisk at least twice. It wasn't too hot outside at lunchtime. I have shepherd's pie baking in the oven for dinner tonight. And lastly, this "FAIL" from icanhascheezburger.com:


see more pwn and owned pictures

The best laid plans. . .

. . . of mice and men gang aft agly. Which is to say, one should double-check an event's website before actually heading out there (something you think we would have learned after the Huntington Gardens incident). Turns out the fiber festival was cancelled, a fact we did not discover until we had driven to Santa Monica. I was, to say the least, quite disappointed. However, we are a flexible group when it comes to excursions and thanks to my handy-dandy GPS, discovered we were only about 20 minutes away from the Griffith Observatory. We had a very nice time there even if it wasn't a fiber festival. I was very impressed with the accuracy of the sundial there--the time on it exactly matched Ralph's watch, which receives a radio signal from the atomic clock in Colorado and is therefore a pretty reliable watch indeed.


The talent show was also fun. Punweaver & DS performed "What is This Feeling" from Wicked; Punweaver's husband MS did a juggling act; and all in all there was in fact actual talent at the talent show.

This weekend went by far too quickly. Good thing Labor Day is coming up soon, as I could really use another 3-day weekend.

STUFFED!

Went to Johnny Reb's for dinner again. Got pulled pork & double mac-and-cheese (Ralph got pulled pork & double mashed potatoes and gravy). We each ate half our meat and all of the side dishes. Oh, did I mention you get free seconds on the side dishes if you want them? Well, the waitress brought us some without us even asking, so I've got my leftover pork and TWO helpings of mac-and-cheese for tomorrow. I am so full I can hardly move.

Not much else happened today, which is odd because the day passed very quickly. Read a bit, spun a bit, read some more . . . that's about it. Oh, we did go to a garage sale where we bought an old-fashioned baby carriage. No, no, we're not expecting; with a bit of work & a large-headed rubber skeleton, it's going to be a great Halloween prop.

We decided today that we ARE going to have an All-iday this year; however, it will be in September rather than August. I'll just tell people it was moved out in honor of National Procrastination Day (June 1) or possibly National Procrastinator's Day (Sept 5). Or maybe Fight Procrastination Day (first Wednesday in September). So you see, September really is the perfect month to hold a party that is late.

Tomorrow should be a good day. Going to the fiber festival with Big Sis (and maybe Ralph; he hasn't decided yet if he wants to go) and then in the evening all three of us will be attending a talent show put on by the church our friend Punweaver attends. Ralph & I went last year and it was a lot of fun.

I can has cheezburger

I created a few LOLs at Icanhascheezburger.com. Of course, I doubt any of them will be picked for their webpage, but it was fun anyway. Here is one of them:


moar funny pictures

Hat Day

Today was Hat Day at work, with prizes for Most Elegant & Most Outrageous. We won't find out the winners until Monday. I thought I had a good chance for Most Outrageous with my "Tim the Enchanter" hat, until RM showed up wearing one too! (That's me in the picture, not RM. Not the most glamorous shot of me ever taken but what the heck.) Well, maybe we'll tie for it. Incidentally, that's part of the view from my office that you see in the background.

Good news, at least for me: I used a different coffee this morning, and did NOT get sick from it. It's odd, though, because we've been drinking the other brand for weeks now without a problem. Wonder if we just got a bad can? Not sure I want to risk buying it again though, just in case.

Only 4 Prii on the way home today: two black, a white & a green.

Last night I was annoyed because I forgot to bring home the apple, cheese & milk I had planned on snacking on during the long drive. This morning I was really glad about it though, because I didn't have time to eat breakfast before work (translation: spent the 6:00 o'clock hour watching "Star Trek" instead of getting ready for work) and it was nice to have some food when I arrived at the office. Went to lunch with The Girls With Whom I Walk (MP, VG & CE). VG paid for mine since Ralph had brought all that Greek food a while back, which I really appreciated. Wonderful Thai place; I had a beef curry that was just delicious, and it came with soup, a small salad, and an egg roll. I was STUFFED afterwards and still feel pretty satisfied even now. Not sure I'll even want dinner, but if I do get hungry I have the fixin's for chi-li dogs.

Oh, lovely--Sadie is splashing the water bowl with both feet. Again. . . .

This week is going by so fast!

Can't believe it's Thursday evening already. This week has just zoomed by.

Today's picture is of sunflowers at the Madrona Marsh.

Don't think I'll make it to the fiber festival on Saturday; too many other things to do (shopping, laundry, get Sadie's vet records transferred to our vet & her license transferred into our name [ugh, bet there's a fee for that], make an appointment to have Hali's teeth cleaned, etc.) but I should be able to go on Sunday. Wonder if Big Sis is busy that day, and if not if she wants to go? Guess I could *ask* her. . . Hey, Sis, wanna go to the fiber festival on Sunday?

Saw lots of Priuses (Prii?) on the drive home again: six on the freeway not including mine, and one parked in a driveway. Guess I shouldn't really count the parked one, since I pass it pretty much every day. I was a little surprised though, because normally I pass three parked ones in our neighborhood.

The new babies seem to be doing well. We put in a mat of fake plants at the top so they have a hiding spot. Unfortunately, we had to move an adult fish into the hospital tank; one of the other fish bit off his upper lip! I don't think he can eat, and is likely to die :-( I think it's time to move the other babies into the big tank, since the ones Ralph put in last week are doing fine, and this way we can medicate the injured fish without harming the preschool.

Been feeling ill lately if I drink coffee; Ralph has had some problems, too. Don't know if it's the brand, or if we're making it too strong, or what. We have some other coffee which I will brew in the morning & see if it makes a difference. If not, well, guess it's so-called iced tea for me in the mornings.

Oh. I see.

Forgot to mention that Ralph moved a few of the baby fish into the big tank, to see how things went. When I fed today, I only saw three of them at first, so I looked around a bit. Ah, there it was, swimming with the other one. Wait--other one? I thought he only put in four. . . well, maybe it was five. Um, six? Seven??? I asked Ralph, "Sweetie? Did you move more babies to the big tank?" He said no. We looked closer. . . yes, yes, there were at least ten in there, and most of them were smaller and darker than the babies in the small tank. Looks like we've got another preschool. And that one fish still looks awfully fat. . . . oh dear. . .

Middle of the week

Pretty good day today, if uneventful. On the way to work, I was listening to the radio. The first station I listened to played "Werewolves of London," after which the DJ said "That was the late, great Warren Zevon." Since they were headed into commercial, I switched to a station that was playing "Have to Say I Love You in a Song." When it ended, the DJ said, "That was the late, great Jim Croce." I guess any dead performer is "late, great."

Saw lots of Priuses on the drive home. A dark blue, a light blue, a green, a white, a silver, and of course mine. Looks like the high gas prices are making a lot of money for Toyota.

Sadie is fitting in more & more each day. She is starting to come when she is called, and greeted me when I got home from work today. Hali tolerates getting her face licked for longer than she used to before growling. Zoe plays with her (Sadie) a lot, with their favorite game being "Bite My Head." Right now the two of them are playing "Annoy Hali" which is their second-favorite game. We got her vet records today, so this weekend I can go to the animal control & get her license updated. Hope it doesn't take too long, as I want to go to the fiber festival in Santa Monica on Saturday.

That's about it I guess.

And so it ends

I found out last night that Neighbor D passed away Sunday morning. He never regained consciousness as far as I know. I'm glad he went quietly without suffering. He had stated prior to going into the hospital that he did not want to be kept on life support, and I think it is good that his sister followed his wishes. We will miss him though. We will take good care of Sadie & the birds.

Back to work. . .

. . . and a nice surprise awaited me. MR has been transferred to the South building. Mr. Boss Man took his old office. And Mr. Boss Man's old office--is now MINE!!! Of all the days not to bring the camera. The girls with whom I walk put a big red ribbon across the door, and my name is in the nameholder, and they moved my Important Items (awards, photo of husband, photo of Jeff Goldblum) into the office. Tomorrow SE will set up my computer there & it will be official :-) Needless to say I am very happy & excited (I just stood giggling when I saw the ribbon). I'm sorry MR isn't in our building anymore as he was a nice guy, but I am glad it was a transfer and not a layoff!

Not much else to write about today. Cooking fish for dinner: tilapia with thyme & lemon pepper, and I'll heat up some veggies to go with it. It's been kind of a long day & I really didn't want to cook, however I am glad that I took the time to fix it. There should be enough for lunches tomorrow, and if not, well I did stop at the store on the way home so we have sammidge fixin's. I also got some snacky-type things (oh rats, forgot the pudding!) and therefore have *no excuse* to not pack lunches tomorrow.

Today's photo is a shot of pink blossoms on an acacia tree, taken at the LA Botanical Gardens. I really liked the juxtaposition of the soft pink flowers framed by the thorny trunks of the acacia.

forgot to post yesterday

Forgot to post yesterday, and I bet Big Sis thinks I forgot about her birthday. I did leave a birthday message for her on Knitter's Review, and Ralph sent an e-mail from us both. So I did remember even if I didn't make a big fuss.

Big Sis & The Boy are both pressing about the All-iday Party. I want to have one, although it may be a bit late since it is the 11th already & the 23rd is less than two weeks away. Also, it feels weird to plan a party when Neighbor D is so ill. Plus I don't want the fuss of planning. I just want the prizes to buy themselves, the food to cook itself, the invitations to mail themselves, and the decorations to magically put themselves up.

Vacation is over. I should be getting ready for work. . .

A sad posting

Sad news today. They took Neighbor D off life support this morning. It looks like it is just a matter of time now. Earlier Neighbor D's sister & his two nephews were moving things out of the backyard. Sadie heard them and ran over to the fence, whining & crying. Poor thing--how do you explain to a dog that her master is not coming back? Anyway, we will be keeping her (and the parakeets) so she will have a loving home with people she knows. The picture today is one I took of her in our backyard yesterday.

Awake? Why am I awake?

5:23 on Saturday morning, and I've been up for almost an hour & a half. Insomnia sucks.

Taking advantage of a new blogger feature: the blog list. I like how it shows the most recent post. You'll notice there's a new blog there: simple knits. It's got a listing there of 500 easy knitting projects that use 285 yards or less. I found the link today on Ravelry, and am hoping to find something nice to do with the yarn left from my shawl.

Went to see "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" yesterday. Ralph's choice of movie; I would have preferred to see "Mummy III" but the showtimes worked out better for HB. Actually, there weren't any movies listed that I really *wanted* to see, so I wasn't going to make a fuss over HB vs. Mummy. I was not impressed with HB though; jumped around too much, got way too smarmy in a couple places, and took way too long to get to the Golden Army part (a short intro at the beginning so you know what the Golden Army is, then you finally get to them again at the climax of the movie). Also, there were a couple spots that were way too predictable. Example SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! The ogre has this metal fist that he shoots out to smash things/people, then it automatically hauls back to his wrist with a long chain. Hellboy is standing in front of these huge spiked cylinder-shaped gears. (You can see where this is going already, can't you?) Sure enough, ogre shoots out the fist, HB jumps to the side, fist goes into gears, ogre pulled in after & suffers gruesome death (fortunately, most of the gruesome is left to the viewer's imagination). END OF SPOILER. There were a few saving graces: John Hurt has a small role in the beginning (he's my fave actor ever); Roy Dotrice (the father on the old TV show "Beauty & the Beast" as well as being the real-life father of the actress who played Jane Banks in "Mary Poppins) has a small role as the elf king; good effects; nice make-up work. Not worth paying full price at the theater though.

Not sure what we're going to do today. I double-checked my coupon for the bookstore; it expires today, not tomorrow, so I guess I'll be going there. Ralph got a bad sunburn yesterday, which means pretty much no outdoor activities for us. Another quiet day, which isn't a bad thing. I can get some more knitting done (did 6 rounds of the orangutan leg last night), and some spinning, and finish the book I am reading. There have been worse days.

Last Friday of vacation

Guess it's pretty much officially over; it's 2:30 pm on Friday and my remaining vacation is now just a weekend. Man that went by way too fast!

Been a rather quiet day today. Sewed the arm & embroidered the face on the orangutan, although I will probably redo the face as I am not entirely happy with it. Went to PetSmart & got a small wading pool for Sadie in the hopes it will keep her out of the pond, then bought some plants & stuff to spruce up the pond a bit. I did a little bit of weeding but quickly got too hot to continue (it's in the mid 80's today, and there is NO SHADE anywhere near the garden). Ralph potted plants & rearranged the pond. It's looking a lot better now.

Ralph might be having another D & D game on Sunday. Not sure what I will do if he does; probably go to the bookstore because I have a coupon. I don't really need another book yet--still have one that I haven't read yet, and a few chapters left to go in the one I am currently reading--however it's a good coupon (40% off one book) and expires on Sunday so I want to use it up.

Speaking of Sunday, that is Big Sis's birthday. I swear, it seems like she has one of those every year. . .

Two weeks from today is the start of the big fiber festival in Santa Monica. Past years have been a bit quilt-centric for my taste, but I'll most likely attend this year anyway. It's not that far away, and is good for a couple hours entertainment. I don't actually *need* any new fiber, like that's ever stopped me before, but I would like another yarn gauge or two (one to keep with my travel wheel, and one to keep in my bag when I go yarn shopping), and some more small stitch markers since I seem to have lost 90% of the ones I've already bought.

I want more Johnny Reb's macaroni & cheese and pulled pork. Last night was the first time I'd had their mac-a-chee, and to my surprise I enjoyed it more than I did the sweet potato fries which is amazing because I *adore* their sweet potato fries. The mac-a-chee tasted very much like how Mom used to make it, except they use bigger macaronis and more cheese sauce. Soooo good; in fact, it is the only mac-a-chee I've had that I think tastes better than Mom's, and that's saying a lot! However, we did go there last night & I doubt I could convince Ralph to go again tonight.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Entrance sign to Johnny Reb's in Long Beach. Best dang BBQ in the city :-)

Ralph sitting at the table, waiting for our food to arrive. If you eat any of the peanuts, they ask that you put a donation in the jar (just at the right edge of the photo). The donations are given to charity; currently they are raising money to send needy children to camp. The other jar is Ralph's lemonade; love the fancy glassware :-)

My meal: pulled pork, sweet potato fries (and some ranch dressing to dip them into), hush puppies, and macaroni & cheese (mac-a-chee!). It was soooooooo good. . . I only ate half so I've got leftovers for tomorrow.

Ralph's meal: St. Louis pork ribs, corn bread, and mashed potatoes with country gravy. It looked much better "in person" than it does in the photo. I had a bite of the ribs & it tasted wonderful.

Shot looking down the aisle. The guy in the dark shirt was our waiter; the people to whom he is speaking are the guys that are watching Neighbor D's house (whom I shall call Neighbor M & Neighbor R since they do live on our street & all), and Neighbor D's sister, BB. We had just ordered our food when they came in. We mentioned to the waiter that we knew them, and he said that they are his neighbors, too! Turns out he lives one street over and maybe four blocks down from our house. Small world!

A nice day out

Had a good day today. Went online & did a search for local nature centers, and discovered that there is a marsh reserve/nature center in Torrance, about 10 miles from the house. What the website *didn't* mention is that it is a vernal marsh, which means that it's wet in the spring and pretty much a dried-out remnant in August. Sigh. Not a lot in bloom except sunflowers and yellow poppies, and not a lot of birds. Still had a good time though, despite having missed some darn good photo opportunities. I swear the birds have a little sensor that tell them the split second when I get the camera in focus, and they choose that precise moment to fly away. Particularly frustrating is the fabulous shot I got of some reeds where a nansecond earlier there had been a vivid red bird. It got chased away by a rather territorial hummingbird just as I pressed the shutter. I did get a couple nice shots of a sparrow feeding a fledgling, and several shots of an orange bishop (a new bird to check off my birdlist!). We will definitely have to go back next April or so.


On the way home, we passed this rather amusing sight: a lifesize statue of a cow, standing on someone's balcony "looking" over the railing. I felt a little funny taking pictures of someone's house, but I figured I was on a public sidewalk photographing only what was visible from that sidewalk. It's not like I was using a telephoto lens to peek in the windows. Besides, this was just too good an opportunity to miss, and unlike the birds I knew it was unlikely to fly away just as I was clicking the shutter (although with my luck with photography I wasn't about to discount the possibility . . . )


*Still* have not had dinner at Johnny Reb's. Sigh again. Ralph cooked last night: angel hair pasta tossed with a blend of fresh basil from the garden, chopped garlic, minced ham & mushrooms all sauteed in olive oil and butter, then topped off with shaved parmesan cheese. Yes, yes, it was delicious, but it was *not* BBQ. Maybe tonight. . . . and maybe that cow will fly off the balcony after all. :-)


Got more knitting done on the orangutan, although not much. Finished knitting the arm. Yup, that's it. Haven't stuffed it, haven't sewn it on. Still, that's 1,200 more stitches completed in the past two days than I have done on this project in the previous six months or so. I have great hopes of having it finished by this time next year.

Halfway over!

Hard to believe my vacation is half over. Seems like it just started. . .

Lazy day today. Did a little knitting; the orangutan is off the "hibernating" list and is now an official WIP (that's work in progress, for those non-knitters amongst the Teeming Millions). I sewed on the first foot, and have knitted half of the second arm. Still a lot left to go: finish the arm, knit the other leg, knit the other foot, knit the other hand, knit 5 fingers for the hand and two "thumb toes" for the feet, knit the left ear, sew all those parts onto the body, then embroider the nose & mouth. He's supposed to have knitted eye & nose ridges too, but I couldn't get them to look right and will probably just embroider them on using satin stitch and a double thickness of yarn.

No Johnny Reb's last night. Ralph didn't want a heavy meal, so I picked up egg foo young & special fried rice for me, vegetable delight for him at Chee's. It was good, but not BBQ. Maybe tonight, although I am not counting on it.

Forgot to mention, coming home yesterday we saw an LA Sheriff driving his squad car down the freeway while talking on his cell phone. (For those of you among the Teeming Millions who do not live in California, as of July 1 driving & using a cell phone at the same time is now illegal, unless you are a) over the age of 18 AND b) using a hands-free device such as Bluetooth). Guess he's not going to be citing many people for cell phone usage while driving.

That's about it. As you can see, it was a *very* exciting day . . . . yaaaaawn. . . .

Learn something new every day

Did you know that the Huntington Botanical Garden is closed on Tuesday? Neither did we. Ended up at the Los Angeles Botanical Garden instead. I didn't even know the place existed (I love my GPS!!). We had a wonderful time. They have lots of peacocks there & I got some good shots. We took waaaaaay too many pictures of the black-crowned night heron (especially after he caught a fish & tried for about 20 minutes to swallow the thing). There were some kids playing in a sprinkler, and I started to take some shots but unfortunately they saw the camera and started to show off. All the naturalness and spontaneity were gone so I only took two pictures, neither of which are much good. There was a lovely waterfall, and ever so many dragonflies. Oh, and there were some nice plants too. We were there for pretty close to three hours and only saw about half of the place. We would have liked to have stayed longer, but we were both starting to feel a little ill in the heat (100 degrees!) plus our lunch was in the car (in an insulated bag with some blue ice to keep it cool). After we rested, ate, and cooled off in the A/C we just didn't have the heart to go back out into that brutal heat. We will have to go again some day & see the rest. I've got about 40 pictures from the day posted on Flickr if any of the Teeming Millions are interested in having a peek.



Either Sis is having computer issues, or her life is very dull, as she didn't post anything yesterday, and when I checked a couple minutes ago there was still nothing new. Doesn't she know it is her *duty* to keep me entertained?

Thinking about maybe going to Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight. I love their sweet potato fries, and some good Southern BBQ sounds mighty tasty. I really would like to go; we'll see if Ralph is hungry enough to go out in a bit or if I'll have to fend for myself in our scantily-stocked kitchen. However, I am certain that there is nothing in that kitchen that will even come close to Johnny Reb's sweet potato fries.



Our baby mollies are almost big enough to put in the main tank. I'm a little worried that they'll get eaten if we do it now, so have been using delay tactics to keep Ralph from transferring them just yet. Unfortunately my most effective one ("They'll get sucked into the filter") won't be valid much longer as most of them are fat enough to no longer fit through the slots.


Well, I guess that's just about it for today. No plans for tomorrow yet, although I'm sure we'll find something to do. This has been a very good vacation so far. I feel so much more relaxed & have been having a wonderful time. Wish I could do this about once a month :-)