Saturday

We went to several garage sales, and to a special "garage sale" at the Ohlone College flea market site. This means different vendors - people who are having garage sales but at the flea market site. We scored.

I just checked www.craigslist.com free items, and one of the garage sales we went to has 5 bags of science diet cat food they are giving away. I would have grabbed that had I seen it since we are helping our neighbor feed strays.

Will found a cool pair of bongos that many people at the flea market commented on as we walked around! This will be great when he plays with the trio of Eddie and Steve (on guitars) and Will (on bongos).

For $2 we got this bed lamp. It looks like it's dirty in the picture, but it's NOT!

Will almost passed up this "Big Chief" writing tablet like the ones he used when he was in school. It wouldn't be politically correct today, but back then it wasn't considered a problem. It was a quarter, so why pass it up? We framed it and it's hanging in the office.

Back at home, Mowry LOVES his "crow's nest" cat tree.

But it's Alex who is "King of the House". You can really see how he's turning gray.

TGIF - Stock Photos, but cool ones...

It's Friday and I'm in chilly, gray, windy So. San Francisco where it's 61 degrees with a wind chill of 59 degrees and 9 mph winds, and this is at 1:29 pm. Did I mention that it's 65.9 degrees at home with 1-3 mph winds and no wind chill? I don't want it hot, but 65.9 sounds so much nicer than 61. The good news is that I took BART and read the newspaper and then my book, and I didn't have to drive amongst the unsafe crazies as I have been for the past three days going to Redwood City where it is only 20.1 miles, but a sucky drive with lunatics who think the speed limit on the bridge is 80, which of course it is not!

My neighbor has been feeding cats a block away at the park area, and I am helping her out while she is away this weekend. We walked over there last night and there was one black cat who a neighbor tried to adopt, but they had a fiasco when trying to "trap" it (and I say "trap" because while they were capturing it, it was to send it to a loving home). We may try to "trap" the black cat again next week with Will's help so he can get a nice, new home. There was a gray cat there lat week who reminded me a little bit of our late, great Dave. Will says no more cats, and I agree, but Cinders is old, and when she goes it may be hard to say no .......uh oh, my mother reads this blog and she thought I had enough cats when I had two!

We may have killed our heirloom tomato plant. We tried to replace the tomato cage that was there with a bigger one, and several branches broke off. I know, you're not supposed to do this, but we didn't have the bigger one, and it just happened, and I'm hoping I can save the branches and root them. Diann - this is where your expertise comes in ..... No pictures, it's too sad. Will thinks what is left will bounce back, and I hope he is right.

We went to Navlet's Garden Center in Fremont yesterday and bought some begonias

and lobelias

and one last try at a yellow jacket trap, some dirt and a few other things. Everything was on sale because sadly, they are going out of business because the owner of the property thinks Fremont needs another Asian-themed shopping center on the site of Navlet's, even though there is one .25 miles away, in in walking distance. I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper about this, and it was published. Supposedly there will be a groundbreaking that I assume our city officials, maybe even the Mayor, will attend in early July, and several of us would love to go and hold up signs telling them we think this stinks!

This is "birthday weekend" for Will. His birthday is Tuesday, as is my parent's anniversary. Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary!!!!

Sunday - Holiday Weekend

Today I had two fellow knitters over, and we knitted and chatted for a few yours. Will went with his daughter to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Then we went to friends' for dinner - they requested we "teach" them dominoes, but they won so many games, we think maybe they really knew how to play before! Ha ha - just kidding. It's an easy game and it gives you something to do when you're together because you don't have to keep up a conversation while playing, and you're not just watching a movie like we used to do when we went to their house. It was fun!

This is a picture of the ground cover out front. Who knew it flowered? It didn't flower last year! We even lost some in the frost last winter. The hydrangeas are coming back!
This is one of my favorite plants - I believe it's called "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". Our neighbor across the street gave some to our former owner and we have this one out front, and one in a pot out back that hasn't yet bloomed.

The only problem is that the one out front is hidden behind these daisy bushes, so you can't really see it. I need to chop some of the daisy bushes so this is more visible. The geranium is on the other side of the fence, and below it is the plant, but you can barely see it between the geraniums and the daisies.The rhododendrons are sill blooming!
Tomorrow we're going to scope out a party house where Will's band is playing in June. It is the house of the sister of one of the band members. Since business has picked up this month, a Monday holiday is a good thing!

Saturday

We stopped at a few garage sales, but there wasn't too much that we had to have except for a tuperware sandwich holder for a quarterthat is perfect for bringing my lunch to work (it's wet because it just got out of the dishwasher), and ice cream dishes - perfect to serve ice cream, strawberries and cookies for dessert to our friends who are coming over for dinner and dominoes tonight!

There are two yellows, two pinks and one blue.

It was time to move the dining room table into the sunroom again! The centerpiece is an old ceramic planter with fresh lavender from my lavender bush!

What is that under the denim slipcover? I see Alex on the chair (covered by a blankie so it doesn't get full of cat fur)....

Oh, that's what the old couch looks like. I remember that. I WAS trying to nap, folks! (This is the first time he's done THIS!)

Things on Wednesday (updated with pictures)

Lots of things going on. My Aunt Margaret, who turned 100 last November, passed away yesterday. Unfortunately, she's not a blood relative (my mother's brother's wife), but she was an inspiration. Her house was from the 1950s (like ours) and is very retro. Will got to see it on a visit a couple years ago, and he's been talking about it ever since. She got to live in her house until she died, with a caretaker, of course, and what a great thing that was for her. While I won't be able to attend the funeral on Thursday, Aunt Margaret will be in my heart. I haven't seen her in awhile, but I think of her and remember times, especially when our family moved to California in 1959 and we lived with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Mike for a few months. Wow - 100 years old!!!

We are sending Will's mother and her soon-to-be new husband down to visit us. I'm once again dealing with Southwest Airlines, or as I call them, Southworst Airlines. They still can't figure out that choosing seats before you get on the flight is desirable. Southwest, you might want to send spies to fly on Virgin America to see how it's done. When we took VA, we didn't have to line up an hour ahead because no matter when we boarded, our seats were waiting for us - BECAUSE THEY ARE ASSIGNED SEATS. Seats I pick on the computer when I book my flight. What a concept! Maybe now that SW's Chairman is retiring, whomever takes his place will realize we don't want to be treated like cattle. We want to be civilized. We want assigned seating.

But I digress. I have a $43 credit with Southwest that expires on June 25th, but they won't be coming here until June 27th, so it seems that Southwest once again gets to keep some of my money for NOTHING. And to show just how stupid this airline is (or maybe they are smart and some of their customers are stupid), they told Will when he called for me that they could extend this deadline but it would cost me $50. Hello? Do the math. I'd owe those idiots money. Sure, can you sign me up? I think they may have misunderstood the question and they think I'm trying to extend an award. Whatever, they suck. This is probably a big revenue maker for them.

Maybe other airlines are the same, and some charge to change reservations, where Southwest does not, but it seems unfair, and if Southworst wanted to be thought of as better than the airlines, they'd change this STUPID, CHEAP, ANNOYING policy, AND they'd also assign seats. It's a shame they cost less than most other airlines (but I guess you get what you pay for. I want to get there safely, and pay as little as I can to do that). I checked Virgin America, and while they are only $7 each way per person more than SW, they only go to San Francisco Airport, and that isn't worth it. So once again Southwest wins, even though they bug me enough to not want to travel any more unless I have to.

I went to Google (also not my favorite business - they REQUIRE their employees to have a 4.0 college grade point average even if college was 25 years ago - yet another stupid policy by a company run by idiots) and typed in "southwest sucks" and guess what? I'm NOT the only one who hates Southwest! http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=southwest+airlines+sucks.

I found a website called "Southwest Sucks" (well sort of) http://www.southwestsucks.com/ and guess what? It's a Southwest site. They know someone else would take that site if they didn't! I love the message that is posted at http://www.southwestsucks.com/:
============================
A Message From Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines strives to maintain a high level of Customer Service and is proud of its corporate reputation and responsiveness to its Customers. As part of that effort, Southwest wants to control the release of inaccurate and irresponsible information about the Company via the Internet. If you would like more information on Southwest, please go to http://www.southwest.com/.
============================

Me, again - I do not think they know what Customer Service actually is. They think, and sadly some of their customers think, flight attendents who make stupid jokes and wear shorts on a flight is customer service. It is not. Refunding my money so I'd be a happy customer who would be happy to turn around and book another flight on Southwest is customer service. Assigning my seat before I get on the plane so I don't feel like saying "Moow" like a cow as I get on the plane is customer service. Allowing me to contact them via email instead of snail mail or calling is customer service. But since they get to keep my money anyway, they don't really give a ..... do they?

Good news: I found a flight that is on Alaska Airlines that is about the same amount less than Southwest's flight as the amount Southwest is making off me by not letting me us the money in "my" account.

And now for important stuff - the brown sweater is coming along. I have to do the second sleeve and then crochet around the edges, particularly by the neck, as you can see. I had my shoulder up, so this is a funny picture, but all the more fitting for "blog fodder". It's still a little bit shorter than I had orginally hoped for, but it fits and I like it.

Monday Photos

It was HOT this past weekend, but today it has cooled down to the 70s, which is desirable and bearable. Do I look hot? Then why are you taking my picture and bothering me?! And when you look at the picture at the top right-hand corner of this blog of Alex and Mowry, you can see how pure black Alex used to be!

Do I look naughty? Just a few minutes before my humans found the plant in the picture below on its side with the clay pot broken, and dirt on the rug. They think it was me, but I'll never tell.
I didn't get to take a picture before Will vacuumed the rug, and fixed the plant with a new pot, but since Mowry is the one who flits about the sunroom looking at birds and sometimes jumping on the screen, it's a safe bet it was him.
Friday after coming home from a client's office, we went to an estate sale given by people whose estate sales we frequent around here - they have a business and run good estate sales. Sometimes their stuff seems overpriced, and sometimes some things are low. We bought the portable dishwasher at one of their sales. I bought this dish for $1.50.
And this picture for $2.00 that is perfect for, and is now hanging in, the bathroom. OK, I give up. I love the colors and textures of this yarn, but I have limits as to how many times I will knit a sock and rip it and re-knit it. I finished both, and one came out bigger than the other, and while it is clearly "operator error" (I either used a different size needle, or different number of stitches - see what happens when you wait too long between socks, unless you do the exact same thing all the time and don't forget what you've done, with "you" being "me"), I give up! I started to rip one of the socks with the intentions of ripping them both out and making a scarf, but then I got a brainstorm. I don't have to rip the whole sock, and I can make fingerless mitts out of them! So here's one sock, and one mitt being worked on. I finished mitt #1 on BART today, so now I can just rip out part of sock #2 and make it into fingerless mitt #2.
It is warm in Colorado where my niece lives! Yay - cold winter number 1 for her is over! But today is May 19th, and there WAS snow in parts of Colorado on May 10th, so never say never!

TGIF - another HOT day

I hope this heat wave isn't a preview of summer weather. We're not used to it being THIS hot! Last night about two hours after we went to sleep, I woke up to the sound of a cat screeching outside, and then dog barks. I got up and went into the office to get the fan because it was still too hot, even with the windows open. We have alarmed screens in our beddroom, so we can sleep with the windows open. It was a good thing I went into the office, because when I opened the door, out walked Mow Mow. We both thought we did a kitty check before the door got closed.

Since I'm at an office, I have to search the internet for "stock shots" to post here. I did not take these pictures, but since they are posted to websites, I believe I can borrow them here.

Today's post is of places I've been that were "WOWs".

The old Dodger Stadium, (before it was purchased by Rupert Murdoch and ruined with the ugly advertising all other stadiums have):

Abpve was a postcard from 1963! Below is Dodger Stadium with the crappy ads all over.

The statue of David in Florence, Italy: The statue of David in Florence, Italy:

Wrigley Field in Chicago (where I got to visit the summer before they put in the lights):

That was the summer of 1987. The first night game at Wrigley Field was on 8/8/88 - this summer will be 20 years!

The Chrysler Building in New York:

The Statue of Liberty in NY:I have a miniature monument collection, and it has several Lady Liberties in different sizes and colors, and a Chrysler Building, among other buildings. I once loved NY, but now that I live so close to SF, I don't have any desire to return to NY.

Cable Cars in SF which I see every time I come to SF for a meeting or to work at a client's office. I feel like I'm on vacation every time! Golden Gate Bridge:
The Palace of Fine Arts (one of my favorite spots in SF):
A nighttime view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the SF Skyline:
But Dorothy is right, there's no place like home (another view of the main street in our town):

Tonight is the Celtics/Cavaliers game, and while Boston had an amazing season, they pushed the first round of playoffs to 7 games, and this is game 6 of round 2. I hope to see Eddie House playing tonight, but for some reason, when he's been with a team that gets to the playoffs, his coaches have not played him much. The other night he played for 21 seconds. They like to put him in with a few seconds remaining at the end of a quarter. You're not fooling us, coach. We may be following a different team next year.

It's TOO Hot!

And just in case you can't see it to read it, here's a close up! And this was at 5:40 pm tonight!
What else can I say? It was even HOT in San Francisco today, setting records, I believe.

Mowry might have been watching TV!
The rhododenruns have opened. I don't recall them opening last year!

I can't decide if I'd rather be hot or cold? I still think winter is more desirable, but I'm convinced that 72 degrees all the time is perfect!