Niles is Rockin'

Friday was the start of garage sale/flea market weekend in Niles. At one point we didn't know about the Saturday garage sales, and now there were at least 3 g sales on Friday that I know of. I found 5 balls of mint green cotton, 1 yellow cotton, and 6 balls of a dusty green wool for 50 cents a skein.

Friday night we took a walk and Will finally saw the two pelicans. I've seen them twice, but he wasn't with me either time.

I don't really need anything, but you know how that goes. I donated about 3 or 4 bags of things to the local silent film museum so they could resell it at their garage sale. My neighbor (who might just be smaller than me) was donating a bag of clothes, so I went thru them first and found a dress, a skirt and top, and a cotton Eddie Bauer dress with a matching jacket.

Saturday morning we left the house about 7:50 am. My friend Holly from SJ and Darlene and her daughter and granddaughter came with us. I found a lovely black cardigan for $2 (I have to replace mine every few years because I wear it so often), a t-shirt that was marked $2 and I asked the guy if he'd take $1 and he screamed for his wife, she didn't answer, so he said "I'LL take $1), a white step-on trash can just like our metal one that is looking bad, a Sue Grafton book for 25 cents, and a book about Washington/Oregon from Discovery Channel for our upcoming road trip for 50 cents, and a Melmac gravy boat for a friend who has a 50s kitchen for 50 cents. Friday's yarn is also in this picture.All but Darlene and Co. walked around for about 4 hours! Will was tired after, so Ziggy came up to give him some love.

On Sunday there were even more people around the town walking and having garage sales than there were on Saturday. There was music at the Niles Plaza, and this picture is of my favorite view from the Plaza looking at the town. Look at all the booths. Unfortunately, the Antique Faire has a lot of booths that are NOT antique, and when I mention it, people have all kinds of excuses - eBay has taken away dealers, the economy, etc., but I've been to the Pleasanton Antique Faire and there is no "foreign plastic crap" as I call it.

Our neighbors have an annual Fish Taco lunch that is always DELICIOUS!

After listening to music, we walked back home, passing a church that has "buck a bag" after 2:00 pm. Inside the church is a zoo during regular flea market hours, but outside I found 9 skeins of Crystal Palace Whisper yarn marked $10, so I got a bag, put the yarn in it, and proceeded inside. For some reason it didn't drive me straight out, and here is what I found to fit in my $1 bag:
two padded hangers, two flags, a Tupperware-type container, two dishes (for bringing potluck things to people's houses), a rust scarf, and a Lids Off thingy to get lids off jars, along with the yarn. ALL for $1. Rock 'n Roll.

I also found a few 25 cent items at a neighbor's g-sale.

I think garage sale season and summer are officially over. This coming weekend is Labor Day Weekend. Wow! Wasn't it just Memorial Day, the start of summer?

Pictures!

We didn't realize when we moved to our house, that this beautiful scene was part of a walking trail that is right near our house. BONUS!
And for those of us who love trains, we got to see BART and a freight train going by at the same time on our walk.
I had my camera with me because the night before I walked with a neighbor and we saw two pelicans in the water. The emerged from the water and flew over our heads toward the bay. I didn't have my camera, nor would I probably have been able to capture it on camera since it all happened so fast, but it was awesome.

Another yellow squash is almost ready to be harvested. They grow slowly, but how many do I need at once? I would share if I had more.
Is this gorgeous? I take no credit. It was planted here before we lived here, and all we do is water it.
The avocados are coming back, and there are a lot of them. They are still small, and I've already found a few on the ground. I hope the *&^%$ squirrels keep their little rodent teeth off of these.
Today was a good day for garage sales! I found these cheap serving pieces all for 25 cents. They are perfect for potlucks when I don't want to bring my own cutlery. (Not the bowls in the back, just the cutlery that Mow Mow is checking out).

These are our dishes and I found 6 for $5. We have one or two with chips, so this will be perfect. I knitted a felted hat a few years ago, but it came out too small, so I think I'll try again. I paid $3 for all.

I hope this makes a nice scarf. It's Crystal Palace yarn that was $1 a piece ($2) at another garage sale today. Someone I know who is the mother of my husband asked for a red scarf, so this has red, orange, etc. It's hard to find the right red without knowing exactly, so this should work since it's got several shades in the red/orange family.
And for my cousin Barbara, one of my few blog readers, here is a picture of your favorite cat. This is also my Facebook profile picture at the moment. See what you're missing by not being on Facebook?

I'm back!

I haven't posted much lately because I think it's boring without pictures, but I finally put up the $5 to upgrade my picture capacity, and then it took longer than expected, and blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, I'm back.

We have been having some busy weekends, most of them staying right at home! The new town plaza has music twice a month, and the two we've attended have been EXCELLENT . As is always the case, everything goes on at the same time, so we had to leave the Plaza concert early on July 25th after only hearing only two of Ron Thompson's songs, but being there for Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue ("Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" which he sang even though it's July!) and Niles' own Michael McNevin, to head to our annual trek to Chouinard Vineyards with our friends. The six of us have been doing this for several years now.
The first year we bought tickets for 3 events, but we found it was difficult to get people to go. Logistics and dates are always hard to coordinate. We pay by the car, so we buy one car ticket for one event, and how ever many you can fit into the van for our designated driver, Will can go. We figured out that the maximum is 7, but the most we've had is 6.

The first time we went, our guests bailed a few days before because something came up, so it was just the two of us. We brought PB&J sandwiches and fresh strawberries, and froze! We were about to leave early, but Will found a huge blanket that he keeps in his van, which I used to question every time I saw it, so we bundled up and stayed. We've also gone when it's been so hot we were fanning ourselves the whole time, but this time it was perfect. We each brought food, and while the PB&J time was good, this was so much better! We're not sure about next year because, while we don't bring a picnic, and there is no wine, the concerts at the Niles Plaza are pretty good, close, easy and free, although the cost for a car at Chouinard is not an issue.

I've been posting more to Facebook than this blog. I have a love/hate relationship with FB. Some of the posts are dumb, boring, and everything comedians joke about them being, but on the flip side, it's fun to communicate with people by posting comments and pictures, and seeing their pictures and posts. The dumb posts are mostly comments on "groups" to which I "belong" but those, too, are their own bit of amusement.

It's been an oddly cooler summer than in past years, but I don't mind since 70 degree temperatures (72, to be exact) are my favorite range; but waking up to overcast, mid to high 50s and wind isn't much fun when I have to walk from BART to a client's office. I like the walks, but not being cold.

I hope everyone is enjoying summer.

The Second Half of 2010

Yesterday (July 1st) was the first day of the second half of 2010. I'm still not used to writing or seeing 2010 in writing. Today is my neighbor's 94th birthday. I hope to be around at 94 and like her! She's usually got a smile on her face all the time, but today she was suggesting to Will things that we need to trim in our front yard, and telling the kid next door that his cat uses her yard as a litter box and she's not happy!

This will be the first fourth of July that we aren't watching fireworks, but that's fine with me. We have work to do around the house, so this is a good weekend to get it done.

We took down the cat litterbox furniture like this one: http://www.petsbycsn.com/The-Refined-Feline-RLB-HO-TRF1017.html

We bought that when we moved and thought we had to keep the litter box in the bathroom. The piece was too big for the bathroom, so it eventually ended up in the guest bedroom.

Alex is so big he managed in 3 1/2 years to miss enough times that the pull-out drawer stopped working. We now have the bottom half of a covered box. The cover is too small for Alex and Ziggy, but the bottom part is huge, so even big Al shouldn't have a problem. We got a platform someone was giving away made of wood and covered with rubber to go under the box and over the wood floor to protect the floor.

What we do for our beloved felines.

Good thoughts to relatives who are having health issues. We're glad that Will's mother is doing well after a mild heart attack. No blockages, and only a little narrowing, treatable with medication.

Let's remember our patriotism this July 4th weekend.

Summer is here!

Summer arrived yesterday at 4:28 am, and oddly enough it was warmer yesterday.

I'm taking BART all week to clients. That's the good news (I don't have to drive) and the bad news (being around weirdos who didn't pay attention when we were told how to sneeze into our arms to avoid swine flu, amongst other things). But I can read the newspaper and then my novel or knit or whatever and not pay attention to drivers, many of whom are scary and unsafe.

I need to figure out what I have to do to be able to add pictures. This just isn't that interesting without the pictures.

For now I need to find out why my orange tabby is trying to get behind my desk.

Updates

I ran out of space to post pictures, so I've posted some pics on Facebook, but you can only see them if you're my friend. Make that "friend". I was going to pay for extra space, but I couldn't figure out how, didn't have my credit card with me at the computer and just got bored with the whole idea.

1. It's finally summer, sort of. One day warm, one day chilly. Today it's not cold, but it's windy.

2. My zucchini and straight-necked squash are growing, but I can't post pictures. There are even two squashes, one on each plant, started to grow. My first zucchini.

3. I once thought I might want to grow pumpkins, and in fact tried in my tiny townhouse backyard, but they didn't grow and now I have no interest. I want only things I'll eat and that grow multiple items.

4. A cat just jumped on my desk as I'm tying. Guess who that was? Hint - he's orange.

5. Saturday we're going up to the Niles sign to weed. Luckily we can drive much of the way, and I'm told a 92 year old lady did it a few years ago with no problem. We'll see on Saturday.

6. Someone who I don't even know (a "friend" of a "friend") was arguing with me on Facebook (ain't FB great for those who think they know it all) when I said I thought it was wrong for parents of a 16 year old girl to allow her and/or encourage her to sail around the world alone. Now she's missing. One person posted this:

"Yes, I would encourage my child toward an adventure like this provided that they are mature enough to fully understand ALL the hazards, are well trained and are outfitted with the absolute best equipment available. Ms. Sunderland seemed to meet all of these criteria.

A little over a century ago, the idea of a 16 year old on a ship was not only ... See Morenormal but they would have been in training to be officers. Mids (midshipmen) were as young as 9 years and if you go back into the Admiralty records, you'll find several Lieutenants in their mid-teens who commanded His Majesties Frigates in major battles.

Does this have the makings of a tragedy? Yes. Is it the parents fault or the young woman's? No. Sometimes, bad stuff just happens and all the training, experience and luck in the universe just isn't enough. I do fervently hope that find her alive and well and with the skills of both the French and Australian Coast Guards, I believe she has a good chance."

There are so many things I wanted to post back, such as "I'm glad I'm not your daughter", or "I'm glad my parents taught me I didn't have to be a daredevil to enjoy life", or "while she may see the ocean, and more ocean and then more ocean, and maybe become famous, I get to live longer" but why argue with someone who is so sure he's right?

SOME OF THE POSTS ON FACEBOOK ARE SO DUMB. People need to remember they have put themselves out there with their names! We know who the dumb jerks are.

Garage Sale Season is Starting....

Let the games begin.

Apparently I've exceeded the maximum numbers of pictures I can post on this blog, even though I've deleted several. WHATEVER!

Today we bought a patio set at a garage sale for $25. Thank you to Ken and Diann for helping us get it home in Ken's truck. It was light, but big! Sorry, no pictures!