Cats and Great Weather and Knitting and Clients

It was a beautiful springlike day today, although I understand we should expect some rain tomorrow afternoon, and harder rain on Tuesday. I was able to do some gardening today. Someone on our local Yahoo group was giving away dug up Calla Lillies, so we went to pick them up. I'm not sure why this person is on our local neighborhood group when she lives clear across town in another neighborhood, but it was a nice day for a ride. Then when I got home I found out a neighbor had just dug up several of these and placed them in her green bin, and she has more she said I can dig and take.
I clipped this freesia and lavender from our backyard. They smell fabulous! Last time I brought freesias in from outside, which would have been last year in late spring, I got little gnats, but I tried to be sure there weren't any bugs on them this time since I know better.

Ziggy is happy on Will's lap this evening. They are watching Closing Ceremonies of The Olympics while I'm updating this blog.

I finished one of the baby socks in the pink, yellow and orange yarn, and I've started another. I learned a new term this week - fraternal socks. Like twins, there are fraternal and identical. While I don't have to have my sock stripes identical, this is ridiculous. The completed sock is mostly orange and yellow with a pink toe, and the other starts with several rows of pink. They don't even look related, or of the same yarn. I'll finish this one and then hopefully be able to make two mates, if not identical, to match.

Mowry can be sound asleep and completely uninterested in me or anything I'm doing until he hears me on my keyboard and then he's right there. It's also hard to see the screen with Mowry standing in front blocking it. I put him down on the floor and I can do a countdown .... 5, 4, 3, 2 , 1 - he's jumped back up. We go thru this several times before I finish and leave the room, which of course he then does, too. It's nice to be loved, but Mowry, this is annoying. If I close the door, he'll just scratch at the door to get in.

This week I will be finally leaving a client I resigned from about a month ago. I agreed to stay and help them until they found someone, and thru the transition, and they finally found a company to work with them. Good luck to whomever gets this assignment. Not all clients are created equal and it's just so hard to work for a company that does not

a) respect this position enough to understand what is needed to get this job done.

b) realize that one day a week onsite and checking email and doing transactions to the tune of approximately one hour a day the other days could possibly be enough for a publicly-traded company (and I didn't have more time to give them).

c) take my recommendation that they hire a full time employee to do the job because while they don't mind paying exorbitant amounts for a consultant, and to outside counsel to do things I could do, they can't get the headcount. How many consultants would give an honest recommendation that would ultimately end in them losing the gig? I can name a few who wouldn't, but I won't.

d) have a clue.

So I am looking forward to handing over this client, and then finding another. I have several clients who call me back when needed, and I'm busy enough thru March, but I hope to find a private company that needs me one day a week plus an hour here or there during the week. Sound familiar? The difference is, this WORKS for a private company, but NOT for a public company.

Cats and Yarn and Nature, oh my!

I started knitting the baby socks with the orange pink and yellow yarn I bought yesterday at Stitches.


Today we went to the Farmers' Market, and then to the Depot Diner and met Ken and Diann and Holly there. It was clear and gorgeous when we woke up, but was chilly and looked like rain by the time we left.

Outside the pink blossoms on the ornamental plum tree next door are turning into brown leaves.

A closer view - - does this mean spring is near? The plum tree that we chopped to bits last year is trying to grow some branches. There are a few white blossoms on it. It's dwarfed by the big magnolia tree behind us.

I'm really a city chick, and it thrills me no end knowing the oranges are from a friend of a friend's tree, the onions and potatoes are from the farmers' market this morning, and the little tangerines are from my neighbor across the street, who also offered me oranges from her tree. I brought her a lemon and avocado today.


It also thrills me that when we go to a neighbor's for dinner this evening I can bring lemons and avocados from our trees, a lavender sachet from our lavender bush, and this lovely cyclamen I bought at Trader Joe's today.
A close up of the lemons, avocados and lavender from our yard.

With all the rain we've had, the baby tears are growing up thru the mat that lies over the hoses so there are no trippies.What was amazing is what was going on inside the house. That's Alex (King of the house) on the window perch, and Ziggy on the scanner. This is always a surprise in and of itself, but ....

what is more amazing is that while they were sitting comfortably close together in the office, Will was vacuuming the floors in the other rooms. Alex is the biggest chicken of a cat, so for him not to be hiding from the big bad cat eating vacuum is amazing!For some reason Mowry thinks I can use my computer when he's walking across my keyboard or sitting on my desk. I just tried to move him and he nailed me on the chin. That will look lovely. He was also a brat at 11:30 pm and about 4:00 am walking over me when I was sleeping, meowing and then settling down after I pushed him down (gently) and purring. Gotta love the cats.

Today it's all about the yarn (pictures below!)

Today I went to Stitches West in Santa Clara. It's a once a year knitting convention with more yarn than you can ever imagine. I was bummed because I forgot the breakfast I'm famous for - cereal in a Ziplock bag, so I had to buy breakfast. $6 for oatmeal (plus tip) seems a bit extreme, especially when I'd much rather spend the $6 on yarn, but it's a hotel, so what can you do? I was happy that I didn't forget my lunch because I always seem to like my peanut butter sandwich better than whatever they are selling. I know, I'm funny like that.

The first time I went to Stitches I was completely overwhelmed with all the yarn. The first two years I bought yarn I wasn't thrilled with, but I've learned what I like and it's sock yarn. I found Sockotta (cotton, wool blend) at $5 a skein again this year. I bought 4 skeins last year and they turned out being my favorite to knit and wear. I found a few other sock yarn skeins that were $3 a skein, of which I need two skeins each. I'll be knitting socks a lot this year, and I'm looking forward to it.
I also bought this yarn with the help of Diann. I was looking at beautiful greens since I now seem to be moving from blues to greens, but Diann and others in line agreed these colors looked better when held up to my face. I'm thinking I'll try another mobius scarf with this, only this time I'll make it longer so it drapes over my shoulders a little.

I like this mobius scarf a lot, and it's very warm, but I ended up wearing it more hanging down that it was as I modeled it here.Back at home my lavender fern is growing like a weed. It's a little mushed because of the rain. We ran into rain driving home. Holly gave me a ride home and I was glad she was driving and not me.
After I got home the sky cleared up a lot. The blue sky with the pink approaching sunset, dark gray clouds and the full, if not close to full moon was a beautiful way to end a pleasant day.

It doesn't feel like spring today!

It felt like spring last weekend, but it's raining with dark gray clouds today.

This past week or so we've spotted this black cat around the neighborhood. I thought it was a female because she's small with beautiful sleek fur...

but she's clearly a he because she's smitten with Ginger Snap. We caught the black cat humping Ginger Snap, and G is clearly acting like she's in heat. She was calling for the black cat yesterday, and she came up to Will and let him hold her, etc.
Mowry has discovered how to climb onto the ledge of our bedroom window which is not good because the window screens in that room are alarmed so we can keep the windows open when it's warm.
Yesterday we went to an open house at the new local fire station. It's gorgeous, and the outside was designed so it fits in with the older buildings on the street and it looks like it's always been there.

In contrast to the old building a few blocks away. Notice the tarp on the roof.
There is a great kitchen with a commercial grade stove, and two huge refrigerators. Everything in the kitchen shuts off when the fire alarm goes off so they don't have to be concerned with forgetting to turn off the stove. Their lounge area appropriately has 4 leather chairs for the 4 firemen who are there at one time. There is a large screen TV, old pictures of fire station and fire men related things from the neighborhood, and a great view of Niles Blvd and the hills from this room.

And because I always take pictures from angles that no one else would probably think of, here is the front of the building looking up.I finished the scarf from the wool my friend brought me from the alpaca farm in the San Juan Islands. It's really soft and lovely, but it came out a little shorter than I had expected. I hope she likes it. Now I need to decide what I want to do with the same yarn she brought for me.

How am I supposed to work on my computer when Mowry is on my desk? Maybe I can teach him to type!

Knitting, Town Plaza and CATS....

I finished the alpaca scarf for my friend. It's so soft. It's a little shorter than I had hoped, but it's pretty and this picture doesn't do it justice. I'm keeping it folded, but I really need to block it and get it to her. These past few days haven't been scarf weather, but rain is due back on Saturday, so winter isn't over, even in California!
I picked my first carrot, which I grew from seeds. The avocado is for size comparison. The carrot tasted good in salad last night!
In town the Plaza is looking nice. Here is a picture of an old train car with the Niles sign visible on the hill. The hills are showing their winter green from the rain.

There are areas of grass and some with sand, although the sand areas already have sandbags at the edges. I'm not sure sand was a good choice, but it's really lovely with lots of benches and views of the hills ....
and views of the town if you face the other way.There are old railroad items used in the design, including this old railroad crossing arm. The sidewalk dividers along the buildings are are old train tracks.
But it's really all about the cats. Here is Ziggy pawing Mowry - Zig is on the window perch and Mow is on the windowsill under the window shade. Ziggy's still a wimp, but he's getting bolder! Go Ziggy!

Springlike Weather

Isn't Zig adorable sleeping on my favorite tapestry chair, but it's covered with two throws - a blue one of Boston which was a gift for speaking, the first time I spoke at an industry conference, and the green one, which was a gift from Santa Clara University for working on CEP exams.We had a beautiful spring-like weekend. We went to the flea market yesterday and I found these wonderful buttons for 50 cents a bag, and yes, that is Mowry's paw investigating. There's a bag each of gold, yellow and silver buttons.
Will went to an old movie comedy film festival at the local neighborhood theater with a friend, so I'm making vegetable lentil soup. It's completely made up. And I'm the sister who never wanted to learn how to cook when we were young, and it took me until I was 40 to do so!

Lots of great ingredients from the Farmers' Market today - lentils (dried in a bag) turnips, onions, a little bit of ground turkey (not from FM), asparagus, carrots, beef consomme mixed with lots of water.


The bok choy and spinach and some cilantro are waiting until the last minute to go in.
The plants are very happy outside with all the rain we've had. I ripped out some gladiola bulbs because they just turn brown and look ugly until I get one stalk of glads. I was surprised to see these - I think they may be daffodils, although those are blooming downtown and at my neighbor's already. I decided to plant this statue out front. We tried to move it, but it is partially buried underground and weighs at least a ton, maybe literally.
Farther away is the statue. I like planting this little area out front.
My "Christmas Cactus" in the sunroom is blooming for Valentine's Day.
The lavender is thriving out front.
As are the camellias.

A different variety of lavender out back is very happy. I trimmed it earlier this year and it looks good with lots of great smelling lavender flowers.
I know spring isn't here and it will be cold and wet again, but it was nice to have this great weather this weekend.

It feels like Spring outside today!

Yes, another avocado casualty, eaten by our backyard wildlife. Luckily we have several on the tree that are good. Once we pick them, we have to put them in a brown paper bag and wait until they are practically mushy and then they are delicious!
The camellia tree out back is gorgeous. We also have one with white flowers out front.
Look, Mowry is sleeping on the same chair that Ziggy was sleeping on. Ziggy wakes up faster. Mow is slow to wake up.
There were actually 3 cats on the bed, but Alex didn't come out too well, so he got cropped.

You've heard of poetic license, well this is paparrazi license - I moved them together for the shot, but notice no fur is flying!And speaking of cute, look at Tabby and Ginger Snap. Tabby is GORGEOUS, but if you pet him, he bites or scratches. Ginger Snap lets me pick her up briefly. They haven't been fixed, and we're concerned about what cats do when they aren't fixed.
Today we went to the flea market and found lots of fun stuff. I found several bags of old buttons and each bag was 50 cents. Another person was selling bags of buttons for $5!! Then we went to the local cafe for lunch and we were actually able to eat outside. A little gardening and it's what I call a perfect day.