Random pictures

It's still 81 degrees outside and that is hot for 8 pm! We had a very cool summer, so now that we're having a heat wave, it seems wrong, even if it is often hot in September and October.

This morning started with a 3 3/4 hour conference call, during which time Mowry found the computer portion rather interesting. Luckily he didn't stay too long, because I couldn't exactly read the screen with him planted in front of me. I bet I had more fun than the other participants!


Will came with me to a client's office and planted himself in their cafe so he, too, could enjoy the A/C. This is the approach to the Dumbarton Bridge. It's hard to tell, but it was pretty crowded. We're trying to get from Palo Alto to the east bay. The cloud formations are lovely.
This evening at around 6:30 pm it was very overcast with pink clouds against the pink crepe myrtle tree out front. It didn't last long, so I'm glad I captured it in a photo. On our walk the other night the palm trees were illuminated by the sun, as was the hill in the background. Isn't this a beautiful place to live?

Garage sales, flea markets, concerts, oh my.

Today we went to a garage sale on a small court nearby. It's hard to go to garage sales after our neighborhood-wide sale two weeks ago, but this one house had MANY things. I found another wooden "window" planter (for $1) and she threw in a few fake flowers, Will found two work shirts in perfect condition (for $1 each), and a cool dominoes game unopened and marked $35 (for $3) . Then we went to the Ohlone flea market and I found some double-pointed knitting needles for $1. I probably could have offered the guy 50 cents, and I think he would have taken it, but I didn't. Unfortunately, two were size 2 and two were size 1, but they will be spares since I'm constantly losing them.

Then we went to the Niles Plaza for an unusual Saturday concert. First there was a flag ceremony honoring the memory of 9/11/2001, and I was a little concerned because when we got a new flag a year or two ago, they had a very religious (and in my opinion inappropriate) religious ceremony. It was completely inappropriate for a diverse town with people who have many different beliefs, but I digress. If they did this again, we missed it, because all we saw was a speech by Blue Star Moms (very appropriate) and a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by a Niles local. It was a nice tribute to this horrendous event none of us will ever forget.

I got in some knitting time on this sock....

Wow - I got a lot done! The top photo is true to the color, and the bottom photo is too light, but you can tell that because the Crown Royal bag should be much darker. The music was good, the shade was good and it was a nice event. It was a hot day.
The cows on the hill made for a nice photograph.
I'm almost done with this cardigan from the lovely yarn Diann gave me. I had to add a strip for buttons because it was a little too narrow. My plan is to put all different kinds of buttons on here. I may use snaps to close it, instead of buttonholes, but for now I've done nothing about that.

Photos and more photos

My blog is really a place for me to post my pictures.

The "master" bathroom in our house is rather small, but it has a full size shower. The bathroom is the one room in the house that was painted a color, and that color is very pink. The blue around the tile is painters' tape, as we prepped for painting. We've been talking about painting the bathroom for 4 years now - it is 4 years since we opened escrow to buy this house.
We met Ken and Diann at the local hardware store a few years ago, and they told me peach was a good color because surrounding this burgundy tile inside the shower is peach tile. I was never convinced, but I'm sure it would have worked, had we been able to find where we put the peach paint once we were finally ready to take on this task. It may be a small room, but it was a pain in the butt to prep and paint.

So we went out on Labor Day 2010 and bought new paint. I wanted a medium beige, but Will thought lighter was better since the room is small. How small is it? The greedy people on HGTV's House Hunters would undoubtedly say "This is too small, and it's dated, and I couldn't possible live with this", but aside from the pinkness, we have NO problem with our small bathroom.

The color I picked was not what I thought it was. I like contrast, however small, between the woodwork and the walls, and I used two different paints, but couldn't match as close had I actually tried.

We hadn't yet painted the ceiling, but we debated and decided the pink must go.

Luckily, Will is tall, but he still had to use a step stool to reach the high parts. My job was the lower parts (behind the toilet, around the mirror, etc.).
What a mess. We had so much stuff (pictures, jars, towels over the shower door and on the racks, etc.) that had to be emptied out before we could start painting. Did I mention it was a hot day, so we needed a fan blowing in our direction, also. The great thing is that our small bathroom has a window, so it was well ventilated

Here is the finished bathroom. Not beige, but NOT pink! Hooray. It's growing on me. I love the retro light.
We bought this Buck Stove for a fraction of its new cost from a neighbor. We don't have a mantle, but now we have a place for some things when the fire isn't going.
Ziggy is sleeping on a shirt Will found at garage sale weekend.

Mowry loves sitting on my desk between my keyboard and my monitor, right in my way.Ziggy LOVES his toys. Here he is on his back with his toy fish. Above his head is "crazy mouse" - a toy my parents brought the kitties the last time they visited.

It's almost impossible to get a picture of all three cats. Ziggy in the foreground on his back, Alex and Mow watching Ziggy. It IS impossible to get a GOOD picture of all 3 cats, so I'll settle for this for now. I obviously don't have Photoshop or any other program that can edit and make magic.Ahhhhhhhhh, our avocados are growing, and if the squirrels and other critters don't get them first, we should have several in about 5 months! They are still small and yet I occasionally find eaten ones on the ground.
Happy New Year - L'Shana Tova.

Random pictures

The concerts at the new Niles Plaza have been really good. I love seeing this older couple dancing on the sidelines. I tried to take their picture without revealing their faces to keep their privacy. Aren't they adorable?
I'm currently working on sock #2. This yarn was from Diann from her favorite Houston store, Hobby Lobby. It's purple and gray, but the colors aren't that true in this picture.
It's overcast today, but my weather program says 77 degrees already at 8:45 am. It's quiet but this picture was down Second Street Saturday when many of the houses had garage sales.
A garage sale on Third Street. I worked very hard to get a picture without people. I don't want to post other people's faces on my blog!
I didn't bring my camera on Sunday, but thanks to someone who did. I love this view from the Plaza looking toward the town at the booths set up for the Antique Fair. Unfortunately, there were a lot of booths with "foreign plastic crap" as I call it, and as I probably called it on my last blog entry, but it still looked cool from the Plaza.
Our favorite white female cat from next door (Ginger Snap) has a pink collar that is tight and too long. Tuesday I was home and she came over for her treats without her collar but I could see the mark and no fur where the collar was. Then I looked at the front of her neck and there was a huge sore. I wanted to cry. A few days later it was scabbing and looking good, so I guess she's okay. I just want to take her in and make her out cat, except for three cats (and two humans) who don't want another cat.

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.