Are you seeing double?

No, you're not seeing double. Ziggy is eating wet food, while Alex watches. Alex is the only cat I have ever known who doesn't like wet food, and his vet says it would be good for him since it is less fattening than his dry food.
Yes, you are seeing double here. That's Alex looking at himself in the mirror. Or is it Ziggy? White in the ears means Alex, but the file name says Ziggy. The closer I look I think the white in the ears in minimal and it's Ziggy.

We actually bought two of these bookcases from a store in town when we first moved here. We had one in the living room, and one in the guest bedroom.
Then today someone posted on Craigslist to give away this tall bookcase. We put it in the place of the shorter bookcase pictured above. It's not as good quality as the shorter bookcase, but it works perfectly in the spare bedroom. I'm told that next time I respond to an ad for something, I should first ask what floor they live on. This was on the third floor, no elevator. Oops.
No, you're not seeing double. We moved the shorter bookcase that was in the guest bedroom out into the living room next to its twin.

No, you're not seeing double. The picture on the wall was painted by Will's mother. She has several paintings in her house that she painted, and I really wanted one, so when we were up visiting in October, I asked her if she had any that weren't hanging up that she wouldn't mind giving us. I think she was flattered, at least I hope so. That was my intention. It is unframed, but actually, I like it that way. It is reflected in the mirrored closet door, so it looks like two pictures, so you are seeing double. I didn't even realize this fit in with my "seeing double" bit today until I started typing!
This doesn't really have anything to do with seeing double, except there are several pictures of this scarf/shawl item that I started to knit with the lovely yarn below that I bought last year at Stitches West. I guess it was actually earlier in the year, and not last year. I was looking at yarn with greens, but my two friends who were with me and strangers standing in line convinced me the color I bought looked better on me. It's beautiful yarn to knit with. The picture is on my laptop, and the actual knitting and yarn are on the laptop's keyboard.


When looking around for a place to put the tall bookcase, I was afraid we'd be moving furniture in the guest room. Is this a cat's house (or 3), or what? The towel protects the cover which protects the couch. It's an old 1970s nubby fabric couch, but I don't want it shredded. No, you're not seeing double. Those are two cat beds on the couch. One has a lot of dark cat fur on it.

Nature at its most interesting ..and other random pictures

Who says we don't get beautiful color from changing leaves in CA? Of course it's not as dramatic as the East Coast, but I think this counts.

The crepe myrtle has lost all its leaves. We have some raking to do!
Looking out our home office window the other day, we were able to watch a blue jay and a woodpecker.
The blue jay was trying to get the woodpecker to leave


but the blue jay finally flew away, leaving the woodpecker...

Wow - those critters can sure do some damage to a tree.
Ziggy has discovered that our retro green bathroom also has a sink where he can get water to drink. Here he is waiting for one of us to use the bathroom (and turn on the sink faucet for him).

This is where all three cats hang out when I am alone on nights Will goes to band practice. Ziggy has decided that he likes to sleep right up against my pillow. Can you see the can of air on the night stand behind him? That's for bad kitties who scratch at the bed or try to open the closet. It's hard to see all 3, but they are there. Alex at 7 o'clock and Ziggy at 11 o'clock. Mow needs no point of reference.
I don't like dressing up cats or dogs, but I couldn't resist putting these cat ears that I've worn for a Halloween costume on the actual cat.
I finally got a decent close picture of Ginger Snap. This little kitty seems to like it outdoors, although if I let her, she'd come in with me to our house. That wouldn't work, of course.

How did the cat toy get outside on the welcome mat? I think Will knocked it out when dragging his bongos out last week.

It's always random things, isn't it?

It's gray outside, and the drizzles come and go. It will probably rain the hardest when we're finally ready to leave to do errands, but that's okay.

Last night we celebrated the 3rd night of Chanukah at a church! OK, so it was the 3rd night of Chanukah and we were at a church but the two aren't related. Will played with his friend Eddie and other musicians at a concert. We got there too early, so a visit to the Costco across the street was mandatory. Much to my surprise, the Costco in Livermore just a few weeks before Christmas at 6:45 pm was a very good Costco experience. That Costco has our favorite coffee (SF Bay Decaf French Roast by Rogers and Co) so I bought 4 of the 3 lb bags. I found everything I need and then some. I went with the S.O. of one of the performers and she was completely overwhelmed since she's not a Costco shopper! Things ARE huge and many there. I know exactly what I need and I went for each item. It helps to be an experienced Costco shopper!

It looks like the first quarter of 2011 will be busy for me with clients if one who mentioned she will need me comes thru. I might even be working 5 days a week - that's good news and bad news, mostly good! Ha ha. Since it will be split amongst two clients, with a work-at-home client in between, it's not like a real job, so therefore all good.

Will had his old laptop refurbished for me to use, and when the AT&T guy came to fix our TV he told us we actually have wi-fi, so we can access the laptops from anywhere in the house. That's the good news. The bad news is that we're both sitting in our robes on the loveseat each with a laptop on our laps. A little pathetic if you ask me! I guess it's better than leaving and going into the office to check email and Facebook and anything else such as looking up an actor that I just saw on TV.

The holiday season is in full swing and I had a good experience. I hope everyone who reads this has a lovely holiday season. Good health, happiness, and all the good stuff.

Random Thoughts and Pictures

I'm really glad the elections are over. This site was one too many with signs. Did they really think we'd vote for the one with the most signs? Or the one with the biggest sign?I knitted a quick hat the other day. It's perfect for rainy days. I didn't even have to use my umbrella when it was sprinkling in SF yesterday. I had Will capture Alex on the perch behind me, and the leaves changing out front when he took this picture.
A close up of the hat, but you can't see detail. It's 6 rows knit, 6 rows purl, repeat. It's also good for bad hair days.

I was on a creative roll this week. I found this 1950s kitchen fabric at the local yarn/quilt store, and I bought plain dish towels at the dollar store and then I cut and sewed the fabric onto the towel. I remember now why I don't love sewing, but I remembered quite a few things from my junior high school sewing class, so that was good.What a beautiful sky.

It was chilly this weekend, but it's going to get worse tonight and tomorrow with 35 degree low temps. We bought this stove from a neighbor at their garage sale. It really heated up the room and the house, which was just what we wanted. And the neighbor helped Will deliver it. It's only two doors down, but this thing was HEAVY. They used a dolly and it was still a lot of work. This weekend was the first time we used it.


About the only way to keep this boy off my desk is to hold him down. That only works for a few minutes.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. There are so many things to be thankful for.

California, Oregon, Washington, oh my!

We took a road trip up the coast to Oregon and Washington. When we left, the clouds were beautiful. We crossed many bridges, but only one was a toll bridge, and that was the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in the SF Bay Area.

We took 101 up the coast, and encountered some beautiful scenes. The top speed was 55 mph, and when we drove thru a down, we had to slow down to 25, and when we went around steep curves, we had to slow down to 30 or 40, with a small leeway of probably 5 mph, but it was all good because everyone followed the speed limits (else they'd miss the curve), and there were no cars around us, particularly behind us, most of the time. I can handle driving the sharp curves with little or no stress, but having someone tailgate me or whip around to pass me is very stressful. We actually saw two old looking Rexall signs - one in Willits, and one in Ferndale. I didn't even know there were still Rexalls.


We took a 20 minute detour at Ferndale, a town that has maintained its victorian buildings and charm.
The sunset on the Oregon coast was beautiful even thru the van window.

My former boss's widow has invited us to visit him many times. He lives in Bandon, OR, a coastal town that is gorgeous. We took a side trip to Bandon to see Mike and his beautiful house and view and town. This was the view from the guest bedroom. We hadn't seen Mike in over 6 years, at Marilyn's memorial service.
I took this picture from the street in front of Mike's house. His is the only house on the street, but a new house is being built next door to him. The new house is not between him and the beach, so that is good.

From Bandon we drove up 101 to WA. The forest next to the ocean is such natural beauty.More bridges.
The bridge from OR to WA that goes over the Columbia River is huge. I was glad to have Will drive that stretch.
A view from the bridge.
We visited the in-laws in Ocean Shores, WA, but first we stopped in Aberdeen, WA because M-I-L had a bad reaction to new medicine and had to spend the night there. We got to visit with her new husband, and she was fine the next day, so it a worked out. Molly is waiting for her humans, who are in the kitchen, to throw a treat.

A rare, sunny day in Ocean Shores, WA, and we got two of them. Two in a row! To me it is just WRONG to drive on the beach. There were shells, all broken, with tire tracks next to them. Does anyone else see the connection?Ocean Shores beach.
The road out of Ocean Shores is very pretty. It's not fun to drive in the dark, but in the daylight the color of the leaves was worthy of a picture.

From WA we drove to I-5 and stayed in Ashland, OR. What a cute town. At first I thought it was like Palo Alto, but I'll change that and say it's more like Santa Cruz. Here is our room at the motel. For the first time in years we had one of those old fashioned hotel keys. I took a picture, but it didn't come out, but if you're as old as we are, you remember those keys!
This was the view from out hotel room. The leaves changing were quite magnificent.

Ashland has a lovely yarn store. This was just one wall of several that housed beautiful, colorful yarn. Even Will was impressed by the beautiful colors.

I took many more pictures, but this gives the gist of our trip. Unfortunately, I-5 was not quite as interesting as 101 (going up) but it was faster! Mt. Shasta thru the van window!

There are so many beautiful places to visit so close to home! Speaking of home, we are happy to be back home. So are the kitties.

If you are my "friend" on Facebook, you can see these and other pictures posted there. If you're not my friend, then why are you looking at my blog?

Knitting and cats and phones, oh my

I found this very old yarn at a garage sale. I'm trying to figure out what I can make with several skeins of it. It's 100% wool. I'm thinking about a vest.
Either these really ARE big cats, or maybe the trash bin is miniature. That's Ziggy and Mowry.

Alex, aka "King of the House", has decided he likes the chair where Ziggy usually sits. So that's Ziggy with his hind end sticking out at the bottom of the chair. Will had a cold, so for a few days I slept on the couch, and the cats kept me company in the living room.
It's pineapple guava season AGAIN! A woman who responded to my Fremont Freecycle ad last year is the first person I contact to see if she wants more. She already picked up a small bag last week, and I'll have more for her on Sunday. I'm always glad to give these away to people who like them. I think they are okay, but how many can I eat?
By adding another line to our family plan, I got this phone with a data plan to access email, etc. for only $20 a month more. I cancelled my business voicemail, which I've had for 10 years, which was $10 a month, so that's only $10 a month more. I tried to give my old phone to my parents, but they didn't want it. They like having their $10 a month phone that gives them about 10 minutes a month. OK, a little more than that, but not much. I was going to send it to them anyway, but then I decided to use the old phone for pleasure, and the new one for business. Then the buttons on the new phone got a little annoying. I could definitely live with it, but then I called AT&T and for $99, and $35 a month ('only' $25 a month more) I could have a refurbished iPhone (not the most recent version, but there have only been a few) that has a touch pad instead of tiny buttons. I've held out in principle because I think having a iPhone is like joining a cult, but this seems like a good deal. I will use the iPhone for business. Since I don't go to out of state conferences any more, writing off my phone as a business expense will work out well. I asked people what they pay for their service, and one told me "under $100". Eek. I guess our plan isn't that bad - it's under $100 and it's for 3 phones!