Rain, Wind, NO Camera

I still haven't found my camera. I have no idea where it could be. The only possibility, and it is slim, is that it fell into the recycle receptacle we keep in the office that gets dumped into the recycle bin. We didn't put out our recycle bin for pickup this week because we will dump it and go thru it. It's the paper bin, so it isn't icky. If it's not there, I just don't know. We both feel like we've looked everywhere, but obviously we haven't.

It is raining cats and dogs out there. Not sure where THAT saying came from, but the wind is blowing the rain onto our windows that have an overhang and rarely get drips. I decided not to go to my client because taking the ACE train, a shuttle and walking a block to get there wet and possibly finding out they had no power wasn't my idea of necessary. I emailed them, and didn't hear from them until a few minutes before noon asking that I call because there were a few questions that couldn't wait until Tuesday, even though I'm betting they could wait. So I'm at home with an orange cat sleeping on my desk behind the monitor. This is an old picture. Read paragraph one!

Here is the rain at the Fremont/Centerville train station I would have gone to today had I taken the ACE train to Santa Clara.

It's wet, but at least it doesn't look like this:

Our favorite farm near where we used to live is closed for winter. Yesterday was one year since escrow closed on the sale of our townhouse. I'm knitting a sock, but I can't take a picture of it to post here. URGENT - I need by camera back. I don't need a new one. I need to find the camera I lost!

No pictures - no camera

Where is my camera? I have NO idea. The last time I remember having it was Saturday when I took pics of the drapes and posted. This is the stuff that obsesses me. I've looked everywhere. OK, NOT everywhere because it's somewhere I haven't yet looked.

We had a lovely relaxed New Years Eve with Ken and Diann and even had a rent-a-kitty on Will's lap at midnight - one of their kitties was kind enough to sit on his lap. You know how cats can be - I will only sit on my owner's lap. But LiveWire was happily purring on Will's lap.

We walked into town and got a little exercise. We are going to Darlene and Lorne's for dinner and dominoes. We have some leftover chocolate cake from Costco that was devine. My new year's resolution is to eat more chocolate!

Goodbye, 2007, Welcome 2008

It's the last day of the year. Sometimes it seems like the year went by quickly, but then if I think about all of the things that occurred during the year, it was about 365 days! Ha!

We actualy went to Costco today. Getting there shortly after 10 am when it opened for business customers while some people are still at work worked for us. I forgot to get dried blueberries, but we got everything else we needed, and got out quickly.

I finished my second blue/green sock and guess what? It's larger than the first one. These have been the socks from hell. I probably used a slightly larger needle than I used on the first one, as I suspected might be the case from the beginning, but the stitches looked the same so I continued. This is what happens when you wait too long between sock #1 and sock #2 in a pair. Growwwwwwl (like Alex did at the Vet). No pictures. Too annoying.

Here are some other pictures, just for fun.

Fourth of July parade in Niles:

And always the editor, I found a typo in a parade sign. I think they meant "Your Health Matters".

Amtrak and the Niles Canyon Railway steam engine.

In 1956 when the 5 towns of Niles, Mission San Jose, Centerville, Irvington and Fremont formed the new city of Fremont, the Niles sign came down, and the Fremont sign went up.

Cinders and Mowry eating. We get along when there's wet food. Otherwise Cinders is afraid of Mowry and a cat fight often results.

Our office is a busy little place.

For some reason she likes to take pictures of the three of us together. Mowry (I'm 1.5), Cinders (I'm 15 or 17, we're not exactly sure), and Alex (I'm 7.5). We're trying to relax in the sunroom.

Happy and healthy new year to all of our readers.

Here's to a great 2008.

And now we can resume our regular lives and schedules. No more hustle bustle holiday shopping, entertaining, presents, decorating, expectations, blah blah blah.

Sat., Dec. 29th - I have more readers!

I have more blog readers! That's what happens when you post the blog info in the holiday newsletter that gets sent to friends and relatives that I don't see all year long, which is what I did! Now I really have to post post post and be creative and all that stuff. Actually, this is fun. I love taking photographs of everything (aren't digital cameras great? I can delete whatever I don't want to keep, and take up valuable space on my computer's hard drive with those I do want to keep), and I like to write. Now if only I could get paid what I get paid when I work to do a blog, life would be more fun, but that's why they call it work.

Will tried on his hat for me! It's not the most flattering style (it's a wool cap, not a fashion statement), but it is warm, and he loves it! And it was much easier to make than a pair of socks or a sweater! I think it looks great on him!

So where would you rather be today? Here?

or here?

The top one is Lake Elizabeth at Central Park in Fremont. It's gray and will probably rain, but it's NOT snowing! It's 45 degrees right now in Fremont, which seems cold until I look at this picture of Eisenhower Tunnel in CO where it's 9 degrees. That's 23 degrees BELOW freezing. I've been in freezing. It is freezing. Below freezing is not necessary! It's just too cold!

Someone posted on Fremont Freecycle (is there one in your city?) tab drapes and they sounded like exactly what would work in our guest room, the one room we never painted or did anything with. The drapes left behind were pink, and while I like pink, I didn't like these. I took off the sheers before I realized the pink drapes didn't close all the way, and that is why there were sheers.


BEFORE:

It's hard to believe I don't have a "before" picture of the pink drapes. The one above was cropped from a picture taken when we looked at the house with its prior owner and prior furniture. The white is the sheers.

And after:

The Last Friday in '07-Knitting, Cats and More "Who Knew"

It's the last Friday in 2007. Didn't it JUST seem like we were dealing with all that Y2K stuff? That was 7 years ago! Ouch! Times flies.


Mowry is hiding behind my monitor. I think he thinks that if he can't see me, I can't see him. I can see him, but I just can't see his cute little face.
Cinders doesn't care about hiding. She knows we won't bother her because she can be anattack cat. This is one of her favorite spots for sleeping. On the desk.

While Cinders has her vet file red tagged (like Elaine if you are a Seinfeld fan), it was Alex who is known as "Grumpy Alex" in our presence, and even "Cujo" last night when we had to take him to the vet because he apparently ate a flea, and if you don't know what that means, I will have to tell you - he has worms. YUCK. But I learned that that cannot be transmitted between cats, which makes me feel much better. The cat has to eat the flea. Who knew (becoming my favorite saying) that indoor only kitties could have fleas. Who knew that indoor only kitties could have fleas in a house with no carpet except a few throw rugs and one area rug? I wonder what the vet and staff call Alex when we aren't there?

We had never heard Alex growl before, but he was growling when he was in his carrier waiting for me to pay. Don't even ask about that. Mr. "Vet Cat" is becoming very expensive, and we hope 2008 is not like 2007 for vet visits, as is he, but I digress.

This is Mowry and Alex as they are eating. It's hard to see in this picture, but there is a size differential. Alex is VERY LARGE. He gained 1 lb and 11 oz since his bout with crytals a few short months ago. His special diet is fattening to make it paletable, so we have to feed him less. Or is it fewer? (Just kidding. Private joke with Will). Mowry loves Alex's food. What's not to love? Regular food or candy?

Will's hat is coming along. I need to decrease so he doesn't end up with some weird cat in the hat shaped hat.

I'm finally working on sock #2 of my 3rd pair of socks. It will look like sock #1 hopefully. Sock #1 looks huge, even in person, but it fits me well, so either looks are deceiving, or size doesn't count, or some other cliche.

Christmas Day 2007

It's Christmas Day and the holiday is almost over. Maybe we could skip it next year? Just celebrate every other year? Actually, last night we had dinner here - Will's daughter and Ken and Diann came over. I made two lasagnas - one veggie, one not, and salad, appetizers (not in that order) and Diann and Ken brought dessert. We once invited someone over and she insisted on bringing dessert but then she showed up with an orchid, and no dessert. So we called the orchid "Donna's Dessert". Ken and Diann brought dessert AND a plant and champagne. The lovely pink cyclamin has been planted out front. It really adds color to our front landscape. Thank you Ken and Diann!

We had a very nice evening. I forgot to serve the garlic bread. I even made a list, but the garlic bread wasn't on the list.

Yesterday Will spotted two kitties enjoying a shared sunbeam. He was able to grab my camera and I took pictures before they ran away, as cats do. Alex on the left, and Mowry on the right, but between the lampshade and Alex is a reflection of Mowry.

Today we went to our former neighbor's for brunch and had a lovely time. She's invited us for the past several years and it's always nice to see her and her family and friends. It was a small gathering today - very mellow and nice.

This evening we're going to friends I've known since college. This meal will be much more formal with a special table set, a theme, etc. This year the theme is Asian, so I was asked to bring Asian vegetables. I wasn't sure what I was going to make, but I made up a green bean recipe ala Asian - I steamed fresh green beans, sauteed them in sesame oil, added soy sauce, also sauteed onions and water chestnuts, put it all in a casserole dish, added toasted sesame seeds (that burned on my first try as it doesn't take much to toast sesame seeds as I found out) and then I'll either microwave them or bake them a little. Last year I brought my knitting and I don't know if she was too happy, except her daughter was also knitting, so that was a free ticket for me. I'm bringing my knitting today, too. I brought my knitting this afternoon, but I didn't end up knitting.

I heard that Beverly's in San Jose is closing and yarn is 50% off, and more as time goes on. I used to be near there when will had band and I'd drop him off and sometimes stop there, but he's not there now, and I never get down there, although I'm told it might be worth the trip. We'll see.

My niece and her new husband are having a white Christmas in Castle Rock, Colorado. The picture above is from the webcam where it was 4:45 pm and 19 degrees. That's FARENHEIT!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Christmas Eve Day 2007

Just another day to go before this Christmas husble bustle madness is over. Bah Humbug. We actually went to the Fremont Hub (http://www.thefremonthub.com/) to Michael's (which was actually not bad since most people were shopping for last minute gifts, not things to make or decorate), but Safeway was a zoo. We were glad to get out of there.

The worst part was the parking lot, but if you didn't try to park right in front of the store, and you didn't mind maneuvering around big vehicles that think "compact" parking space means them (I know, you take any spot you can find, but at least TRY to park straight, unlike the Tahoe next to us who didn't) it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The bad part is that I have to go back today! I need to return something at Marshall's and maybe go to Michael's again to check out knitting needles - I'm making a hat for Will but I don't have circular needles in the right length, so I'm using double pointed needles, so I have to be very careful to not drop stitches off the needles (which I've already done a few times). I started doing something fancy with a two stitch, two row seed stitch (is there another name for that stitch?), but I decided to do the usual rib. He picked out the navy blue wool.
Last night we watched basketball on TV and this heater kept us warm. No point in heating the whole house if we're just in one room.

Alex is in his favorite spot - on the blanket on top of Will's lap. That's Will's beer, not Alex's. He's pretending I'm not taking his picture.
When the printer isn't being used as a printer (which it is as you can see by the papers) it also doubles as Mowry's perch. What you can't see is that to the left of the printer is Cinders, and shortly after this was taken, Mowry got off the printer, went over to where Cinders was, and scared her off. We almost had a cat fight.

This is Durango, Colorado in the snow from the webcam at http://www.dickgilbert.com/durangocam1.htm taken on Friday, December 21st. It's an adorable town that we really liked, but it didn't look like this when we were there. My cousins live outside of town in a beautiful rural area, but I'm guessing it snows there even more than it snows in town. Below is a picture of Niles Blvd., where we live, without snow because it doesn't snow here, except...

it did snow in the hills behind us in March of 2006.

Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate. Here's to a great 2008! Yes, it rhymes, but don't worry, I won't go all poet on you!