Trains, Flowers and Things

Weekends are for taking pictures. The color this post is YELLOW! I hadn't been to the side yard in a few days, and this morning I noticed MANY yellow roses in bloom.

There are also many different shades of geraniums, and what looks to me like an arch, is actually the ornamental plum tree from next door, with pink jasmine growing over the fence.

Even the hills are turning yellow. This is one of the "Niles" signs as you are leaving Niles. It reads in the right direction as you enter Niles. Some days I wish more people would leave Niles!

We volunteered for the Niles Canyon Railway yesterday. A Union Pacific train with only two engines stopped to wait so the engineers could see our train, but it was late, and they couldn't wait. There is even yellow on the UP engine.

The Niles Canyon Railway ran a steam engine on one of their runs.

There are yellow roses growing along Niles Blvd. that I remember from last year. They are beautiful this time of year.Not yellow, but interesting anyway.....

Niles is a town of biker bars and antique stores, among other things. They are down to two bars, and only one is a biker bar, but there are still several antique stores. Sundays when the weather is warm, there are always many bikes outside The Flo, as locals call it. The bikers get cranky when Fremont Police hassle them, but let's think about this ...they sit around drinking at The Flo, and then they ride their bikes home, some thru Niles Canyon. That can't be safe. It sure looks small town funky, doesn't it?

I think my lavender bush must be on steroids.

And last, but not least, the tomato plant is growing!

Pictures

It's another beautiful weekend. It's 86 degrees with an occasional breeze saving the day. I prefer the low 70s, so this morning when we left before 8 am for garage sales, the weather was perfect. Why am I inside by my computer on this beautiful day? Because it's too hot outside. It's also too hot inside, but Will just set up a fan for me so I can do this! It wasn't that long ago that we had a radiation dish heater on us while watching TV. I don't like being hot, and I don't like being cold. Am I asking for too much?

We went to many garage sales, and the flea market today. I found these shose that look like they were barely worn:

At the same sale, Will found this Technics turntable that he is very excited about. I was wearing the peach hat today, and the lady having the garage sale ran inside her house to find this turquoise hat for me. She insisted on giving it to me because I was her first customer. I wore it on our walk into town and it's nice because it's larger than the peach hat, so it offers more protection from the sun.

I found this plastic pot for $1. Would you ever think our sweet cat, Mowry, who is hiding on the chair just beneath the table cloth could cause a scratch like this on Will's arm? Will was petting Mow, and and Mow got spooked, so he put claws out in defense mode, and this is the result:

The walk into town was hot, but nice. As you can see, the hills are quickly turning brown. I think they are still pretty - it's just another phase of their lifecycle, but the green is the prettiest. I'm getting better at taking pictures of the trains as they go thru town. My camera hesistates so I have to set it up in time when I hear the train.

The baby blanket is coming along. The needles are size 8 metal, and the circulars I found today at a garage sale for 10 cents (to the left of the blanket in the picture) are the same size, but I think they are nylon, which apparently they no longer make. I found another pair of nylon several months ago at an estate sale that I love to knit with.

I keep hearing that their are fewer and fewer honey bees, and I don't know my bees, but I can't help but think the bees chasing me when I go to water or when I try to cut lavender from my lavender plants are honey bees. Can you see the bee in the middle of the picture on the lavender flower?I bought this plant last year at Costco, and it has come back with many more flowers this year. I guess it likes where I planted it out front.

Weather and Other Fun Things

It's supposed to be 81 degrees here today. Did I read that right? I did. I even heard it from the weather reporters, er, meteorologists. It's already 53 degrees at 8:00 am. This is NORTHERN California, NOT Southern California. That would be normal for Southern California.

Yesterday it snowed all over Colorado. Georgetown:

Eisenhower Tunnel where it was 27 degrees.
Traffic and snow in Castle Rock where my niece who reads this blog happens to live.
Someone I know sent me information and a picture of a cat looking for a new home. The family is moving into an apartment that doesn't allow cats. We had a cat for several years before our landlord figured it out, but when he did find out, he charged us a deposit fee. Stupid landlord - I think the cat outlasted him, but I digress.

Will says no to another cat. He's right, but isn't he the one who said "oh, we need to give this cat a home" when we went to "just look" at pet adoptions back in 2007 - that would be Alex. This one is supposed to be mellow, is a year old, and has all his shots, etc. I posted to a local email group and one person responded to me. I told them to call the owner directly, so maybe there was more interest.

There's a website for everything, isn't there? Here's one to find out how "walkable" it is where you live. www.walkscore.com . Ours was near the middle, closer to "best" than "worst" but some places to eat or shop were missing from the map, so I think it would be better if it had the additional businesses.

Tuesday Pictures

Yesterday I went to a new client for a short project. It was way in San Mateo, which is only about 21 miles away, but in traffic it would have been BAD crossing the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge. I was able to leave the house at 10:00 am, so traffic was fine. The drive home was better than expected, and they don't need me again today, which is good news and bad news!



I heard some noise out in the living room so I went to check. That's Kandyman OUTSIDE and Mowry INSIDE. Before I got the camera, they were both at the window scratching from each's respective perspective. You might notice leaves INSIDE by Mow - those are from the FAKE ficus tree that Mow likes to play with. Bad kitty, but not as bad as Alex who likes to scratch at the denim couch cover at 4 in the morning.

When K-man meandered away, Mowry was looking for him. Not GREAT photos, but you get the picture. Ha ha!

We got this cat post thingy at a garage sale several years ago. The cats did not use it UNTIL I decided to put it next to my chair and use it as a laptop "desk". That is when our late great cat, Dave, realized it was a cool spot for him. Since then all the cats have used it at different times to have a place to sit next to us, but when we got the cat TREE last week, we moved it to the living room, and I don't think it will be used. I also am getting tired of looking at cat furniture.



Someone on our local email group wanted a cat tree for her 3 rescued kitties, so I responded with this picture. She came by and picked it up, and guess what?

Her cats are already using it! I was very pleased to give it to someone who would use it! The gray cat reminds me a little of Dave. Aren't they adorable?! The color isn't the same in the two pictures, but it's the same cat condo!


The brown sweater I'm knitting for myself is coming along. I'm just about ready to divide the front and back at the armholes, so I want to be absolutely certain it's the length I want it first. I'm loving the yarn and color, if not the needles. I used the needles for my hat, and they could be a little more slippery, but they aren't, so I manage.

I'm also making this scarf for a present out of really nice acrylic I found at Big Lots! It reminded me of denim. I had to try and re-try this stitch about 5 times before it worked, but I'm liking it.
It's very windy outside today. The weather thingy on my computer says 54 degrees with 3 mph winds, but I think it seems more windy than that. 54 degrees at noon is quite chilly. It may be in the high 70s/low 80s come the weekend, so we'll see.

Pictures of Cool Signs and Things

I know this is a blog named after Aunt Mary, the knitter, but it's not only about knitting. It's also about pictures - sometimes of knitting, often of kitties, and also of other things. I love taking pictures, and now that I have a place to share them, it's all the better.



Here are some fun signs I've encountered and photographed:

Near Tucson, AZ:






An old busy corner in San Jose (Bascon and Stevens Creek) with an old, busy sign for Western Appliance:

This may be an encore appearance for this sign, but does anyone else see something wrong with the title of this event at Lowe's last autumn - FALL LADDER EVENT? Will noticed the irony of this, I'm just the photographer. I love that the sign is dated!

What a cool sign - we used to eat here when Will played in his band that practiced just up the blook in San Jose. It's right near the Western Appliance sign, which you can see in the background:

Will's mother lives in Ocean Shores, WA. Maybe we noticed this sign when we were there a few years ago because of the Tsunami that hit Thailand a few years ago, but this was unnerving:

Quartzsite, AZ has a very old gas station/auto repair sign (old station and old pumps, too).

I've been to Wrigley, and it's cool!

Old motels in Phoenix, AZ. Some look abandoned, but for the cool signs.

Adult movies?

In SF - this corner looked interesting to me:The false front on this building in Pleasanton with the great sign for Dean's Cafe. I hear they have good breakfasts here, but we are cereal eaters, so that would be lost on us, not to mention that we're never in Pleasanton before we've had our breakfast!

And the obligatory cat picture - Mowry LOVES his new cat tree, aka the "crow's nest". I think he's smiling. He figured out how to jump to the top thru the hole - note his tail hanging down thru the hole. What a smart kitty! The other two cats are completely uninterested. This may be a bad idea since Mowry spent last night up there instead of on my lap, but he's happy and when the weather gets warm, I won't want a kitty on my lap!

If it's Saturday, it must be ....

...garage sale day! It was overcast and chilly this morning, but that didn't stop us! We went to several garage sales, and most were not all that interesting, but we found this cabinet in a very unusual size that we just knew we'd find a place for. Actually, this was the ONLY place in the house, so I'm glad it worked. We used to have two small prints where this is (by the door to the sunroom) and the cabinet has to be a few extra inches away from the wall because the light switch to the sunroom is behind it, but it works! I'm displaying some nice candlesticks and my white milkglass jars, among other things. The white head on the bottom shelf is one of two pilgrims that I made in grammar school out of clay, painted with white glaze, and fired in the kiln. The female broke in the kiln.This started some furniture moving, but it was realtively minor (meaning not too heavy). We moved the coffee table that was too large for the living room into the spare room, the smaller coffee table that was in the spare room into the sunroom (it's actually in the picture above, but hard to see), and the wooden chest that was next to the couch blocking some much needed walk space to be the coffee table in the living room. Photos don't do it justice, but it all worked out.

The jasmine outside our spare bedroom is in full bloom. Thank you neighbors! The rose bush below it was pruned and is coming back full force. It's fuller and healthier looking than it was last year.

Then we took a walk into town. There were many cows on the hill today.

The "Joe's Corner" sign is my favorite. I believe the building is empty, at least there's no Joe's Bar on the corner, but the sign is still up and it's classic. The irises are blooming, as is the new growth on the tree down the block. The cool old truck had to be in my picture for ambiance.

Tomorrow we take poor matted Cinders to the vet clinic at Pet Food Express for her rabies shot. It seems silly that she has to get the shot and get licensed since she no longer goes outside, but the city requires it. We thought of telling them she ran away (how would they know? Cats do that) but we decided to get the shot and register her. We're afraid the clinic vet may arrest us when he sees how matted she is, but it's impossible to brush her, so it is what it is.

Cat Tree

This is fun! Thank you to Debra, who not only gave us this cool cat tree that is much taller than the one we have in the sunroom, but it's in perfect shape, AND she cleaned it all up before she gave it to us!