Weekend things

It's a lazy Sunday - basketball on TV (Heat & Thunder, then Lakers & Celtics), a load of laundry going, some extra yarn picked up by someone who posted on Freecycle that she is starting to knit and was hoping someone had yarn to share, which I did. We even finalized Will's little DVD business entries for 2010 in Quickbooks. Sadly, this business will be liquidated since his partner only made one DVD, albeit a good one - "The Greatest DVD on ... Quartzsite" (http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art27488.asp for a review), but without more titles, it wasn't worth keeping the business.

Last night Will played bongos with his musician friends (Eddie and Friends). While he prefers playing his drums, and has had to be convinced by me over and over that his tapping at the bongos DOES add to the music, he and I both enjoyed the evening. There are several musicians, depending on who shows up, and all are good. Eddie and Friends - Eddie writes original music, and plays a cover or two on guitar, harmonica and sings, 3 other guitarists who do the same, a violinist, a pianist who also sings, and Will on bongos. I hope I didn't miss anyone. They trade off and play together and it's always a night with good music at Mission Coffee in Fremont (www.fremontcoffee.com).

Mission Coffee is a fun atmosphere, although sometimes instead of being polite and using inside voices, people get louder when the music is on. I didn't think that was the case last night. It was really good, although apparently the proprietor of Mission Coffee was her usual grouchy self and had issues with the sound. She growled at me when I asked if something in the food display case was good, which I thought was a fair question since it's something new that they are carrying. "It wouldn't be here if it wasn't" was the response I got, in a tone that Ziggy would use when around small kids. Her response seemed a bit crabby, so I wasn't surprised to hear she wasn't happy with the sound and was crabby about that, too. It was too loud or something, but then someone else said the kitchen noise was too loud, so who knows, and who cares.

I enjoyed the 1/2 BLT and 1/2 Vegetable Pastie (the item I mistakenly asked about being good - figuring I'd open a little dialogue as in "yes, it's great" or "it's good but I prefer the Beef Pastie" didn't seem unreasonable, but there you go), 1/2 cookie (Will and I like to share), visiting with friends and acquaintances we've met over the years thru the music scene, and knitting. Today my neck hurts and I'm guessing it's from the position I'm in while knitting. Too bad I missed the ergonomics class last year at the Stitches West knitting convention, and they aren't offering it this year.

It was raining this morning, but it seems to be clearing up.

The little white cat who lives next door is moving. We are really going to miss her. I'm glad she won't be here because I believe it's only a matter of time before she'll be road kill since she runs across the street like cats do, but I will miss her coming to me for her treats (picture above). I don't believe in feeding other people's animals, but I feel like she's "family" and I give her two treats when she comes to visit. She just walked across the back fence a few minutes ago, reminding me that I will miss her when she's gone. She is a tiny little cat, which is a huge contrast from Alex and Ziggy, who this morning left us two presents - one in the living room by the fireplace, and one later in his little cat tent. BAD kitty. He's on Will's lap now, loving as ever.

Random Photos and Thoughts

These really are in random order, but I need to go do something, so I'm not going to take the time to organize them.

This was a lovely sunrise one day last week. The orange stripe was interesting against an otherwise grayish bluish sky.
I was able to capture this contrail on my camera. I'm not sure when I took it.
Mint is growing quite well, except that something is eating it. The green onions I planted last year are coming back! All in the same planter. I put some of those sharp round things around the edge so whatever is eating the mint can't climb over it. I hope it works.
Thank you, humans, for not making the bed. Can you see Mowry on top of Ziggy's tail? I put their favorite toy "shuttlecock" on the bed with them.

I used a 9" circular needle to knit these socks. You can see it below. The hated this needle the first time I used it, but I was going on BART and to a movie theater (to see Wizard of Oz, see prior post) and I didn't want to carry regular double pointed needles. As it turned out, this needle was perfect with this yarn. It's Deborah Norville Serenity and was so soft to knit with.
Below is the garden from the movie "It's Complicated". How come my garden doesn't look like this? This is the garden I want. Sorry for not editing out the flash as I am on my laptop and that camera program doesn't allow me to crop photos. I have something eating my mint plant, which has been growing well. I took some out and replanted elsewhere, hoping the thwart the villians.
Isn't the moon and sky pretty? This was taken several weeks ago. It might have been the night of the eclipse before all that fun stuff started. Unfortunately, I missed the eclipse.
Uh oh. What happened here? I can't blame the cats for this one. I picked up the Trader Joe's cookie tub from on top of the refrigerator where we keep it and the top wasn't on right, so they ALL fell on the floor. These ginger cookies are really good! We were both bummed until we could get to TJ's to replace them.

We're off to see the wizard.....

I loved my last blog posting about seeing double, if I may say so myself. Unfortunately, on a "can you top this" note, I haven't posted since because I am quite sure I can't top that post. Not that it's a contest, especially a contest of me against me, but I just really liked that post so I hesitated to post again. But it's time to move that post down one slot and have a new post.

Sometimes things work out better when they aren't planned. Yesterday we got a call from a friend who had two unused tickets for last night's screening of "The Wizard of Oz" at the lovely Paramount Theater in Oakland, and she wanted to know if we were interested. I don't usually like going to movies - it's a long time to sit in the dark with people who I wouldn't invite into my living room (our friends are NOT part of that, of course); people who are loudly chomping on popcorn, may smell of cologne, or who knows what, and sometimes talking in their "outside" voices, but when Will said yes, I agreed that it was a good opportunity. This isn't just any movie. I'm betting if we had been asked to go when the tickets were originally purchased, we probably would have declined. We were both glad we went. Is there a lesson here? Probably not!

The Paramount is an old theater built in 1931 and renovated in 1973. Even the outside marquee is beautiful.

We took BART up there. The BART station left us off across the street from the theater.
When this movie is on TV I never watch it. I've seen it many times, and since I don't have great recall after I see movies, it's apparent I must have seen it many more times than I remembered because I knew MANY of the lines and song lyrics! When it's on TV it's easy to walk away and say "I'll watch next time" but on the big screen, it's really cool.

There was some idiot sitting two rows in front of us who was recording part of it on his phone or mini-video recorder (just like the Seinfeld episode). It was fun watching with an audience of about 3,000. People clapped at parts, booed the wicked witch, and occasionally recited specific words, such as "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" - one of my favorites!

When we got home we had to do some "maintenance" on Alex. This is where one of us holds him down and the other helps him clean up with a wet paper towel or rag. I am the holder,and I was holding his head and front paws rather well, or so I thought, until he got those hind legs going and nailed me between my thumb and index finger, which hurts A LOT! It doesn't hurt this morning, but at the time, it was enough to make me not want to see Alex for awhile. He's still a little stinky this morning. He may need a sanitary shave like his "brother" Ziggy got a few months ago. TMI? Too much information? Probably, but it's my blog and I'll post what I want to. Wasn't that a song?

It's hard to believe that both of these cute kitties (who love it if they can get onto our bed and settle before we make the bed, and love it even more on days we don't make the bed) have nailed me but good with their sharp claws.

In case you're wondering, that's Alex on the left, and Ziggy on the right. It's RARE that they are together like this, but more common lately, and even rarer that both have their faces toward me and their eyes open. Is it Christmas?
We stayed up past midnight last night. Can we do it again tonight?

Happy New Year to my many readers. LOL! OK, Happy New Year to my 5 readers! May there be peace, prosperity, good health, and happiness in 2011.

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.