I bought this painting for my birthday. Isn't  it darling? It was showcased in the recent children's art exhibition at our local art gallery.  The painting is based on the Pete the Cat books. Guess what books I'll be searching for when I go to the library. This cute painting was done by a class of transitional kindergarten (TK) students in Sunnyslope School, which is a couple of blocks from our house. That's where I went for fourth and fifth grades over 50 years ago. My gosh! The note attached to the painting says that the students used their thumbprints to create the flowers that Pete the Cat is enjoying.  So sweet.

My day 83 ride with Tilda-Hilda was yesterday. It was my birthday ride, from our house to my favorite coffee shop just over 13 miles away. Whoo-hoo! Starting off! We've done longer rides, but this is the first time I've ever pedaled Tilda-Hilda to San Juan Bautista, which I've been wanting to do for three years. I was hoping to accomplish my goal this past August, but my knees got all whiny and worrisome. For about four months, we mostly pedaled around our neighborhood and it wasn't until the end of November that I ventured out and about. Although I only worked up to a few miles per trip, I decided last week to simply do this ride on my birthday, if the weather is good (no rain nor thick fog) and my knees are in good order. Looking back from whence we came: The highway we crossed at the end of the field. I admit I was a bit scared leading to yesterday, although I have often driven the path I would be taking. I would be crossing a highway, which worried

Just before we turned off the lights last night, the Husband and I were talking about something that reminded of something else that I thought would be fun to write about today. I always like when that happens. This morning, I woke up thinking about what I wanted to write. But, I couldn't recall. The Husband couldn't remember either. I figure the thought would pop up by lunchtime. It didn't happen. Nor, did the thought reveal itself after lunch. Still, I wrote about something. Ha! See you tomorrow.

This evening I will step out of my comfort zone when the Husband and I pull up to the local country club for dinner. I would think that by now I wouldn't be silly about such things. After all, we've been there for breakfast, a drink at the bar, and a special event. But, dinner. This will be a first. I definitely want to go to dinner, as it's the club's prime rib buffet with several yummy choices of dessert. I've been craving prime rib for a long time. Plus, one of our favorite bands will be playing. I'm interested to hear what they'll play for dinner music. Some Frank Sinatra? Lawrence Welk? The Husband said go look at the band's website for a sample of songs they might play. Wowza! How am I going to eat my dinner if I'm bopping in my seat along to "Mack the Knife," "Girl from Ipanema," or "Lonely Bull." There, I feel a little bit better.  I think I'll wear my yellow or sparkly purple Converse shoes in case

I've been seeing a lot of yellow vehicles lately—yellow sedans and sports cars, school-bus-yellow RVs and trucks, and bright-yellow vans and motorcycles. Yellow must be the new popular choice. I like that. My first car was a lemon-yellow 1971 Dodge Colt.  That was my high school graduation gift. I fell in love with it, at first sight. There were two colors available, and the Daddy liked the other one, which color I no longer remember. He was a great sport and let me have the yellow Colt. I think the Mama was disappointed that I didn't want some kind of flashy, sporty, or more feminine-looking car. The Daddy seemed to have no problem with the Colt being a boxy subcompact, as it ran perfectly and it was new. (The Daddy liked buying new vehicles.) It was also cheap. Very cheap, as I was happy with no radio, no air conditioning, no anything extra. Emeline is what I called her. We definitely had some great adventures. The first was learning how to drive her. She was a stick s

Consumers be alert! This afternoon,  I shopped for the Godmother at the pharmacy, as there werelLots of things on sale that she wanted—cereal, instant coffee, vitamin D3, and more. The vitamins were not on sale, but it still was cheaper than the similar item that was on sale. Pretty good. After I left the counter, I checked the receipt. Something didn't feel right. I thought the price on the coffee was wrong. It was correct. But the price for the vitamins was wrong. The cash register rang it up as $24.99. The tag on the shelf said $14.99. I brought everything back to the counter and told another clerk (because the first clerk was gone) about the difference. Huh? The clerk looked at me blankly. So, I told him I'm going back to check the tag again. He told me that if the tag said what I thought it said,  then I should bring the tag back. Ha! I was correct. The second clerk checked the tag. "Okay, we'll give you a refund," he said and handed it over to the

The last several days have been wonderful for the Husband and me. Yup.  Lots of activity—walking, talking, being with great friends, talking, enjoying relatives, talking, eating yummy food, talking, discovering new places, talking, meeting new people, talking, seeing a high school play, laughing, talking, and much, much more. I'm pooped.

I don't care what the movie reviewers say, I like Rock the Kasbah , the latest Bill Murray film. One reviewer, who began his review by saying how much he liked Murray, panned the movie because Murray was in nearly every scene. Hello. Murray was the main character. The story was about his journey. Duh? Maybe some reviewers couldn't handle Kate Hudson's character, Merci, a sultry, golden-hearted prostitute, in love with Bill Murray's character, Rich, an older, down-on-his-luck music promoter. Why not? The pairing reminded me of Goldie Hawn and Walter Matthau in Cactus Flower . Matthau's craggy look was quite handsome in my eyes. Perhaps the reviewers couldn't believe the story taking place in Afghanistan. That it was really quite a stretch to have Murray play someone who was able to persuade an Afghan American Idol -like show to let a young woman from a small remote village sing on national television. Or, maybe the reviewers felt it was too unbelievable f

Red Pallets Zipping Down the Highway . Sounds like a good title for something, don't you think? Yesterday morning, I saw a rig loaded with red pallets zipping past us at the traffic light. It was a poem in movement. "There goes a picture," I said to the Husband. "Too bad I didn't have my camera out." "What?" "That truck with the red thingies on them." "Those are pallets. What makes that a picture?" "Because they're red. How often do you see fire-red pallets? And, a lot of them piled high on the back of a truck?" About seven minutes later, the Husband said, "We're coming up to the red pallets." I fumbled for my purse, hoping the traffic lights up ahead would stay red. I got the camera out. The lights turned green. I rolled down my window. The husband pulled into the left lane to get around the truck.  I focused the camera. Oh well. I got a little bit of the red pallets, at least.

The fronds kind of form the letter E. Roger Green of Ramblin with Roger did this fun game for his post on ABC Wednesday some weeks back. When I read the post , I thought I'd like to do the game one day. You're in luck, this is the day. Directions of The Last Name Game: Use the first letter of your last name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up. 1. Last name?  Echaore-McDavid.  Yup. That's my legal surname. Some people file me under E, while others file me under M. 2. An animal? Ewok. Okay, that's made up. Or, is it?  Emu, then. 3. A boy’s name: Evan, the coffee guy at Vertigo Coffee who can make amazing designs on coffee drinks. 4. A girl’s name: Edith, as in Edith Bunker and Jenn's sister. 5. An occupation? Event Coordinator is a real job, which I think would be fun to do. My first thought though was an Eagle Tamer, which is probably not a real thing. 6. A color? Ecru.  Is th

I simply stood there, mesmerized by the yellow duckies floating in a carnival booth at the county fair. I had no idea what the game was. I didn't even care since it probably meant having to pay five bucks to play it. Then I noticed a guy taking a photo of the duckies and walking away.  So, of course, I took a photo. Quack! Quack! That reminds me of when I was younger thing. A friend and I paddled a patched up rubber raft in a rubber ducky race. We were fortunate to make it to finish line without sinking.

Over hurdles at the county fair, these sweet little cuties were. I was going to brag about my ribbons today. Napped instead. Whatever mild bug I caught several days ago is nearly gone. Maybe I'll show off tomorrow. 

My Alphabe Thursday theme: Places I've Been The Husband and I drove over to the coast this afternoon to buy food for Molly the Cat. It was something neither of us wanted to do, but Molly ate her last can of food this morning. Yes, we have a very particular cat. She would rather go hungry then eat something that doesn't taste or smell good to her. But, Molly the Cat is not the story today. The clouds are the story. They were swimming, running, tumbling, dancing, and singing across the perfect blue sky. You see, it rained last night. Hallelujah! It rained throughout the night. Whooo-hooo! And it rained some this morning. Yippee!   All that wonderful rain left us with clear blue skies and whipped-cream like clouds. And, because the Husband was driving, I took photos. I was good at first, sitting primly (I heard that snort of a laugh) in my seat shooting photos through the passenger window and the windshield.  Before I knew it, I was leaning out the window.

I didn't know cows ate pumpkins. I wonder if they might like pumpkin pie. Moooooooooooo.  Click here to check out what Tuesday's like for bloggers from around the world.

The Mama loved to sew dresses for me in pink when I was in elementary school. I didn't care too much for the color, but because I wasn't interested in looking at fabric back then, she bought what she liked. Long story short, once I got to a point where I began choosing materials or ready-made clothes, I avoided pink. Then somewhere in my late 40s, I thought the color pink is fresh. It's bold. It's got pizazz. It's joyful. It's happy. Again, long story short, I think I'll put some pink in the tunic I am going to sew soon.

Lately, I find myself whispering, "I'm an old person." I snicker. I chuckle. I laugh out loud. I shake my head. Am I not dreaming? I shake my head. I am in awe that I'm actually old. I shrug it off. I put it in perspective. The Mama is over 30 years older than me. And, you know where she is right now. Playing in her garden.

"I seem to be doing everything at the last moment," I said to the Husband, while we stood in line at the post office. I was sending a gift for a baby shower happening on Saturday. "Why is that?" he asked. I shrugged. "I don't know. I'll probably die at the last moment." "They'll ask you 'What happened?'" said the Husband. "'You should've been here last week.'" What can I say? That's life.

I walked into a woman's boutique shop in Santa Cruz to check out a very cute East-Indian style top that I saw in its window. It was similar to ones I wore when I was a very young thing. I thought if the cost was right it was going home with me. I was even willing to pay $45 for it, although I thought it was worth $20 bucks. I have no sense of how much clothing are worth these days. Twenty bucks was how much I paid for eccentric stuff, which the the parents called hippie clothes, at import shops when I was a very young thing. The East-Indian tops of yore were made of a thin cotton. This modern version was made of a smooth, rich-feeling fabric that turned out to be rayon. Not being silk, I figured the top would be very affordable. Then I finally found the price tag. One hundred ninety-eight dollars! Shall I say that again: $198.00!! Seriously. When I got home, I looked up the designer online. Maybe I'd find the top for cheaper. Ha! $218.00!!! I saw several

Molly the Cat is about to run out of food. That means we need to drive over to the coast today. Yay! It'll be a bit cooler. We've had two days of 100+ temperatures. Today is supposed to be the same. The weather guys say we may have a thunderstorm this weekend, possibly without the rain. Since we're over there, we'll also go on a quest for grass-fed beef liver for the Mama. Her doctor has been monitoring her blood count for the last few months. Yesterday, he finally got worried and has referred her to a blood specialist, which got Mama wanting to eat liver. She's willing to eat beef liver from any market. Not anymore for me. If we have time, I would like to stop at a Goodwill or another thrift shop to check out old, funky jewelry. I haven't found the beads I want for my county-fair bracelet entry. What kind of beads, the Husband asks? I shall know when I see them. Off we go!

This is making my day, big time. Hope it brightens yours. I have no idea who the creator. Who ever you are, Thank you!!!!