1. This morning I went all the way down the stairs on my feet, without a gasp or flinch from my knee. Yay! I had been making my way down on my butt. Thump. Thump. Thump.  2. The first morning I bumped down the stairs, Missy Molly the pinky-nosed (wilde) Cat tried to help me at one point. She actually got behind me and pushed on my back. Such a sweetie!  3. The Husband has been carrying and fetching stuff for me. He also reminds me to stop doing things I ought not to be doing.  I'm still not used to be taken care of. You'd think after three surgeries in the last four years, I would be.   4. Between the Husband and me, we have had six surgeries since Mama died in 2016. The Husband got a pacemaker, I had my reproductive system removed, and we both had cataract surgeries for our eyes.  5. Molly says don't forget me. "I was the first one to have surgery, miao, miao." Poor baby. She had dental surgery, a month after Mama's Spirit moved onward and upward.  Molly sp

March, march, march to my own drum. A congo drum, please. It's a gorgeous California no-rain-in-sight early Spring (late Winter, if you prefer) day. I would be playing outdoors in the dirt right now if I hadn't wrenched my good knee on Friday. Maybe wrenched isn't the correct word, but the pain certainly matches the word.   I stepped sideways on uneven ground in the front yard to show the Husband something when my left knee buckled. A chicken leg being snapped at its joint flashed through my head.  I am very glad to report that my sense of decorum and appropriate behavior are still intact: I did not scream out in pain nor utter a curse word for the whole street to hear. Indoors, another story. Before that all happened, I was playing in the yard, deadheading, raking, trimming, planting, and doing all kinds of fun things. At one point, a robin flew into the ornamental pear tree and we had a pleasant time hanging out. The robin even let the Husband join us. We wondered whethe

1. It's a gorgeous day. What mischief can I do today? 2. The lower end of the front yard is looking like a meadow. The first poppy showed itself yesterday.   3. The tree is an ornamental pear. About 20 years old, more or less, it is. It sheds leaves like crazy throughout the year. The last two weeks it has been snowing white blossoms. 4. I'm 10 days into a detox diet for eczema. The regiment is not so bad. No dairy, no gluten, no sugar, no caffeine, no no Nanette. I look forward to adding foods back.  5. A few days ago I decided to stop using the immunosuppressant ointment a dermatologist prescribed couple years ago. I had used it sparingly so hopefully the withdrawal symptoms won't be terrible. You should've seen how horrible my face looked when I stopped topical steroids.  6. Molly the pinky-nosed (wilde) Cat came home to live with us nine years ago.  The girl loves to stop and smell the flowers. 7. A load of laundry is in the dryer.  The Husband just came back from

Soon the view won't be so fair from this part of Fairview Road. Over 800 houses are in the process of being built there.  We've got developments growing all around our town. The not-so-affordable houses replace the orchards and truck farms. My stomach turns every time I drive by a development.

In good years, meaning non-drought ones, our hills are richly green. Hopefully, rain will come again before the month is up.

  "Toothbrush." I sat patiently for the Husband to open the package.  "Very hot water." I held up a metal bowl filled with cold water. "You'll have to throw that water out first." I must've looked quite vacant as I sat debating myself where to do that when the Husband offered me two options. I stood up. "Baking soda." The Husband poured the powder. "More, don't be stingy."  "Vinegar."   The task was done. We sounded like play surgeons. Just for the heck of it, I asked the Husband to pour baking soda into the two openings of the u-shaped pipe that was full of vinegar. Sizzzzzzzle. "Like a volcano," said the Husband.  This morning the Husband had to unscrew the pipe from the bathroom sink because the brush part of a paintbrush dropped into the drain while I was washing it. Oops.  It turned out the brush was still stuck in the drain, but with some pushing and pulling, it easily slid out. What became a bigger