"You're looking mighty polite and pretty," I said to the clump of Jupiter's Beard. "What gives?" No answer. What would I do if any of the Jupiter's Beard spoke? I did wonder if the Jupiter's Beard was looking nice for the nearby sunflower that's in bloom. Last week or so I pulled out weeds around the sunflower. I'm glad I didn't pull it out. Talk about a late bloomer. I sowed sunflower seeds in this particular part of the yard last Spring. A few sprouted, a couple bloomed. This one stubbornly hung on until it did its thing a few days ago. How cool is that!  There's another, smaller, sunflower growing beside this guy. Also a survivor from last year. Will it bloom? We shall see.  Today, I'm linking up with Mosaic Monday . Check it out here .

Here's how it once was: When all I wanted to see was a blurry world, I took off my eyeglasses.  Here's how it is now: I put on my eyeglasses.  That's all I got today. For more photo collages by some cool bloggers, check out Mosaic Monday . 

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

  "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

This mosaic is a set of photos I took around the house in November. The photos with the orange persimmon leaves were done around sunset. For mosaics by other bloggers, check out Monday Mosaic.  

"Let's make valentines for our friends," I said. "Okay," he said. Have we started? No. #1 Am I becoming Mama? As I pulled out the pit from the avocado, I noticed that it had sprouted. It gave out vibes like it wanted to grow, to become a tree.  Our avocado tree began bearing fruit about 10 years ago, more or less. Mama planted seeds throughout the backyard and many (if not all!) of them sprouted. After Mama's Spirit soared into the Universe, I pulled out over 20 avocado plants in the yard, including a couple growing among the roses. Ouch! Yeah, I saved the avocado pit. It's nesting on top of a potted plant on the kitchen counter. If it grows, it grows. It's time for Mosaic Monday , a weekly meme hosted by Angela of Letting Go of the Bay Leaf . It's a cool meme and blog to visit.

The rosemary in the front yard is in bloom. Delightful! This is the second winter that I've noticed the rosemary plants in full flower. If I'm remembering correctly, the plants didn't bloom in the winter when they were under Mama's care. I wonder if I've thrown their blooming cycle out of whack because I don't trim nor prune them as often or as short as Mama did. Not that it matters. The rosemary plants can bloom anytime they want. The bees and hummingbirds are enjoying the flowers as much as we are.  Hello Mosaic Monday !  

  “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”  ~ Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Good cheer, Friends, One and All!   It's time for Mosaic Monday . Thanks to hostess Angie of Letting Go of the Bay Leaf .

 Sweet Pea Song, my computer, is whining loudly. She's quite hot to the touch. At least we're not in Death Valley right now. Weather experts say it's 130 Fahrenheit. Ouch! In our neck of the woods, the temperature has inched up to 102 Fahrenheit. Seven degrees less than yesterday's high point. Hopefully, that's the highest it gets around here for the rest of the year. Tomorrow, the temperatures ought to start dipping  into the 90s and  stay that way for the rest of the week. Yippiee! The heat has kept me indoors. So, I've been playing with new things. Embroidering (kinda), for one. I drew an elephant on what was once the bodice of Mama's dress and outlined it in green backstitches and regular stitches.  This is my first piece since I was 9 or 10. I finally have the patience and attention span to keep on practicing hand and embroidery stitches. So I think. Back in February, I bought a set of watercolor paints. On Saturday evening I started playing with them.

I read that morning glory blooms last one day, hence the sweet flower's name. Well, then, I shall stop complaining about how quickly the new kind of morning glory I sowed this year fades away. Isn't it gorgeous, oh so frilly pretty in pink?  By the way, do you see a face in the morning glory? I see a couple.  In the above color photo, when I focus on the slit,  which looks like an eye, I see a lion's face.  Now, in the black and white photo below, I see a profile of a face looking to the left in that bottom petal. Anyone else see a chin and mouth?   Do you see faces in flowers, clouds, trees, and other objects? There's a name for that ability. It's called pareidolia. There are times when I'd rather not see faces in things, especially when they're spooky.  I'm sharing with Mosaic Monday today. Yes, I know it's Tuesday. :-)  

Zip, rip. Wrap. Zip, rip. Wrap. "That looks like fun," said the Husband. "Want to make one?" See the yellow butterfly in the above photo mosaic. That's the Husband's creation. I love it when the Husband plays artsy-crafty with me. Over the past few months, we transformed hangers and colored and patterned tape into four butterflies. The fourth butterfly was shy about getting its photo taken. We think it may be hiding near the back fence. I thought it would be cool to hang butterflies around the backyard. I was done after making three. I still have a lot hangers. What to do with them? What to do? A PLYWOOD BOARD Who has made a desk by setting a solid piece of plywood (or door) over two file cabinets (or something like that)? My canvas of a plywood board was once my desk top when the Husband and I lived in the big city area almost two decades ago. Pshew, wow. I wrote a whole bunch of good stuff on that desk. Before being my desk, the plywood board was the

A red leaf. I forgot everything else I saw yesterday morning. The first sunflower in bloom. The wispy pink and white morning glories. The white African daisy with its dark purple center. The red leaf. Fall in summer. "Hey!" said the sunlight. Red leaf in bright light. Red leaf in some light. Red life in shade. "Hey!" said the sunlight. When I previewed the photos on the computer I saw it then. Had I looked away? Had I blinked? A shiny black bug on the red leaf. Where did it come from? A black-and-white map? An overview of a terrain of some sort? For reconnaissance? A red leaf. It's Mosaic Monday , so I thought I'd try something different today.  Good cheer, Everyone!

1. Have you ever had a vacation ruined by the weather or did you just work around it? A change of weather is part of the adventure. My body still recalls the warm happy drenching from a passing rain cloud while waiting for a bus east of Waikiki. 2. What small changes do you feel people could make to give the planet a fighting chance against global warming? I would've thought after 50 years, we have this down: Plant trees and vegetation; purchase appliances, vehicles, and machinery that are environmentally friendly; conserve natural resources; recycle, reuse, repurpose. 3. Are you adversely affect by the weather, such as SAD? I'm not aware of anything.  4. How is the weather where you are and have you seen drastic changes in it during your life time? Dry. If it weren't for the coastal weather drifting through a low mountain range, probably 80s would be unbearable.  It rained more around here when I was a kid. I think the change in weather is mostly due to huma

LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color suggested I give Sunday Stealing a try.  It's a weekly meme, hosted by Bev Sykes, that comes up with a different list of fun questions, from elsewhere on the Internet, every Sunday. I think of it as answering surveys in magazines, once upon a time. So, here I go with this week's questions. 1. If you could be a Muppet, which would you be? The Muppets came along when I wasn't watching TV, but I did get hooked on the Muppet Babies. Among the babies, I would be Skeeter. She didn't get much play on the show, but from what I saw, the girl had a lot of gumption and moxie. 2. Why is a chicken crossing the road in the first place? To see how a cow is out standing in its field. 3. What's your favorite muscle? Heart or brain? Brain or heart? Without the heart pumping away, the brain can't live so I'll go with the heart. 4. Cheerios or Rice Krispies? Snap, crackle, pop, please. 5. Is summer ever going to get here

   "Have we seen this movie before?" I asked the Husband. "This looks familiar." "I don't think so. But it seems like I've seen this scene, too." Two weeks later, more or less, another movie. Said the Husband, "We already saw this movie." "We saw the documentary about his life. But it does seem like we saw something else." "This movie." It turns out the Husband and I had seen the first movie, Olive Kitteridge but not the second one, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . Two thumbs up for both of them. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Missy Molly the pinky-nosed (wild) Cat sleeps anywhere she wants.  So, I shall tiptoe over to Mosaic Monday .