Knock, knock. "Please enter," said Judge Jennifer, hanging up her judicial gown. "That was quite a jaded case," Agathe the Aardvark said from the doorway. "You must be exhausted. We can do our jaunt another day." "The walk will do me good," the jack rabbit said. "Just let me get my camera and phone and I shall be ready to go. Will Filemon be joining us?" "He'll meet us at the meadow. He said he'll jet about and try to locate the tree before we get there." "That jocular flying squirrel," jested Jennifer. Agathe giggled, then said, "Filemon does have a way of forgetting a job once he's in flight." The walk from the courthouse to the meadow took longer than usual, but neither friend minded the slow pace at all. Agathe snacked on ants or termites that she found while Jennifer snapped photos of jackals drilling the street with jackhammers, juvenile jaguars jumping into a jeep, a Jesu

We invite you to jump for joy with us on our wedding day, Wednesday, June 27, 2018, at the Honalee Bay Aquarium! Infinitely, Winnie & Thomas "Hey, Iago! I see you got your invitation," called Guy A. Gator to the iridescent iguana basking in the sun on the immense igneous boulder. Iago opened one eye to watch his alligator friend indolently swagger towards him, clutching the heart-shaped invitation in his mouth. "Going, are you?" "Indubitably," Iago answered somewhat indifferently. The iguana half-listened to Guy's incessant chatter. Iago yawned, idly gazing at the horizon. His eyes widened. He sat up straighter. Edwina the Egret , his imagined love, soared in the near distance. Iago's heart beat faster as he watched the ingenious creature glide to a stop beside Guy. "I figure since Thomas and Winnie are vegetarians, I'd grill their favorite veggies and cook them into my famous gumbo for the reception,&quo

Molly has asked that I tell you about her satisfying and satisfactory Sunday morning, and before breakfast, too. Molly and I were deadheading daisies in the front yard. Molly is the supervisor, in case you're wondering. About 20 minutes into clipping soggy dried daisy heads (we had rain—yay!) I glanced up to see Molly sitting with her body tensely taut and intently watching the flamingo. From my angle, Molly and the faded artificial bird seemed to be in a stare down. Five minutes later, I noticed that Molly had moved halfway closer to Albert. That's the flamingo's name I've decided. Three minutes ticked by: Molly was in stealth hunter's mode. She quickly and quietly tiptoed around me and crept into the bushes to (no doubt) ambush Albert from behind. I wonder who was surprised more—Albert or Molly. That was not the end to Molly satisfactory morning adventure. No m'ams and sirs. Ten minutes later, I was planting tiny daisy branches (in hopes they'll grow

"Hello, Hazel here," said the happy-go-lucky hammerhead shark into her phone. "Winnie! How are you? What's happening?" "Is that Winnie? Is it true about her and Thomas?" called Davey from across the dressing room. She and her brothers Dicky and Danny swam over and hovered closely by. "Hopping high, you say. . .Huh, say that again? The Daffodils are being quite hyper right now. . . "We are not!" said Danny, splashing a bit huffily.   "Shhh," Dicky said to his brother. "Hoooo Hooo Hoooo!" Hazel turned to the triplets. "Winnie and Thomas are getting hitched." "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" Hard pounding knocks on the dressing room door hushed the performers. Through the door, they heard "Five minutes to show time!" "Winnie, we are so very happy for you!. . .Can you hear the Daffodils? They're all heedless with joy. . . Honey, the show is about to start. Let me call . . .Really? You w

    Note: That's the French pronunciation of Guy, said like ghee, a kind of clarified butter. That said, on with this week's tale for ABC Wednesday. * * * "Guy, you'll tear that guide yet," said Ghandi the Gamekeeper, glancing over at Guy A. Gator the Grill Chef, who was whipping not-so-gladly through Gator Cuisine . Ghandi laid a three of hearts down on his game of solitaire. Guy slapped his hand on a page so vehemently the gin-mill of a bar went silent for a glued second. Guy growled. Or, was it more of a groan? "Look at this!" Ghandi leaned over the gator's shoulder and read aloud, "The Greatest Gator Gumbo!" Ghandi grazed Guy's shoulder lightly and gingerly, so the big guy knew that the giraffe was in his corner. "Humans and their follies," said Ghandi. The two good friends raised their glasses in the air, took a long gulp of martini, gibbered, then sighed. "Today, a human wanted a special order of ga

Filemon the Flying Squirrel fixed his goggles fairly on his face. He took a few deep breaths to steady his fraught nerves. Really, truly, he repeated to himself, he had nothing to fear. So said his friends Bingo and Bubba Byrd who sat beside him. "Filemon, flying is what you are about," said Bingo, patting his shoulder. What if it isn't?" fretted Filemon. "Dude, you're feeling first-time jitters," Bubba said. "I was awfully fidgety before my first flight. But when I took my first hop into flight, oh my folly golly jolly. I was all fat smiles. My wings flung widely. I floated in sunshine. It was fantastic, Filemon!" Filemon found himself feeling quite calm. "Filemon! Filemon! Filemon!" The flying squirrel searched the ground below for the source of the faint cries. There, near the shoreline were his friends jumping up and down on the beach and waving funny red signs. "Filemon!" cheered Agathe the Aardvark .

While Molly was chewing on grass this morning, someone coasted to a stop in front of our house. Molly quickly came to attention.  She watched the woman park, get out of her car, and walk across the street. Midway, the woman turned back to her car. Molly, who probably thought the stranger was heading into our yard, zooooooooomed past me and into the house. So much for Molly the Guard Cat. I'm participating in a new linky part today. It's called Friday Photo Journal , hosted by Melissa at Serendipity is Sweet . Check it out here .  Thanks, Melissa!

On the 88th floor of the Earhart edifice, Edwina the Ecru Egret pressed the down button to the elevator. She was exhausted. She had spent the last hour consulting with a career expert. "You have enormous empathy for your fellow egrets," the counselor evoked enthusiastically. "You would excel exceedingly well in educational counseling." Edwina sighed. How could she help others when editing her own life was sometimes an elegiac effort? Perhaps she ought to be an eyelet punch operator. The elevator doors opened. "Edwina, my darling girl!" "Agathe!" the ecru egret exulted. "How was Europe?" The two old friends hugged and kissed. "Europe was enchanting," Agathe the Aaardvark exclaimed. "I must go pay this electrical bill. Could you wait for me? Maybe have lunch?" Edwina had no other engagement so Agathe expressed herself down the hall and was back at the elevator in no time at all. "I love your

"There are the Daffodils!" Bingo and Bubba darted above the dolphins. How the Byrd siblings love to visit with the triplets—Davey and her brothers Dicky and Danny—who dwell near the docks in the delta in December.  "Yi-haw!"   "Whooo-hooo!" Dicky and Danny dived out of the water in dizzy delight, nearly bumping into Bingo and Bubba. "Watch it, guys," drawled Davey. "You don't want to dump those Byrds into the drink." "We're practicing our disco moves," declared Dicky. Danny divulged how they were pretending to be John Travolta. "Delightful," said Bingo, dipping her wing in the air. "We'll join you." The Daffodils and the Byrds danced, danced, and danced some more. When they were done, they decompressed by the docks, sipping daiquiris and discussing the Byrd siblings' updates on Charlie the Camel and Agathe the Aardvark . As the Byrds departed home, the Daffodils called

"Caramba! The cable car bell ringing contest has already begun," called Bingo to Bubba . "It looks like Charlie's turn!" Bubba clamored. The Byrd siblings circled to the right, luckily finding an air current to coast quickly to Union Square. Clang! Clang-clang-clang! Clang-ity, clang clang, clang clang! Clllllaaaaangggg! Clang! The crowd roared their approval. Charlie the Camel blushed a crimson red, as he clip-clopped down the cemented sidewalk to the contestants' corner. "That was brilliantly cacophonous, Charlie!" exclaimed Bingo as she landed on his right shoulder. "Awesome, Dude!" said Bubba. "That was mighty crisp and clear. We could hear it from above the Courtyard Hotel." "Thank you, thank you," said Charlie, coyly covering his face with the charming beret that Agathe the Aardvark sent him from France. Bonne chance, mon ami, she wrote. Minutes later the winners of the annual San Francisco

"Bubba boy! Did you see me bear down over Broadway? I'm a natural barnstormer," boasted Bingo to her brother. Bubba, big-eyed and off-balanced, burped. Thank goodness for the sidewalk, no matter how bumpy his landing. Maybe he should've gone hiking with Agathe the Aardvark instead of buzzing around with Bingo. B is the theme for week two of Round 22 of ABC Wednesday . Check it out here . Thank you much, ABCW team!

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Crackle. Chirp. Chirp. Little brownish birds with yellow beaks landed on the persimmon tree branches above me. Hop, hop, hop. Chirp. Chirp. "Is it time for lunch?" I stepped away from the ladder. "Okay. I'll do something else until you're done." Right after the birds had their fill, the Husband came outside and he kindly picked a basket of persimmons for me. A wonderful day.

Caaa! Caaaa! Caaaa! We like sharing the persimmons with the crows and the other birds. Why not? I'm linking up at All Seasons , a weekly meme hosted by Jesh at Artworks from JeshStG. Click here to check out Jesh and click here to check out other participants.

These evenings, one of Molly the Cat's favorite perches, after consuming a bunch of dental treats, is her post that sits on top of a coffee table. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I think if the girl could talk, she'd tell me to stop with the camera already.  Murrrrrrrrrrrrrr.   It's the letter M at ABC Wednesday . Click here for more M posts. Thanks, ABCW team!

By golly! Miss Molly, whatever are you doing? As always, Molly the Cat ignored my question. I watched her jump into the pot, sniff as she turned 360 degrees inside it, then climbed so daintily out of it. Molly the cat and I were doing our morning round of the front yard. I was curious to see how well the plants fared in this morning's frost. A few plants in the shade sported soft ice similar to what's in a shaved-ice cone. What was Molly curious about? I saw two dove feathers near the tree, which means that a neighborhood cat successfully caught himself a bird that morning. Molly may have picked up his scent. She looked to have lost it a few feet from the flower pots. Life is good that I can start my day like this. I'm linking up today with All Seasons , a meme hosted by Jesh at Artworks from Jeshstg. Click here to join or  to check out other participants.

"We can't store the persimmons in the garage," I said to the Mama and the Husband at the lunch table one day. "There's an uh-toot ." The Mama laughed. "What's that?" the Husband asked. "A mouse," I said. Most likely I shuddered. Rodents give me the creeps.  " Uh-toot in Ilocano means mouse. Right, Mama?" " Uh-taut ," said Mama. "You have a funny pronunciation." " Uh-toot ," I said. " Uh-taut ." " Uh-toot ," said the Husband. "She's saying the same thing." The Mama smiled. " Uh-toot ," I said. "Be careful. If you say Ah-toot , you're talking about a fart." That conversation happened a few years back. Recently, I learned that the Ilocano word for mouse is bau , which I never heard the Mama or the Daddy use. I also found out that the spelling for fart is o-t-o-t.  The Mama considered mice as farts. Giggle. Toda

Yesterday afternoon, the Husband and I safely exited the highway onto a road that led us briefly through a magical eucalyptus forest. We zigged and zagged up hill and down dale along vaguely familiar roads to a small town where an artisan's holiday fair was happening. Shall we turn left or right? One way or the other we'd find our destination. We could've taken the direct route. But, where's the fun in that? We wouldn't have come across two young deer quietly and delicately making their way up a hillside. It was almost like they were holding their breath as they walked. Were they afraid we would see them? The Husband stopped the car and opened his window so I could quickly take a photo of the young deer. It wasn't until I was fiddling with this photo that I noticed a creature in the brush above him. At first I thought it was a bobcat or a coyote. Would the deer have gone so slowly if it was either creature?  It turned out it was another deer. I'

"You're a sweet cat," the Husband said. "I am not," said Molly the Cat. "Yes, you are." "I am not." "A very sweet kitty cat." "I am not! I'm a lion!"     "I'm a tiger!" "I'm a panther!"   "M-m-m-o-w-w-w-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!" "So there, Mister the Husband." Missy Molly by Golly and I are performing the letter P for ABC Wednesday . Giggle. Purrrrrrr.  Click here to visit more ABCW participants. Thank you, ABCW team!