It's not my birthday. It feels like it though.   Today, the Husband and I drove over to Freedom to buy food for Molly the Cat. Our task was done quicker than we estimated, so we headed down the road to Watsonville to visit the art store and bookshop before lunch. I'd only planned to buy a couple of new colored pencils at Wild Rose's Artists' Supplies and Custom Framing , but you know how it goes. I checked out the shop's art paper. Marbled paper. Oooooh. Wavy, corrugated paper. Gotta have that. Small rectangle-shaped suede paper. 25 cents, sold! My plan is to make masks. Yup. At Crossroads Books , I bought a mystery called Shaking in Her Flip-Flops . Can't go wrong with a title like that.  Another neat thing about the book is that it's written by Joyce Oroz, an author who lives in nearby Aromas . The Husband and I also decided to purchase a copy of The 2016 Farmer's Almanac . That's always fun reading. To top off getting all this coo

The big news is that it has been raining today. Those glorious drops of water on the Mama's rose are raindrops. Hurrah! Showers were steadily beating the rooftops and roads between very early this morning (maybe 1:00 a.m.) and just before noon.  It looks like more rain is on the way. Maybe even a thunderstorm or two.  Whoo-hooo! I got happily soaked twice, once walking around the neighborhood, taking photos. As I was bending down by a gutter taking photos, a  driver at the stop sign called over to me, "Are you okay?" It took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me. I stood up and turned, pointing to my camera, "I'm fine. I'm taking photos." He laughed. "Thanks very much," I said. He waved and drove away. The second time was a quick dash over by bicycle to the godmother. When I left her house, I felt like bicycling more in the rain. I was good and whooshed straight home. The Mama said it the best about our good fortune today, &q

"You have beautiful earrings," I said to the woman in the grey coat walking beside me. I was going with the flow of the crowd checking out the various food booths and trucks at yesterday's San Benito Olive Festival in our county. "Thank you," the woman replied, stopping to give me a better look at her earrings, so I thought. They were dangling earrings in an intricate delicate design with tiny balls hanging at the top and bottom. They had an East Indian look to them. As she was telling me how she had a lot of earrings that her relatives gave her she began to take one earring off. I figured for me to look at the lovely design closer. Some women do that—take off an earring to show another woman who is admiring them. I've done it myself. Why do we do that? I don't know. She handed me both earrings, which startled me. I studied them. "Gorgeous," I said, as I handed them back. She did not take them. "They're yours," she said

"And that's how our generation does it!" exclaimed one of the rocking band members, who was in his early to mid-60s. "Whoooo-hoooo!" shouted the Husband and I, clapping wildly on the dance floor. We'd been dancing our hearts, souls, and bodies out for the past three hours to soul, funk, and good old rock 'n roll. That last dance—Johhny B. Goode. Whooo-hooo! Most of the evening, we shared the dance floor with a few other old fogeys and one younger couple who had sweet technical dance moves. During the last hour, young men and women of the reunion Class of 2005 streamed into the lounge. But, it was not until the last two songs that they had enough liquid courage to get out on the dance floor, and finally get into the music of their grandparents generation.  What a fun night! The band even dedicated a song to me— Cinnamon Girl . First time, ever. 

We will celebrate the Mama's 90+4 birthday by eating chicken feet, fried shrimp with heads, chow mein, sesame balls, and whatever else suits the Mama's fancy, while we watch Shirley Temple movies. And, when she says "Let's take a break," she will probably go into her garden and plant a few flowers. I love the Mama. I am sharing the Mama with Our World Tuesday . 

The Husband and I are wandering around today celebrating his birthday. Whoot! Whoot! Whoot! This song is is for him. My answer, of course, is: Yup. Always!

"Hello!" called the Husband. "Are you in there?" Giggle. Today, I'm linking up to the NatureFootstep Catching Light meme. To visit other participants, please click here .

My  ABC Wednesday   theme:  The Mama and Her Authentic Green Thumbs. . .and Fingers It may not look like the Mama is smiling, but she is. She's happy as a lark in the photo. Pourquoi? One reason is that at the time I snapped the camera, it was raining cats and dogs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was indeed standing in the rain and grinning ear to ear. Rain, as I've said over and over, is scarce in our part of the world. Prepping camote (yam) stems for her vegetable garden was another reason the Mama was gleeful. The previous day, the Husband and I bought her four bunches of camote leaves at the farmers' market.  She had been snipping away for about half an hour before the first raindrops plopped on her colorful clothes. While I was dancing in the rain, the Mama was dancing inside the shed. Not physically doing the cha cha, but mentally. Just look at the sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her lips. Instead of cooped up in the house, the Mama was sitting snug an