Did you ever see the movie Up , the animated movie about the old man who ran away by tying balloons to his house and flew to a waterfall in South America? He and his companion, a stowaway Cub Scout, met a mechanical dog by the waterfall. The very intelligent speaking dog got sidetracked every so often by squirrels and when he thought he saw one, he'd suddenly turn and say, "Squirrel!" Well, that's me. 

Boing! Boing! Boing! Its boingness is more so since I only drink it now and then. Boing! Boing! Boing! Yesterday was my day of Boing! I brewed coffee for the Mama, the Husband, and me to sip as we ate old-fashioned doughnuts. Yummmmmmm.  Boing! It's the letter B on ABC Wednesday , the weekly meme started by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and continued today by Roger Green and his ABC Wednesday team. Click here to participate and/or to check out other participants.

Ilocano is the Mama's primary language. It was the Daddy's as well. Ilocano is one of the languages of the Philippines. I'm one of those second-generation people who can understand their parents' primary language proficiently but is a doofus when it comes to speaking it. I don't even think I spoke it before I went to school, which was probably because the Only and Older Brother was already in school when I came along. Because we've lived with the Mama for over 12 years, I've gained back much of my comprehension skills. It's a good thing. As the Mama has gotten older, she is speaking more in Ilocano without realizing it. Her hearing is pretty bad, which has me thinking that a lot of the time English sounds like jibber jabber to her. I've started using a word or two of Ilocano, when I can think of it. Of course, my Ilocano also sounds like jibber jabber to her. Doesn't matter. Broken Ilocano talk, here I am.   Adda iti kayat mo? Is ther

One of the things Molly the Cat likes to check out when she goes out to the backyard is a bucket full of water that sits next to the patio. I wonder if she sees what I see in the bucket. Today I'm participating in Our World Tuesday . Click here to join in and/or to see what's going in other parts of the world.

The Husband and I made a special trip to Monterey last week so I could spend the birthday money the Mama gave me for someting pretty to wear. I was hoping to find a new top or two in Macy's. No such luck. Nearly everything was made out of flimsy, slick-like fabric. It reminded me of polyester from the 1960s and 1970s. The few things that I did like were too expensive even at 50% off. For instance, I saw a bohemian (aka hippie) style tunic that was cute, but at the original price of $200+, no thank you. I checked out a couple of other women's apparel shops in the mall. Zilch. About two hours later, I met the Husband at our meeting spot. We sat on a bench and enjoyed the warmth of the day for a long while before we headed back into Macy's to buy us some bed sheets. We found a package of 700 thread count sheets for half off, about $60. A great deal. The cashier made it even a better bargain by giving us an extra 10% from a newspaper advertisement. "Thank you," I

2016 is hours away  (on our side of the world). Let's greet the New Year with wonder and cheer! Love ya all, Su- sieee! Mac The Husband The Mama Molly the Cat 

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” ~Anonymous, Greek proverb I read that Greek proverb this morning on Facebook. It reminded me of the Daddy when he planted peach, pear, apple, persimmon, cherry and fig saplings around the backyard of his and Mama's house. "These trees are for the grandchildren," he said. I recall thinking how lucky those kids would be to climb the trees. The Mama moved before the Only and Older Brothers' kids were old enough to try them out. I like to think that other kids did. The proverb also had me thinking of the Mama and her wonder of planting the apricot and avocado seeds from the fruit that we've harvested from her trees. This year two of the second generation apricot trees bore fruit. I have no doubt that all the other apricot and avocado trees will do the same one day. It'll be one crazy fruit forest out in the backyard when the trees grow up. I love that my par

Beyond what we can see is the universe. Who else got goosebumps? See you tomorrow with Jane Austen, Action Doll.

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.