Nature is uplifting. Full of grace. Unconditional love. This photo (my favorite this week) is my contribution to Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.  Her weekly meme asks participants to share photos to three prompts.  The prompts this week are:  1) Starts with U  2) Week's Favorite  3) Nature To join in (it's open until Sunday evening) and/or to check out other participants, click here .

The clouds last Saturday were simply amazing. I saw various shapes floating through the sky. This spectacular cloud reminded me of an animal. I just can't figure what kind.  See its little ears sticking up, its eye, and its snout. What do you think? This photo (my favorite this week) is my contribution to Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.  Her weekly meme asks participants to share photos to three prompts.  The prompts this week are:  1) Starts with S  2) Week's Favorite  3) Amazing To check out what others are sharing and/or to join in the fun, please here .   

The cues: 1) Starts with R   2) Week's favorite   3) Black and/or orange Raindrops grace a bare rose plant in the front yard. Leaves turn color on it, too.  Click. That's my favorite shot to share in this week's Friday's Hunt , hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills. Click here to see what other participants have posted. 

Late Friday night, we had our first rain. I don't think it rained too long, but it was enough to give us that shiny wetness the next morning. As I'm writing, I hear the plunkity-plunk of the rain on some part of the roof,  the swissshhhh! of water as cars drive by, and the general gentle fall of the rain.  This is our first rainfall since May. Hurrah! I'm linking up today with All Seasons , a weekly meme hosted by blogger friend Jeanette. Click here to check out her post and the link that leads other participants in the meme. You have until Wednesday, if you'd like to join in.

Two of Mama's apple trees are producing quite a lot of fruit this year, unlike the past two or three years. Some of you already know about the story of her apple trees. So, please bear with me as I say again that the Mama's apple trees started from seeds of apples that the Mama ate about 28 years ago. The Mama was told: "They'll never grow into trees."   "They'll never bear fruit."   "You won't be around long enough for the trees to grow and bear fruit." Ha. Ha. And, Ha! The Mama tasted many years worth of apples from her trees. Today begins a new round of the alphabet at ABC Wednesday , a delightful weekly meme started by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and continuing under the administration of Roger Green and his ABCW team.  Click here to join in or to check out what bloggers are writing about the letter A .

This morning I plucked the orange cherry tomatoes in the photo from the limbs of Jo . Yes, those are tiny orange tomatoes. When the first ones ripened, I wondered why they weren't getting red. It's a good thing the short-term memory box of mine kicked in before the fruits dropped off their branches. Led Zeppelin and Valerie are producing fruit, too. Barely. They're bravely keeping their tiny fruit going. I haven't been very good about remembering to water the trio, especially during the hot days. When I do water them, I don't promise that I'll be better about the task. I hate breaking promises. The yellow fruit in the photo are Asian pears, which are from our small tree.  It has produced a big crop this year because of the winter rains. I'm picking the fruit as they ripen. I wish the Mama was here to enjoy them. I'm sharing today's post at Seasons , a fun weekly meme hosted by Jeanette of St Germain's Blog . Please click here to join in

Photos for this week's Friday's Hunt , hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills , include: • Starts with T • Week's favorite • Evening   My favorite photo is of the three different types of tomato plants that are now residing together in my first veggie garden in a long time.  Meet Jo, Led Zeppelin, and Valerie, from left to right.  Jo is already sporting a tiny tomato. Yaay! Led Zeppelin is quite a survivor, having almost dried up. And, Valerie is a volunteer and quite a fuzzy gal. The three amigas are nightshade plants. Nightshade, evening. Close enough.    To join in on the fun and/or see what photos other participants are sharing, please click here . 

When Molly the Cat and I opened the curtains in the living room this morning, the first thing we noticed was the puddle of water on the patio. "Look, Molly! It rained during the night." Noticing the white petals in the puddle, I glanced up at the apple tree. "Apple blossoms!" Molly the Cat looked out the window, posed in her So are we going outside to explore further stance. She didn't seem as pleased about the apple blossoms as the Mama and the Husband did when I told them. It may be a good year for apples from that tree, which the Mama planted from seeds 28 years ago. I'm hooking up with Seasons , a new weekly meme hosted by Jeanette at St Germain's Blog. Click here to check out other participants.

Heartily, I say. Rain. We have been getting lots of heavenly rain since March began and it ought to continue through the whole month. It surely is helping the lessening (such a word?) of our drought. Blue skies. The kind that comes after a rain. Delightful. Fruit trees in bloom. Beautiful! Totally.  That's the Asian pear tree in the Mama's backyard.  If all goes well, we many have another good crop this year.   And, green! It's emerald green all over. We truly are blessed. Today, I'm sharing with Our World Tuesday and a new meme called Seasons , hosted by Jeanette at St. Germain's Blog.  Take a look at both, why don't you?

Hello Singular Live Oak Tree, So huge, so healthy, and so handsome! Thank you for helping make sweet oxygen for us as we walked through the Elkhorn Slough Reserve National Estuarine Research Reserve . It's the letter H at ABC Wednesday . Thank you, ABCW team!

The dog looked so happy fetching a red ball.  Its owner looked quite happy, too, throwing the red ball and getting it back. Ruff ruff! Check out what's going on in other parts of the world at Our World Tuesday .   

Simply wonderful and marvelous. See you tomorrow.

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. 

The items for this week's Friday Hunt, hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills are: 1) Starts with D. 2) Week's favorite. 3) Beautiful. For me, they all came together in this reflection of tree branches in a puddle of water near our public library. I didn't find anything I wanted to read in the New section. Any disappointment I had was quickly wiped out when I saw this reflection. To check out other Friday Hunt participants, click here . If you'd like to join the hunt, you have until Sunday evening to link up.

Rain warms my heart. Big time! After four years of drought, the rain we've been having nearly every week, and sometimes several days in a row, is wonderful. We won't know until April (perhaps) if this El Niño weather pattern will break the drought. Knock on wood. As you can see, the rain has brought our lawn back. The Mama is happy about that. I'm heading over to link up with Warm Heart Wednesday , the meme hosted by the lovely Jenny Matlock. Want to join in and/or read what other participants have written? Click here .

I love these pretty pink daisies of the Mama's. They're so hearty. They've made it through the frosty mornings and now they're bouncing happily under the steady rain we're having.  It's time for Our World Tuesday . Click here to join the meme and/or check out what's going on with participants in other parts of the world.

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.

I'm participating in a new meme called Friday's Hunt , which is hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills . You can link up until Sunday, in case you're wondering if I know what day it is. If you'd like to join in and/or check out other participants, click here (after you read my post, I hope.) A is for Artichokes I'm used to seeing fields of artichokes near the coast. So, it's very strange to see them growing in our area, which is about 40 mile from the coast. I wonder if the artichokes taste any different. Week's Favorite Yesterday, the Husband, the Mama, Molly the Cat, and I received a trés cool gift from Cousin Kuting (which means tiny and cute in Ilocano). It's a large sturdy canvas bag perfect for everything that needs being carried. Molly the Cat sniffed it, which I take to mean that perhaps if need be she would jump into it and be smuggled into somewhere that we need to be secretive about. But, that's not the neatest part about the bag

To celebrate the last Tuesday of the year, I'm hooking up with Our World Tuesday , a weekly meme hosted by Lady Fi, Gattina, Sylvia, Arija, Sandy, and Jennifer. To check out other participants, as well as to join in, click here .

I took this photo of a nearly full moon on Christmas Eve, then cropped and added art filters in Photoshop.