Dear Blog, I did some good work in the yard this morning. I transplanted the last of the basil seedlings and three milkweed seedlings, pulled out the going-to-pot carnations, culling the freshest to propagate, and pruned an overgrown pink geranium plant, which cuttings I’ll plop into a row beneath the eating room. (Ha! I wrote a long complicated sentence intentionally. Did it work?)  While sorting the carnation branches, I spied a snail perched on a branch. The little fellow gave a great performance. Yep, I made a video of it making its way out of the raised bed that included going by, over, under, and around a dried avocado leaf.  Snail seemed to be booking it, sliding three minutes to travel 12 inches or so. “Come outside,” I said to the Husband from the screened patio door. “It’s beautiful. I’ve heard four different birds singing.” And, he did, sitting nearby perusing the Internet while I played with the plants. Every so often we chatted, we sang, we laughed. I have a wonde...

Dear Blog, I don’t consider the Husband and I looking like hippies when we were young. What do you think? Ding dong…. “Is this where Susie and Dick live?” asked new acquaintances of ours.  “No,” said the homeowner. “Would you know where they live? They’re having a party today.” “You mean the hippies,” said our neighbor. (I’ll imagine he pointed happily across the street.) When we heard the story, the Husband and I cracked up. It’s nice to know that we are perceived as being friendly, odd, nature-loving, loosey goosey, but responsible, type people.  Once upon a time, when I was a blossoming young woman (balasang in Ilocano), Daddy looked at me, said, “Don’t be a hippie,” and walked away. Hahahahahah. Truly yours,  Septuagenarian Barefoot Su- sieee !

Dear Blog, Yesterday morning, I had in mind to visit a museum in Santa Cruz, then I began moving a piece of furniture in the living room after which I discovered a brown water stain by the kitchen table that led to moving more furniture, along with dish ware, cookbooks, and big plants. Ouchy, Mama. Hmm, could be why I’m tired today. Fortunately the stain was caused by the overflow of water from the plants. I need to finder deeper planter saucers.  Before all this happened I was already in the motion of making pickled cucumbers. Eight pickling cucumbers yielded a small jar of relish, two jars of dill pickle spears, and a jar of bread-and-butter pickles. All first time things to try for me. I follow recipes for refrigerator storage because I don’t trust my ability to can them safely. Besides, how many pickles can we, two old fogeys, consume? The Husband was a willing participant to all of yesterday’s action. The old guy can still lift and nudge a heavy object into place with the skil...

It felt like Christmas in our garage today. Good friend L was putting up fiber optic trees and Christmas sculptures that she’ll be selling at our yard sale tomorrow. Sparkle, sparkle. She also made sure a bear and small reindeer were twinkling brightly. That was cool to see.  I generally don’t pay attention to the wintery holiday season until after my birthday, wouldn’t you? I’d rather have a birthday two weeks before Christmas than share the same day with a sibling. Or, maybe not. There could be joy in that, but more likely in another dimension for my brother and me. Nobody explained Christmas to me when I was a kid—why you put up a tree, give presents, and go to church at night, and so on. And, what was with that old man with the beard in the funny red suit prowling the five and dime store. Whenever I saw him coming my way, I quickly ducked away.  In first grade, I was assigned the role of Mrs. Santa Claus. How can you tell your teacher that you do not want to be Mrs. S...

I am grateful for being able to open the door and walk out into our backyard at any time of the day and night. I am grateful for being able to pluck a persimmon off our tree, wipe it on my sweater, and munch on it as I wander around the backyard looking for forgotten things that put together will become something else.  I am grateful for the Husband being the main dishwasher and coffee maker. I am grateful that we are able to afford the utility bill so we can turn on the heater during the chilly season. I am grateful that Daddy took the risk to sign a work contract with the Hawaiian sugar plantations and then decided to stay in Hawaii for a bit more (about 18 years) after his contract was over. I am grateful that Daddy chose to become a U.S. citizen when the government offered it to him and many other Filipinos who were serving in the U.S. military during WWII. I am grateful that Mama said “yes” to Daddy’s proposal of marriage and said “yes” to moving to the United State...

The Husband and I are saying today that tomorrow morning we will drive to a big box hardware store in the next town to purchase a washing machine. Ours no longer wrings out all the water from the clothes. After years of having a washer, we’re too spoiled to go back to lugging laundry to a laundromat. I’m 99.998% sure that we will actually buy a washing machine tomorrow, as well as stop by the post office, the bank, the tax collector’s office, and the library in town. We were going to do all that today, but I nixed that idea when I got inspired to work on a bunch of different projects in the yard, L Studio, and the upcoming yard sale.  So, did I work on any of those projects?  I finally moved boxes, which I put off for months, from the shed to the garage. I had to ask the Husband to come outside and be near the shed when I go in it. Just in case, I told him, a mouse lives in the shed. Shudder. It would probably be more like a rat but I don’t want to consider that. Nope. The Hus...

Two things I did today. One. The Husband and I took a short walk around the neighborhood. Yay! We included a slight hill to give us more of a challenge. Along the way I picked up a pine cone and clippings of California fuchsia to try to grow.  Two. I switched the drafting table and desk, which I use for the sewing machine, in L Studio. The drafting table sat in a corner, trapped by the ironing board, so the table was nothing more than a surface to hold stuff. Now that it’s accessible, I can do things again, such as lay out patterns and cut fabric with a rotary cutter. Simple pleasures.

  My wise Mama liked to say, “If something doesn’t work, oh well. Try again.”  And that was my aim throughout 2022, The Year of Experimentation.  Try this, try that. Give that a try. And, if a try doesn’t work, try another way. Try until I am satisfied and then give another way a try. Why not?  Here are some  highlights of my 2022:  1.  Paints poured and roared over paper, canvasses, and other surfaces. 2.  Beads and buttons and bits of jewelry were strung into sun catchers. 3. Fabric, paper, pictures, and etcetera were turned into cards, collages, calendars  hangings, and a headboard. 4. I got over my fear of sewing elastic, as well as practiced patience ripping out worn-out elastic from pants and skirts. 5. I got back into writing poetry . 6. I’ve opened the folders of an unfinished project I started, oh my gosh, 40some years ago, about the history of Filipino Americans in my hometown and county, where I was born, raised, and returned....

(1) Tick. Tick. Tick. I asked the Husband to investigate the ticking sound in the L Studio closet yesterday afternoon. I hadn’t heard it before. “Hush,” he said, reaching for an item from the shelf way up high.  (2) He opened a small black case that held a polaroid camera once upon a time. Tick. Tick. Tick.  The green wall clock! I wondered where it had gone. The Husband asked, “Did you think a bomb was in there?”  (3) Nervous Nelly. She is me. I am her. (4)  It’s nearly very soon for my-new-knee adventure to begin. (5) I discovered on Sunday that we don’t have enough decent soup bowls, dessert plates, and other dining ware for a dinner party of six and more. That’s what I get for retiring a lot of Mama’s and my dinnerware to the garden and crafting bins. (6) Dirty gin martinis with eggplant dip and chia and quinoa chips. Orange kobacha soup with petite slices of toasted walnut bread and pastrami bagels. Carbonara bucatini and roasted Brussel sprouts. A trifle of lim...

For  Art for Fun Friday : Acrylics on tiny canvas (turned into a magnet) This week I’m sharing with  Thursday 13 ,  I Like Thursday ,  Art for Fun Friday ,  and  Friday Writings .  For  Thursday 13 and Friday Writings (prompt: ordinary) ( 1) Where oh where are my red reading glasses? (2) What oh what do I make for our main meal? (3) I’ll vacuum tomorrow. Maybe. (4) Dear Diary, says the Husband as he passes by me clickity clacking on the iPad. (5) What shall I do today? (6) I’m doing a load of bottoms. Do you want your jeans washed?  (7) Have you been drinking water? asks the Husband. (8) It’s garbage day. (9) Mail call! (10) Sniff, sniff, achooo. . . Really need to dust. (11) Jazz, rock, swing, tropical, what shall we listen to? (12) Going outside. (13) Kiss, kiss. I love you. Night-night. For  Art for Fun Friday : Acrylics on canvas For  I Like Thursday:   Mama’s Gravy LeeAnna, host of I Like Thursday , asks participant...

Art for Fun Friday ( 1)  Thursday came and went before I finished my post for  Thursday 13 .  So many things by which to be distracted—painting, housekeeping, weeding, reading, gardening, wandering on the Web, watching movies, talking with the Husband, cooking, and so forth and so on. I love my life as an old lady.  (2) Today’s prompt for  Friday Writings  is “a hobby that brings you peace.” Gardening, definitely. Painting, also. I like it when they overlap, for example, the  planter box of transplanted Jupiter’s beard in the above photo. The left side of the box was painted a couple years ago. I painted the right side this week because I decided to place the planter at the southeast end of the sidewalk and I wanted something colorful to face the street.  (3) Doing research is fun. Sometimes I think of Google as being an 8-ball when I &ask a yes/no question such as “Can I plant canna lilies next to vine geraniums, maybe two feet away?”   ...

(1) Let’s see, today, for our main meal the Husband and I ate a melange of five left over dishes from the last two days, or three. Or, four. Garbanzo butternut soup, couscous with chimichurri sauce, sauteed onion and squash, ground turkey   burgers, and roasted red and green peppers. The flavors blended quite well together, surprisingly and with great relief. We ate our portions all up. No leftovers, hurrah! (2) To go along with our meal I concocted an ooh-la-la drink. Passion fruit juice with a jigger of rum. Ooh la la! (3) The Husband and I toasted to the last day of our 25th year of marriage. Tomorrow: Hello 26th!  Clink, clink.   (4) Maybe next year we will be dancing with our friends and family to celebrate our 27th anniversary. I also would like us to throw a party for the septuagenarians among us. We shall see. (5) The last two weeks I’ve been working on my entries for the county fair. That’s some of the craft entries in the photo above.  (6) Yep, that’s a jui...

(1) How hot is it? Well, the Husband is wearing a tank shirt and shorts and walking around the house barefoot. I pretty much do that every day, but not him. (2) It has been seven days of temperatures in the high 90s and triple digits! The iPad won’t charge any further than 80 percent when it’s this hot. If the weather guys are to believed, we’ll feel the last of 100+ degrees today. Knock on wood, cross my fingers. This excessive heat is uncommon for our area. I’m thankful it’s unaccompanied with oppressive humidity. (3) We’ve managed to get by without the the air conditioner or heading to a cooling center. Doing the old-fashioned practice of closing and opening curtains to the sun and staying inside have made it bearable. It also helps that we have a big shady tree in front and a bunch of fruit trees in the back.  (4) We’re one of the few homes that have mature trees on our street. I wouldn’t be surprised if some neighbors wished we’d remove our trees. Earlier this year, a neighbor...

(1) This morning we walked around the block. Definitely a big deal for me who haven’t done much walking. I’ve been getting my exercise playing in the garden, hauling, digging, bending, reaching, pulling, and so forth and so on. I also got a good workout vacuuming the stairs last week.  There’s nothing like stretching my legs though. Best of all, my knees didn’t pop and cough until I took my shoes off, thank you very much. Yeah, I’m still waiting for my turn with the knee surgeon. (2) Other than in my head,  I haven’t felt much like writing. Thus, my latest absence.  (3) It took me awhile to start letting go about feeling guilty for not writing, which I’ve been doing for fun and for a living most of my life. The latter, unnecessary for the present, thankfully. I’m rambling.  (4) Once upon a time, one of my high school teachers told me I could never be a writer because I ramble too much. She, with her bra strap constantly peeking out of her sleeveless blouse. The wise ...