My ABC Wednesday theme: The Mama and Her Authentic Green Thumbs. . .and Fingers Three weeks ago, I showed you, dear readers, a photo of my tomato plant that got broken by the wind and the Mama put back into the soil. Quite a few of you expressed faith that the Mama's wizardy would help nurture it back to life. Well, here's what the tomato plant looks like as of yesterday evening. Vibrant! I helped a bit by plucking off the dead leaves that you see in the top photo. Maybe I inherited some of the Mama's authentic green thumb and fingers gene. I want to show you another wonder in the Mama's garden—the Blenheim apricot trees. She started with one tree, which is the one on the right with all the drooping branches full of apricots. The first two or three years that the tree produced, the Mama collected many of the apricot pits and planted them around the backyard. See that tree on the left with the lone apricot. That's the first fruit of the second generatio

This morning, Tilda-Hilda and I came across modern cowboys building fences. Instead of wooden posts, they used steel posts. They dug the holes with a big drilling machine. No back-breaking digging for them. More than likely, they'll put up wire fencing between the posts rather than three parallel lines of barbed wire. I notice that a lot more fencing is going up around fields in the area. I suppose it's to keep out the wild animals and humans.  There have been two or three fields that the Husband and I used to bike through that now have fences. Tilda-Hilda and I pedaled a 9 1/2 mile loop in 53 minutes, much of it uphill. As the saying goes, what goes up, must come down. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee. . . .

Tilda-Hilda and I thank the Wind for giving us a boost up the hill. Without it, I doubt we would've got to the barn with the cool mural this time round. Notice how the artist drew the hills so their lines matched those of the actual hills beyond the barn. Our valley was souped in with fog this morning that I couldn't see the nearby mountains. So, Tilda-Hilda and I took off just before noon for our ride. We pedaled nearly 11 miles in 59 minutes. Whooo-hoooo! Today's song was "Take me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver. This video of him and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is from a live performance for Farm Aid in 1985.

"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 .

Molly the Cat, Huntress. Now, that would be a nice calling card for the feline. She's very good at catching bugs. She has bagged a couple of birds. That fell out of trees. The Mama has decreed Molly the chaser of squirrels for the backyard. One squirrel (maybe more) has been eating the apricots in the tree. Once the squirrel eats part of an apricot, it falls. The Mama has lined the gnawed fruit beneath the tree as evidence. The other day, the Mama told me that Molly guarded the apricot tree all afternoon. But, still the squirrel ate the apricots. This morning, Molly was hanging out on the front lawn when she heard something crackle behind her. She immediately went into stealth mode. Two doves flew out of the tree! Molly whooooooossshhhed across the yard and amazingly came to a halt in the shade of the car. The doves were on the fence. Did the doves know she was there? Molly swished her tail in anticipation. One dove flew off. It was now or never. Molly ran forwar

This morning Tilda-Hilda and I chased after the fog, but it rolled? flew? floated? faster than we could pedal. You can see some of the fog breaking over the low hills. It's heading back towards the Pacific Ocean, about 40 minutes away. That is, if it rides in a car. Can you imagine a bank of fog squeezed inside a car, say an oldie VW bug? We rode about 10 miles in 55 minutes. I counted 15 hills. Some were slight and long. Some were very short, but steep. And others were in between. We definitely got a good workout. For me, pedaling Tilda-Hilda out and about is better than a stationary bicycle. I pedaled one a couple months ago when I won a free weekly pass to a local gym. It was totally not my style, the stationary bike or the gym.  I tried nearly everything the gym had to offer—the treadmill, the row machine, the scary weight machines, boot camp, and zumba. The trainers and teachers were young sweethearts. They realized I was older and out-of-shape than I did. I enjoyed the

This morning, Tilda-Hilda and I pedaled about 10 miles in 58 minutes. I'm two pounds lighter, too. Tilda-Hilda must be happy about that. Our photo opp today was at St. Benedict Catholic Church. The song going through my head on the ride was the first verse and chorus of Lady Marmalade. Enjoy Patti Labelle's version from 1975.