It's the Weekend in Black and White , hosted by the lovely Dragonstar. Come along with me to check out B&W photos by participants from around the world.

My Alphabe Thursday theme—Places I've Been East of Eden is about 28 miles away from where we live in Hollister. We first drive west and then south to get there. I'm sure that the above photo clues you into the fact that the East of Eden about which I'm talking is where John Steinbeck based his novel and several other novels and short stories. Namely, Salinas and Salinas Valley. Salinas is where Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902. The house on Central Avenue where he was born and lived until he was a young man is today a restaurant. Unfortunately, the day the Husband and I visited the National Steinbeck Center , a couple blocks away, the restaurant was closed. That didn't stop us from walking over to the Steinbeck House and take a look around. Have you ever read East of Eden ? It's an amazing story. Very powerful and rich in detail. The screenplay for the TV mini-series with Jane Seymour follows the novel's line more than the 1950s movie

Don't you just hate it when the thing you wanted to tell someone slipped deep into the recess of your mind? Maybe it'll come back to the top. Maybe not. Which makes me wonder, how deep are our minds that a forgotten thought gets lost. Anyway, we'll never know what it is I wanted to write about from Tilda-Hilda's and my ride this morning. Oh, well. Cool station wagon, don't you think? It reminds me of the station wagon we had for a short while when I was kid. Our was beige with a tan top. I like station wagons even more than pick-up trucks. The last car I owned as a single woman was a used white Volvo station wagon. That was fun to drive.  Today, Tilda-Hilda and I pedaled nine miles in 49 minutes. I was going to say 9 minutes per mile, but then that would make 81 minutes. My arithmetic skills are truly getting bad. But, I won't get into that. Instead, enjoy the bicycle song and video that Widdershins of Widdershins Worlds suggested the other day when I me

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 .