The Friday's Hunt , a photo meme hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills , is a lot fun.  She gives you three items to photograph each week, and you can choose to do one, two, or three of them.  I had a photo last week that would've been perfect for all three items this week. Oh well. Starts with C I've decided to use my archives for the alphabet item. I took the photo of this cow in November 2014 during a hike with the Husband. Moooooooo. Week's Favorite The Only and Older Brother surprised us with a visit on Sunday. He brought BBQ for lunch, so I'll excuse him for not waving to the camera. I did get him to smile. Just as good. (Yes, that's a smile.) Inside One of my goals this year is to reduce the clutter in the house. Everywhere. Everything. So far I've accomplished sorting and organizing the business cards and library cards that I like to collect. Baby steps, but at least they are forward steps.  We're supposed to have rain over the

Some of you may recall that last month I bought an empty burlap sack , which once held coffee beans, at my favorite cafe. The sack hasn't moved from where I draped it when I took the photo of it last month. It questions me every day: So, what am I here for? Yesterday morning, as I was picking leaves off the lawn, I thought how exceptionally pretty they are. Bingo! So, I collected a few and brought them indoors to dry. By afternoon, they were in the office. Ah-ha! Within minutes, I attached a few of them to the canvas. Hmmmm. I looked down at the floor and saw the box that held stuff I used for a floral arrangement for last year's county fair. Hellllllllloooo! called some blue dried flowers. They went up on the sack. Then all went quiet. To be continued. * * * * * I'm linking up with the weekly meme, What Happened in Your Surroundings or in Your Mind This Week? , which is hosted by Pippa Koenig. To join in and/or to check out the other participants, click he

Today's share is with Warm Heart Wednesday , a weekly meme hosted by the generous Jenny Matlock of Off On My Tangent. Instead of a recent happening, I'm writing about a wonderful thing that took place in the distant past, which I was reminded about last week. * * * Once upon a time when I was a young thing living in San Francisco, I commuted 36 miles across the bay to my first dream job. Twice a day, I got to drive over the seven-mile long San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. Do you know how calming it is to drive over an expansive body of water? That's another story perhaps. Today my story is about my commute home one particular late afternoon. At the time, I drove an aging red Dodge Colt that I was constantly taking into the shop for something old to fix. No doubt you know where the story is heading. After safely getting over the beautiful bridge and up the freeway to the City, the car chose to give up on the heavily traveled Sixth Street, which was then known as where a

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.

I'm a kid when it comes to doing (making? creating?) art. "Look, look. Look what I did," I say, jumping from one foot to the other. I mostly do that to the Husband. Yesterday, I found myself doing it to Only and Older Brother, who I hadn't seen in two years. "Look, look, Brother. Look what I did," I said, showing him my Creative Play #1 on the iPad. "Hey, you can sell that!" Only and Older Brother said. I didn't know if he was being funny. I never know with him.  But, I took it as a thumbs up. Unlike long ago I'm not concerned whether or not people like my art work. I'm simply having fun exploring that side of me. Finally. I'm hooking up with Creative Every Day hosted by Leah Piken Kolidas. Click here to join in or to check out other participants.

This afternoon the Husband and I pruned the Miracle Tree. Saw-saw-swear-saw . Clip-swear-clip-clip. We were three branches away from finishing when Only and Older Bionic Brother surprised us with a visit. Whooo-hooo! He came out to watch us complete our job and that brought out the Mama. The first time she set foot in the backyard since October. Whooo-hooo!  Thankfully, it was a warm day. The Mama's eyes were good from afar. She couldn't resist. "Cut that branch." "And, that branch." I was perched on the ladder at a weird angle so it took me awhile to find "And, that branch." The Brother's eyes for pruning were still good. "You want to cut that one so it doesn't grow towards the house." Only and older Brother stayed the afternoon. Hurrah! That also meant the Husband and I didn't have to deal with the yucky part of the pruning job—snipping, cutting, and bagging the branches, leaves, and seed pods—until tomorrow. That