My theme for #23 Round of ABC Wednesday: Signs & Such of San Benito County, California We all like to go back to a restaurant that makes us drool when we think about the food we had there. Don't you agree? In my county, J.J.'s Burgers in San Juan Bautista is that kind of place for me when it comes to a burger. Garlic fries, too. Drooooooool. J is the featured letter today on ABC Wednesday . Click here to read about this weekly meme, and click here for this week's list of participants.  Thank you, ABCW Team!

It has been 15 years since The Husband and I moved out of the San Francisco Bay Area, which, depending on where we want to go, a 30-minute to two hour-or-so drive away. Lately we have been wandering a bit further into the Bay Area maze. Molly the Cat probably wonders what has gotten into us. She, after all, gets stuck indoors when the humans are at play. The increased number of offensive drivers on the freeway has made driving no longer fun, so we've been trying out BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to get beyond San Jose. The nearest BART station is about an hour's drive to the north of us. It's not too much of a white-knuckle drive to get there. Right now the cost for our tickets is equivalent to about a tank of gas. Totally worth it. No fuss, no stress.  Looking out the train window as we headed east away from Oakland, I watched cars on the highway swish frantically pass each other. In a few months I'll turn 65 and be eligible for the senior discount. Hurrah!

I overheard Missus Lady and Hero Man talking about whether to grow a couple of small patches of grass for me to lounge in the back yard. That's nice of them, but it doesn't really matter to me. Besides I rather like that they can't find me right away. Purrrrrrrrrrr.

The paints came out last week. Splash! Splish! A blue elephant now dances across a dinner plate. A once-upon-a-time metal spoon holder now pirouettes in the breeze. This morning the Husband set up the portable table outside so I can play at being an artist. I envision a white pan being painted into a turtle, chicken wire being mangled into the shape of an elephant, and a branch being cut and put back together into something, maybe an asterisk. If any of those things turn out well, it becomes my entry for garden art in next month's county fair. We shall see. Time again for All Seasons , a weekly meme hosted by Jesh of The Jesh Studio , which is where I'm heading to share my post. Click here to check out Jesh. For the participants list, click here . Thanks, Jesh!

Once upon a time, on a beautiful, warm Fall evening, I sat in a university extension classroom of like-minded adults who wanted to improve their writing skills. I spent much of the first hour glancing out the window.  I wanted to see the moment of nightfall. I missed it.

Back in March , I mentioned that a poem of mine was accepted for an anthology of hay(na)ku. "Bad News" is the poem. Now that the anthology is released, I am sharing the poem with you.  Hay(na)ku poems are composed of six words in three lines. What cracks me up is that my brief bio in the book is 10 times longer. Over 100 poets from around the world are featured in HAY(NA)KU 15:A Commemorative 15th Year Anniversary Anthology . Published by Paloma Press, it's edited by Eileen R. Tabios , the creator of the hay(na)ku form.

This is the view of the front yard from near the bottom of the driveway. I sat behind that bush you see near the left corner of the photo.  Molly the Cat was wandering somewhere in there. I didn't plan to spend two hours this morning deadheading dried spikes on that bush, but once I start deadheading a plant, well there I am until it's done. Some spikes were about 18 inches long. A tiny purple flower blooms at the top of each spike. Flowers continually bloom as the spikes grow longer. Wish I can recall the bush's name. That's a photo of the bush from the past Spring. Hmmm, I guess the spike grows from the flower.  I came across a bloom on the potted gardenia plant. Although small, the flower gives off that wonderful delicious scent. This is the first flower in years. The buds dry before they can open. I've promised the plant that I shall pay more attention to it, which I started by immediately clipping off yellowed leaves. I wonder if she would prefer