My theme for #23 Round of ABC Wednesday: Signs & Such of San Benito County, California Lifelong learning. Seriously, how can we not expand our skills and general knowledge as we go through life? These days, for example, I'm learning about flower gardening and succulents, and mixing paint colors and repurposing stuff into garden art. Without even trying, I've been learning about the rise of Nazis due to reading several novels that were set in England between WWI and WWII. It's just as well that King Edward VIII quit the throne for Mrs. Simpson. The two were suspected of being Nazi sympathizers. Speaking about books, do you have any Little Free Library stands in your community? They're part of a world-wide effort for people to exchange books for free. Take a book, leave a book. The Husband and I would like to put one in our front yard one of these days. The Little Free Library in the photo stands in front of Vertigo Coffee in San Juan Bautista. L

"How do you get brown?" asked I, standing outdoors at the patio door. "Mix green and blue," responded the Husband, washing dishes about 20 feet away. As I walked back to my temporary work table beneath the Miracle Tree, I realized I would have to first mix blue and yellow to get green. Sigh. Several hours later, when the Husband stopped, I showed him the rock I was painting. "The brown looks like dirt." Accomplishment achieved! Today is Our World Tuesday , where I'm participating. Here's the link . Grazie, OWT administrators.

Missus Lady and Hero Man have been hanging outside in the backyard with me a lot lately. I like it, even when they suddenly go into fits of chatter and laughter as they play with their paints, scissors, hammers, saws, and other stuff. They crack me up, my humans do. Purrrrrrrrrr. There is one quirk of Missus Lady that bugs me. Click, click. Click, click. When I hear that puckering kiss sound, miao, I turn around, miao, nearly all the time. Click! goes the Missus Lady's camera. How many pictures of me does she need? Miaooooo.

The Husband and I finished and installed a fun project on Friday. Some of you may remember I talked about the work-in-progress fence project last Sunday. Amazingly it only took us six days from creating the first fence panel to the installation of seven panels weaved with branches from the backyard trees. That's a short time, considering who we are. It was lots of fun working with the Husband on it. He agreed. We love the final result. We don't know about the neighbors, who I hope simply think of us as those old hippies doing their thing. Hmmm. Maybe that's not a good idea. The Daddy warned me not to end up being a hippie, which to this day I have no idea what he considered made up a hippie. I can only hope I did not disappoint him. lol This morning the Husband showed me how to tie Boy Scout knots. One knot reminded me of the stitch the Mama taught me for hemming. Another knot had me thinking of knitting, and still another of crochet. I didn't do so well re

Gulp. I don't know. Would you climb up those ladders? I rate that climb as double-sweaty palms, five gulps, and one big shudder.

"I'll have a tuna BLT," said Good Friend D. "What?" responded the waitress. "Tuna BLT," said he again while some of us checked the menu again. It turned out D merged the tuna melt and the BLT together in his head, at which the waitress relaxed, then said they don't substitute. Oh well. D ended asking for the BLT. The Husband and I were so enamored with the idea of a tuna BLT, I concocted sandwiches for us a week later. Ingredients • 2 slices of barely toasted sourdough bread • Mustard • 3 strips of bacon (which I cooked in the toaster oven) • 2 tomato slices • 2 or 3 lettuce leaves (we had red lettuce in the fridge) • Tuna filling: one can of tuna mixed with minced celery, onion, garlic, orange bell pepper, pickle, pumpkin seeds, mayonnaise, and creamed horseradish. Assembly I layered the sandwich as such: A slice of bread, tuna filling, lettuce, tuna filling, tomato, bacon, and the other slice of bread spread with mustard. T

This morning at the end of breakfast my fingers locked into a Vulcan salute, and I wasn't even trying to make one.  "Look," I said to the Husband who was intently bent over his iPad. "Wait, I'm watching this video." I constantly interrupt the Husband while he's in the middle of reading or watching a video online. Sorry, Dude. My fingers weren't moving. Now what? Gah. That got me thinking about what kind of Medicare Advantage plan to get. I think I'm in good health for being a life-time fatty. Poor Mama, the doctor pulled out 21-inches long and over eight pounds me, cesarean style. That must've been awfully scary for her. Baby Sister (who lived two years) and I were cesareans. Older Brother was a natural birth in a jungle in the Philippines. Just kidding about the jungle, though I would love to claim being born in a jungle. I don't know whether Oldest Girl was a cesarean, too. Valentina, the sister who died on the day she was born