Yesterday afternoon we hung out at the San Juan Bautista Chicken Festival. Bwak, bwak. We sang along with Gilroy Ukulele Jam , as they performed "Chickens in the Sky" (think: Ghostriders in the Sky), "Ukelele Girls" (think: Buffalo Girls), and other cool songs. Methinks it's time to learn to play a few ukelele songs. Strum, strum, strum. We missed the crowing contest, but I still got to crow and bwak-bwak with the ukelele band. Sooo fun! The weather yesterday was wonderful. No 100s. No 90s. Reasonable 80s for dancing in the street. (By the way we actually got a few minutes of rain today. Yipppieee!) It was a small town festival, the kind I like. Three or four short blocks with a bunch of crafts booths, a few food vendors, and several people selling their used stuff. We bought a very cool old-fashioned floor lamp for five bwaks and I got a pair of sunglasses, which resembled something Yoko Ono might wear, for 50 cents. Score! One of our missions that

1. We went to see the Husband's doctor for his quarterly visit. Mostly good news, hurrah! According to the doctor's scale, the Husband and I lost 4 to 5 pounds since we last stood on that scale. Me, a month ago. Him, I don't know when. The doctor was impressed that the Husband lost 13 pounds in three months, something like that. I may have lost about 10 pounds. Pretty good for us not trying. 2. We want and need to lose weight. Him, maybe 10 more and me, far more. We aren't making a big deal about eating more of this, less of that, and none of the happy yummy stuff. We eat what we want, including potato chips and ice cream, and, as one doctor said to me long ago, be mindful about how much we consume in a sitting. 3. Years ago, friends in their 60s told us that they find themselves eating less as they aged. Their appetites were great and they enjoyed food, willing to try different cuisines. (They were foodies way before foodies came into fashion.)  So, I guess that

The word journey comes from journeé (old French) that means a day's travel or a day's work. In the 12th century, people used the word solely as a noun. Two centuries later, the word was also used as a verb, meaning to travel from place to place. There you go, trivia information for Jeopardy. I'm linking my J post over to ABC Wednesday . Click here to check out the meme and J stories by other participants.

The Husband and I encountered danger yesterday—strawberry sauce. Oh my gosh! I modified a recipe that called for 2 cups of diced strawberries. The recipe probably meant a dry measuring cup, but I overfilled a two-cup liquid measuring cup. The strawberries went into a small saucepan with juice from a medium-sized lemon, a half a cap full of limoncello (in place of vanilla), and about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of superfine sugar. The sugar is a guess because  I poured directly from the box, stopping only when it looked like it would be too much. I brought the concoction to a boil, stirring occasionally, then simmered it for 15 minutes. We ate the strawberry sauce over a slice of toasted sourdough bread and a healthy sprinkling of ground almonds. Mmmmmmm. Once upon a time, I would've eaten all of the sauce in one sitting and then promptly fall asleep in a drunken daze. The Husband said the sauce caused his eyelids and the bags under his eyes to sweat. When he was a kid, sweet tart

Will she or won't she follow the instructions? Molly the Cat investigates the facts about the orange thing, inferring that it: idles insinuates insults inflicts idolizes invents (as in makes up) impairs immobilizes ignores incites imposes intimidates impersonates  Missy Girl's conclusion: Impeach and incarcerate.  Time for some ABC Wednesday (the letter I ) and Thursday 13 . Take a look! Thank you sweet hosts.

He is the hairy hippie that has my heart. Nothing harried about him, the handsome Husband. This imaginary creature may look harried, but she is not at all. Her happy hairiness was inspired by that pink geranium. Yup. It's the letter H at ABC Wednesday . Come along and check out the other ABCW participants.

"Will you be able to get by the vacuum cleaner?" the Husband asked, who hauled the vacuum cleaner upstairs and set it beside the bathroom door, as I pretty please asked (so I hope). "I'm sure you will." "I have a plan," I said, tippy-tapping on the keyboard, not realizing yet that he had headed down the stairs. "Bathroom, office, and bedroom. I'll vacuum in that order."  At least, vacuum the bathroom today. Over the next few days, I'll also dust and vacuum downstairs. No party, thanks for asking. (For those who are new to my quirks, I generally do heavy cleaning for an upcoming party.) Sometime soon, we'll be going on a short road trip to Northern California to visit the Husband's family as well as take in a bit of the coast and redwoods. Since Molly the Cat will be roaming indoors for a few days, I thought I'd clean the house. Maybe even give her a dry shampoo. By the way, the photo above of Missy and the Husband