"Did you see our new butterfly sanctuary?" I asked the Husband.  "Look to the South. . .by the fence. . .to your right. . .I mean the other way." "Where?" The husband turned his head here and there, mostly here. "There," I said. "Our butterfly sanctuary!" The Husband groaned. "I thought you meant real butterflies. You nut!" :-)

My yoga pants are 10 years old or so. Until last year they had a new look to them because I rarely wore them. I didn't like how fitted they were. That's no longer the problem. I've worn and washed them so often that the legs got baggy and holey, in particular around the knees. I wonder why the knees since I can't bend them. I lost the ability to sit cross-legged in my late 30s. I wonder if I can do that again if I were to get knee replacements. Anyway, back to the holey yoga pants. By today's standards of yoga pants, mine are loosey-goosey, which I like and which means I won't find a similar pair ever. Fortunately, the rest of my holey pair of yoga pants still has a lot of wear to them. Simply patch the knees, right?  I've only sewn stretchy material once or twice. I always got nervous, panicky, even a bit scared. Today, I nipped all that in the face, and had a lot of fun. :-)  

Early this morning, which was 5:51 a.m. in California, we were as close as we'll ever get this year to the star of our solar system, the Sun. Those in the know call this point on Earth's orbit perihelion. Now, you, my friends, and I are in the know. I learned about it at Earthsky . (Gotta love the Internet, and access to it.) I slept through the perihelion but nearly an hour later an earthquake woke me up. The bed and house seemed to be floating on choppy water for a few seconds.  I'm not sure if it's my imagination or if I actually heard a faint rumble. Reports said it was a 4.3 on the Richter scale. There were several smaller aftershocks, but I didn't feel them. We're within spitting distance (well, we can quite easily) of two major faults in the area: the San Andreas and the Calaveras Fault. It's only the jolting or rolling ones that I feel.  It's great to be alive, tripping through the Universe on the Earth.

 Missy Molly the pinky-nosed (Wilde) Cat and her humans send you Happy Christmas hugs and wishes for a healthy 2021. 

  Bibingka is a special treat Filipino mamas, aunties, and daughters make for parties and Christmas time, but I had no idea it existed until I was 16 or 17. Mama made suman, a baked dessert made of sweet rice kernels, fresh coconut milk, butter, and oodles of brown sugar. I can feel my teeth melt remembering the taste of Mama's oh so yummily drooling sweet suman. I've made suman a couple of times. Like chunks of cement.  As for bibingka, I've winged making it a few times. Four years ago, I wrote about pumpkin bibingka . Yesterday, I made Kahlua-laced bibingka. Mama's bibingka recipe was in her head. She modified and adapted her recipe each time she made the cake. No coconut milk, use regular milk, for instance. And when Mama made bibingka, she didn't make one pan. Uh-uh. More like three or four long glass baking pans and 1 square glass pan. We'd eat the square pan of bibingka and freeze the rest. Me, I bake one pan. Perhaps one day I'll bake and freeze bibin

I am very thankful for many things and many people, including you, my blogging friends. The Husband, Missy Molly the pinky-nosed (wilde) Cat, and I wish you peace and happiness, and much joy and love.