A long time ago when I was a young single thing living in the City, one of the things I enjoyed was creating a jungle in my apartment. On Sunday mornings, my church was the house plant section of Cost Plus down by Fisherman's Wharf. Wandering around philodendrons, umbrella trees, and ficus plants, oh my. Pothos, rubber plants, and ivies, such oxygen heaven. I didn't always go home with plants, but when I did it was with the small ones that cost less than two bucks each. With houseplants you can get a lot with a very slim pocketbook. Now and then the Mama gave me a houseplant to take home after a weekend visit. I don't know how many times she sent me home with a ti plant. "They're good luck," she said. The ti plants never made it, which I realize now is because I lived in very cold apartments. I wore a heavy sweater or snuggled under blankets and pillows rather than turn on inefficient wall heaters. Once, sometimes twice, a year, I would repot and propag

That picture exemplifies a good reason why the Husband and I don't like to move things in the office. Yesterday, I finally repotted the umbrella plant that has been crying for a bigger pot for a couple of years. Yaay! We decided that the better place for the plant was in the corner by the window next to the Husband's desk. There wasn't much stuff on the corner table but there was quite a lot of stuff on the floor to get to that corner table. Much of that stuff got dumped on the floor next to my desk. I try not to look down.

The Husband I have taken to conversing with Molly the Cat, responding as her in what we each imagine is her sweet, cute high-pitched voice. "You don't like your food," one of us humans says. "No," says Molly the Cat. "We try to find something you would like to eat." "Phiff." "You used to eat it." "Then you haven't found what I like to eat." I'm sure that if she wasn't so polite, Molly would've added "have you?"

I talk to myself. When I catch myself talking to myself I ask myself, "Have I gone crazy now?" Okay. Here's the unedited answer, "I'm talking to myself."

According to the Missus Lady, if you asked the Mama, who I knew as the Tiny Old Lady, "What have you been doing?" and she happened to be very tired, she would answer, "I have been to see the queen." I miss the Little Old Lady. Mewwwwwww Queen of Katwe (2016) Setting: Katwe, a slum in the city of Kampala Uganda This movie is based on the life of Phiona Matessi, an Ugandan chess queen. This young woman won several junior chess championships in Uganda, as well as represented the country in four Chess Olympiads, which are tournaments with teams from various countries. What is very inspiring about Phiona's story is that the odds were quite high against her learning to play chess when you consider her circumstances. Mewwww. Phiona and her family lived in a large slum called Katwe. When she was nine years old, she had to leave school because her father had died and the family could no longer afford to send her to school. She was also needed to help care fo

I wonder if a day will come when I no longer remember these numbers. 44 — The number of the first address I recall. 242 — Our family's P.O. box when we lived at #44. 711 — The number of the first house that the family owned. Not rented. 637-4735— The first phone number that I memorized. It went to a black phone. At first it was ME(rcury)7 4735.  That phone number went with us from #44 to #711. What first important numbers do you remember?

Yesterday's mail brought my royalty check. Whoo-hooo! Just in time to pay the property tax bill. Boo-hoo. I'm grateful, and fortunate, to still receive royalties on career and educational books that I wrote 10 years ago. Jo in Little Women was asked by Professor Bhaer (who Jo eventually married) why she wrote trashy stories. Her answer: The sale of that trashy story bought something for her family back home, the sale of this trashy story paid for a vacation by the sea for her ill sister who needed the fresh air, and so forth and so on. Professor Bhaer had the decency to feel bad for bringing it up to Jo, and after he apologized, he encouraged Jo to write something that is dear to her heart. I'm not saying that my books are trash. Far from it. I have been wondering lately if there is something that is dear to my heart that I want to write.   

Swings and jungle gyms. Slides and teeter-totters. I came across a playground for the first time when I was five years old on my first day of first grade. I really took to the slides, especially the corkscrew one. When I got home that day, I looked forward to the next day of the slides just as much as the books and the pencils, and the desks and the blackboards. That experience lasted all of two-and-a-half days. I had to wait a full year to hang out in a playground again because the teacher said I was "too young" for school. It was okay. I went back to my old playground of open fields.

Lately my hands have been itchy to draw. The other evening it began with the desire to draw a sunflower. Instead of drawing an imaginary one, I got off the couch and went and plucked a wilted sunflower from a two-week bouquet in the kitchen. I checked out the flower's structure, counted its petals, and took a good long hard look at it. I sketched a sunflower head with 32 petals (more or less, I lost count in the 20s), shaded in the petals with colored pencils, didn't like the result, and went searching for the crayons. Before I knew it the sunflower got a stem and leaves. . .and a setting!

Yesterday I fried chicken for the Husband's and my main meal, which some may consider a very late lunch or a rather early dinner. I've been wanting to taste fried chicken for the last several days. Fried chicken is one of my comfort foods. Nibble, nibble. The best fried chicken I've ever eaten was cooked by the Daddy, perfectly crisp on the outside and moist inside. It has been over 35 years since I ate the Daddy's fried chicken. Recently I decided it's not worth buying already-made fried chicken from any of the options in our town. It's too disappointing. Too greasy. Too dry. Too salty. And so forth and so on. So, this Missus Lady (as Molly the Cat calls me) cut chicken thighs into bite-size chunks; shook them in a bag of flour, paprika, turmeric, mustard power, garlic powder, black powder, and salt; and fried them in olive oil. Sizzle, sizzle.  The result was quite tasty. Nibble, nibble . The best part about eating fried chicken yesterday was r

I'm tired of writing about movies. But, I have to say something. Missus Lady says so. She says she's not filling in for me like last time.  So, okay. The other day Missus Lady received a surprise package from Miss Georgy (You rock!) of Jubilee Street . In it were sweet stuff including a couple of blank journals and blank postcards to invite creativity. Purrrrrrrrrr.  This morning Missus Lady and Hero Man painted postcards in the backyard.  She painted an island, I think, while he painted Me! Purrrrrrrrrrr. A note from Su-sieee! Mac: This week the theme is the letter P on ABC Wednesday . Click here to check out what bloggers from around the world have written. Thank you,  ABCW team! P.S. Maybe Molly will be back with a movie review next week.

"Just from the gate to the grate," I said unsurely to the Husband yesterday, as he swung the car around to park on the other side of the rutted lane. We were at the eastern end of the Juan Bautista de Anza national Historic Trail in San Juan Bautista. It's been almost two years since we've walked here. The last time we got as far as we did today because the Husband's heart couldn't take it. We didn't know then what was going on with his heart. I'm happy to say that the Husband and his friend, Gerry Andy Pacemaker, felt g-r-e-a-t . They had no problem going that short distance. This time round it was me that we were being careful about. I discovered that my knees can handle walking on uneven, forgiving dirt with the help of a cane. I woke up yesterday morning determined to walk a bit up one of our favorite trails.  Looking at the trail from the car, I wondered if I really could walk between the gate and cattle grate. The Husband thought the distance

I love a movie with penguins. Who wouldn't, I ask you? Who? Maybe owls. This movie stars a dog. Rrrrfh . I like dogs. My first friends and protectors were dogs. I love dogs. Rrrfh . Sometimes Missus Lady and Hero Man remark how much like a dog I am. My Humans so know me. Rrrrfh. Oddball and the Penguins (2015) Setting: Middle Island off the coast of Warrnambool, Australia Fairy penguins do indeed have a breeding colony on Middle Island off the southwestern coast of Australia. And, Oddball was an actual maremma sheepdog who saved the colony of fairy penguins from dying off on Middle Island in 2006. So, purrrrrrr , this movie is inspired by a true heart-warming tale. Why were the fairy penguins dying off? How did the farmer who owned Oddball knew he could protect the penguins? Also, who among the townspeople didn't want the little penguins to flourish, and why didn't they? I love this movie. Rrrrfh! Purrrrrrrrrrr. A note from Su-sieee! Mac: The letter O

No movie review from me today. But, here's a photo of purrrrrrrrrrrrty me taking a snoozer of a stretch .  See ya next week with a movie . Ciao. A Note from Su-sieee! Mac Molly the Cat refused to write about today's selection, A New Kind of Love , a 1963 silly comedy romp starring the sparkly and sparking duo of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. She said, "How can I write about the movie, Missus Lady, when I've never seen it? Also, it's not on Netflix." Always the logical cat, Missy Molly is, by golly. Molly gave me her glare of a stare then a turn of her back when I said she could paraphrase what I told her about the movie. That Girl! She didn't care that it was one of my favorite movies from my teenage years, making the circuits of the day, evening, and late Saturday night movie stations. It was a funny, sexy, actually quite layered, love story, but one I'd probably cringe at a lot if I were to see it for the first time today. A Ne

These books were new at the library last month. The one by the rich girl was prominently displayed, while Ms Arce's was shelved beneath it.   I could not resist pulling hers out and placing it next to the other with the tagline  "Rewrting the Rules for Success." Isn't it interesting whose name was printed huuuuugely on her book?  Meow. "That's not me mewing," says Molly the Cat.

Sir Billy Connolly is one of the Missus Lady's favorite actors. Until she saw Mrs Brown , she thought of Connolly as being that Scottish actor in a 1980s high school sitcom who played the teacher of a class of specially smart, and troubled, kids in New York City. It was when the Humans first signed up for Netflix that Missus Lady got on a Billy Connolly kick and came to realize how versatile an actor he is. The Man Who Sued God (2001) Setting: Some place in Australia Steve (so wonderfully interpreted by Billy Connolly) is a lawyer turned fisherman. Not sure if he does it for a living or just says that's what he does. One day his fishing boat is struck by lightening. Ka-Bloom! The insurance company tells him that they will not honor his claim because it was destroyed by an Act of God. Oh-oh. Steve sees red. And, sues! But, who does he sue? Uhm...the churches. Yup. Steve sues the churches because they are God's representatives on Earth. How are the churches g

This week's movie selection is an old one starring Timothy Bottoms and a young fetching Dame Maggie Smith.  Some film guys categorize the movie as a comedy-drama, while others call it a bittersweet romantic comedy. Mister Hero Man says that often a movie is considered a comedy because a drama just happens to have natural funny elements to it. I suppose. But isn't that the life of humans anyway? Missus Lady says that this movie is in the same vein as Harold and Maude , which was released two years prior to this one, except the story of love is more obvious between a woman twice the age of a young man. Missus Lady says she doesn't know how she missed this movie when it first came out. Maybe it had a small run because of the theme. I don't know why many people are askance at a May–December relationship. The Missus Lady would know. The First, and Late, Husband was twice her age. People had asked if the First, and Late, Husband was someone famous or if she (not knowing

We've been quite busy this week getting everything ready for a  party this Saturday. Missus Lady and Hero Man will be celebrating their #21 anniversary. It's a casual affair at the house.  There are so many things to do, but the Humans don't seem too concerned that they've only done a few things. Missus Lady is learning that it takes her longer to do things and that she poops out sooner. Not sure what Hero Man thinks, but he does seem to be having fun.  Boxes still line one wall of the living room. Missus Lady says that if she moves the boxes, then something will have to go into that space. Neither want to think about what can fill the space, and they do want to fill it to cover the dark spot I left when I used to lie there. When Missus Lady thinks the boxes can stay where they are, she says, "Let's go with being thought of as eclectic." We shall see. Purrrrrrrrrrr. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) Setting: Feudal Japan We love this movie! All t

The Humans own the movie I'm writing about today, one of the few that they actually see over and over. This is one of the Missus Lady's favorite musicals. Maybe top favorite. Every so often she breaks out singing "I've just been to the windy city" (usually while cooking or cleaning) and if Hero Man is nearby, he joins in. Happy sounds!  Yeah, they like to sing along during the movie.  The movie was made in 1953, the year that the Missus Lady was born. She said she first saw the movie when she was a teenager so all the Indian-and-Cowboy stuff was your regular movie rigmarole. She knows better today, she said. All in all, she likes this movie because of the songs and she loves how much fun Doris Day had singing and dancing as Calamity Jane. Calamity Jane Setting: The Dakota Territory in mid-1870s to 1880s. I think without the musical stuff, the story would be considered a screwball comedy in the best way. Girl loves boy (not Wild Bill Hickcock) who loves

Emphasis on the word incredible , because this post is, after all, for the letter I for ABC Wednesday. The film I'm talking about today is incredible, no doubt about it. You know what else is incredible? The changing weather patterns. Incredible Harvey. Incredible Irma. And, the incredible high temperatures we had over the weekend. Depending on who was talking, it was 106, 116, or 119 degrees last Saturday. It was so hot I didn't want to eat. Not move a tiny bit at all. I kinda wished the Missus Lady would've shaved me. And, now, tonight, it got so cool, I snuggled on the couch next to the Missus Lady, who was under her comforter. Sacré bleu!   Mewwwwwww. Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance (2015) Setting: Cefn Ffirest, Wales, a once-upon-a-time mining village This is a documentary about a bunch of working class people who pooled their money to purchase a racehorse to breed and raise her foal into a winning racehorse. They called themselves t