Wishing you good health, peace and joy, love and happiness! ~ Su-sieee! Mac 

Molly the Cat doesn't like the sound of plastic bags being shook, opened, or crinkled. Yet, there she was the other morning playing and exploring on the painter's plastic sheeting. Lovely Molly. Doesn't she almost look like she's playing in snow?

Hope it brought you a deep breath and a smile. Enjoy!

Hurrah! I finally had chicken bittermelon soup yesterday. Slurp, slurp. Mmmmmm. The day before we stopped at a Filipino market in Watsonville and almost immediately saying hello to me was a display of bittermelon ( parria to me) and bittermelon leaves. I've been craving bittermelon for the last several months. Unless I grow it, we have to travel far and almost wide to purchase the vegetable. The Daddy and the Mama grew bittermelon in their vegetable garden every summer. When I was a kid the Mama made chicken bittermelon soup at least once a week. Slurp, slurp. It wasn't until the Mama was 90 or so that I finally paid attention to how she made it. Wash and drain the chicken in the cooking pot, then steam the chicken (no additional water yet) with ginger and garlic (how much is your choice). At that magical moment (just before the chicken skin burns in the pot) pour water to cover the chicken and then-some. Put the lid on the pot and step away from the stove. Let the co

When I opened the kitchen curtains this morning and saw the thick frost on the neighbor's roof in the shade, I thought of the Mama saying, "Look at Marie's roof. It has frost. Lots of ice." So fitting for the first day of winter. I felt a moment's wonder of a winter wonderland. Molly and I most definitely had to go outside. Cheers on this Winter Solstice!

With all the open space, in the house and out in the back, this is where sweet Molly the Cat likes to snooze lately. Zzzzzzzz. Purrrrrrrrrrr. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Purrrrrrrrrr. Both Molly and I agreed to skip this week's movie review for ABC Wednesday . It wasn't hard to find a movie that fits the letter X , mind you . We definitely had one ( Ex Machina ). We thought the story line was much too dark for the holidays. Maybe Molly will write about it for the next go round of movie reviews that she decides to do. Click here to check out this week's ABC Wednesday. Thanks, ABCW team! Merry Xmas! and Happy Holidaze!

Quite a mouthful to say. What if you imagine yourself to be in Italia, near the Prealps, hours north of Venezia (Venice)? Suppose you pronounce it with a flourish, as if you're singing . . . tra(y)-des-can-ti-a flu min-en-sis. Be still my heart. Tradescantia fluminensis is the formal name for the green wandering jew plant. Maybe you grew it as an indoor houseplant when you were a young That Girl/Mary Richards thing like me in the 1970s. It turns out the vines by the back fence that grow back with a vengeance, no matter how much I believe I've removed them, are of the species tradescantia fluminensis , hot-cha-cha. I found out last night when I posted this photo on my Facebook wall (my "back fence"). Thanks to Mike for pointing me in the right direction. This plant grows quickly and spreads happily, especially in its role as ground cover. Some places consider it a pest because it can be quite invasive if its owners are not giving it attention. Imagine th