Friday, July 10, 2020

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Hi, there, Gentle Readers.

How's everybody doing today?

Oooohhhh, really?

I know what you need.

A Lilliputian lashing of laugh-provoking levity.

Let's liquidate the labyrinth.













All right, those are your just desserts.

Now that you're (hopefully) in a better mood, I'd like you all to have a wonderful weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, yeah)


Thursday, July 9, 2020

THROWBACK THURSDAY

It's a balmy day here in the Central Highlands of Arizona today.

2:15 p.m.

Just checked the temperature.

93 degrees Fahrenheit.

When I describe weather such as this as "balmy", SWMBO says "YOU'RE the one that's balmy!"

So what better time to dip into the Wayback Files.

Five and a half years ago.

We lived across town and this is what it looked like on a day in early January, 2015.


There.

Feeling cooler now?

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

HERE, KITTY . . .

I'll bet I fooled you with that title.

No, it's not Friday yet.

But a kitty did come.

All the way from Scotland!


This original, one-of-a-kind sketch came from one of our own.

The artist is Gwynneth Rixon, known as "gz" here on Oddball where her blog,  "ook?!", is available in my sidebar.

She is a master potter, as well as a sketch artist.

And, lover of cats as I am, when I saw the drawing of a "Cat on Bricks" on her Etsy page I had to have it.


Here's a better look at that rascal in his gold frame.

It was shipped by Royal Air Mail and originally was expected in about 10 days.

But the pandemic has things here in the United States on long holds so it actually took 41 days.

Both Gwynneth and I expressed relief that it had finally arrived.

And I am delighted to have it.

Thanks, gz!

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

CLOUD GAZING

When I notice them I am always amazed at the shapes of the clouds in our normally bright blue sky.


I usually don't try to anthropromorphize them.

Actually that sentence was merely an excuse to use that ten-dollar word.

But anyway that cloud formation above resembles a huge white bird to me, flying from left to right.


These I think resemble daubs of meringue, sort of a big Floating Islands dessert.

You may not see them that way.


I have no idea what these are or were but they seem to be disintegrating to me, with small wisps coming off of the larger formation to the right.

I could be wrong, of course.

What I find truly amazing is that the same sky can at the same time hold these lovely white shapes against the azure sky in one direction, while turning my camera around and looking another way I find this.


That mess looks like it contains rain.

Or maybe I'm just boring bored.

I'll be interested, though, to read your views of what you view in these clouds.

Monday, July 6, 2020

SHE WRITES AGAIN

I had an email from SWMBO today.

(That's how we generally communicate through the day.  We get together for face to face conversations at Happy Hour.)

She related an incident that occurred to her last night and wondered if it might make a blog post.

I said I certainly thought so.

So here she is again, in her own words.



A bit over a week ago, while searching for something completely different, we came across a box of letters and cards we had written to my sister back in the 1970's and 80's.

I have no memory of her passing them on to me so I don't know how I have them and she doesn't.

After randomly selecting and reading a few I decided to put them in chronological order so they made some sense.

They seemed to be a very detailed account of our family history at that time, much of which we have forgotten.

So off and on for more than a week I have been making little files for each year's letters and refraining from reading most of them until I could do it in the right order.

Last night I finished that organization while sitting up in bed just before "lights out".

As I started to place the box containing the carefully collated letters down on the floor it slid off my lap and crashed, upside down, and slid across the bedroom floor, spewing the contents hither and yon.

As I stared at the debris I thought "It's not that I don't have the time to re-do the project . . . but will I?"

When I heard the story today I had only one comment: "That's curious. I didn't hear a single $*@$!!&* or !$#@^&*%#!"

Sunday, July 5, 2020

CATS

The blue cat was posing regally in our Back Forty yesterday while a bird stole a drink right above him.



And, speaking of sleeping cats, our Rent-a-Cat, Matty, came in from across the street for a snack the other day and then curled up on our couch for hours!

At one point he seemed to be turning himself nearly inside-out.


And one more cat - this one from Tupelo, Mississippi - began his path to stardom on this date in 1954 when he recorded this song at Sun Records.


Happy 5th of July, folks!

Saturday, July 4, 2020

FELICITATIONS


My Black Plum Clafoutie in a black iron skillet.

Yes.

It was delicious.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!


Friday, July 3, 2020

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Wella, wella, wella, lookie here.

It's Friday!

And you Gentle Readers know what that means.









All right, then.

Now that's you've had your dose of humor you can begin preparing for a quietly epic weekend: tomorrow is the 4th of July!

Don't get crazy.

Stay home.

Watch the fireworks on television.

Wash your hands.

And if you do just have to go out, be a good doobie and wear a mask!

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, really???)


Thursday, July 2, 2020

COVID AND COOKIES

We still haven't heard from the medicos about the results of Judy's Covid-19 test a week ago today.

BUT!

After several days of trying and hitting blank walls and being rejected, I finally was able to create a way to access her medical records.

And way down at the bottom of a lengthy list of test results was the answer.

On her Covid-19 test the result was "undetected".

In other words she does not have the infection!

Whoop-Whoop and Hooray!

I have on my schedule today to make a couple of loaves of English Muffin bread and then a Black Plum Clafoutis.

And she can really go after the Peanut Butter cookies I baked a few days ago.


Once again, to all of you who inquired and sent good vibes and prayers and concern, thank you!

Stay safe, wear a mask and wash your hands.

We're feeling pretty good around here this morning.

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

POT GARDENING

No, no, no, it's not that kind of pot gardening.

This is gardening IN pots.

Like on our patio.



Chives


Basil


Serrano pepper

We got one pepper from it so far.  

It was hotter than . . . . blazes!


Shishito Pepper

We've had lots of these, courtesy of a grower at our local Farmers Market.

They're not really hot at all.

Judy thinks we'll get lots of these if she can just control the aphids and leaf hoppers.


Spearmint

It likes its spot below the faucet where it collects drips.


Tomatoes

Judy had ordered cherry tomato plants like the ones we had last year and the tag says cherry tomato.

But look at the size of this first one.


Looking again at the tag reveals . .


It's a Sakura cherry tomato, which produces a fruit that measures 1-1/2 inches across.

This one is more like 2 inches so when we get a few ripened at the same time I see some BLT sandwiches in our future.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Monday, June 29, 2020

PUZZLED

The BRD is concerned about her Mommy and me, self-isolated in our little duplex apartment since March 16th.

She thinks the M is getting bored with the solitary life.

So she inflicted on us a ONE-THOUSAND-PIECE jigsaw puzzle.

With large areas of it displaying monotone colored desert scenery.

It took us, I think, about a month of fiddling with it, sometimes taking a day or two off, before we finally finished it.

Before I dismantled it yesterday evening, it looked like this.


Meanwhile, when we sleep, we dream.

And our dreams are something like this.


Thanks a lot, Gayle!

Sunday, June 28, 2020

THE STEROID SANDALS

Both SWMBO/Judy and I are somewhat whelmed by the prayers, good vibes and wishes sent as comments on this blog, on Facebook and by email as a result of Judy's account of her recent trip to the Emergency Room of our local hospital.

She was given a test for Covid-19 because of some mild symptoms and she'll get the results tomorrow, we believe.

In the meantime, she's doing very well with the wonder steroid drug Prednisone (only 5 pills for 5 days though, darn it.)

How well?  I'll let you hear it from her own voice.

I've had a pair of favorite sandals in the closet for years.



They long ago lost their right to go out in public due to scuffs and drabness.


But they are so comfortable I couldn't toss them out.

After a recent visit to the ER and a large infusion of steroids those sandals jumped out at me and screamed "Paint us".

So I did.





I'll call them my Steroid Sandals.


But now I can't leave the house because of the Covid Quarantine.


At least I can wear them on the back patio.