In and Out of the Garden: A Blog

I am trying to get some work done, but my little scamp of a cat wants either constant petting or to get into trouble with power cords under my desk. Her name is Peeka. She loves people, the sun and food - not necessarily in that order. We've had her in our lives (along with her more cat-like companion, Bella) for just over a year. We have adapted quite well. And now excuse me, I have a cat who needs her massage.

I have started taking this large basket with me when I pick up my produce at Fairview Gardens, though not with my cat Bella in it. She has always had an affinity for baskets, so it was no surprise to catch her in this one.

A birthday greeting to a friend of ours celebrating his milestone birthday

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'll be thinking about and sending best wishes to Ted, Libby, my parents and the whole gang celebrating at Cici and George's.

My apple pie is in the oven and I've lots more to do, so I'll be back tomorrow with more recipes and pictures.

I got this little Q&A Internet Meme from Leslie's blog "Kaleidoscope"

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper! I love the really cool handmade-looking wrapping paper that you can get for a song at Ikea. But I've also been known to wrap presents in fabric, old posters or even newspaper. Wrapping presents is one of my favorite things about Christmas. I recycle all kinds of odd papers and things. I also love to stamp someone's name on their present or make unusual gift cards. Here's my messy, but efficient wrapping station:

2. Real tree or artificial?
Real. What can I say, it's a big pain and slightly messy, but it smells and looks so good.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Whenever I have time. This year we bought it in early December, and it sat in the living room for a week before I had time to decorate it. I didn't mind since it still made the room smell good.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Usually New Year's Day. But this year I might try to take it down a little earlier.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Yep, love it... especially with a little brandy.

6. Favourite gift received as a child?
I can't remember anything in particular. It was all good. I loved opening presents on Christmas morning.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No, but I do like to display my collection of Madonnas, which I've brought back from Italy over the years. Here's a few:

8. Hardest person to buy for?
My dad. And he has a birthday on New Year's Eve. Doubly hard.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
My mom. She'll tell me what she wants, and she's fun to buy things for.

There, that was pretty easy. Leave me a comment if you decide to join in.

Where this photo came from: More Rudesheim

At the suggestion of Vagabond Artist, a group of us are going to blog every day for a month. Here is the list so far:

What I Really Think
Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
There and Back Again...
Shave Ice & Gelato
Postcards from the Trail
Churches in Venice
Palmabella's Passions
Old Shoes - New Trip
Blond Momentos
Kaleidoscope
Home is where my bed is

Red is the theme today because it is National Wear Red Day, an awareness day for women and heart disease. So I am wearing red today and posting the photo above of my favorite red poppy. This photo was taken on my spring 2005 trip to Tuscany, where there were fields of red poppies all starting to come into bloom.

Happy February and please check back often this month as I make my attempt to blog every day.

The other day while I was walking on State Street here in downtown Santa Barbara I happened to see some of our local celebrities. I've seen them around before, but this time I happened to have my camera. Yes, the photo above is a rat balanced on a cat who is sitting on a dog. I did not do anything fancy in Photoshop. This trio and their owner, Greg Pike, have been a popular fixture downtown. The cat's name is Kitty, the rat's name is Mousie and the dog's name is Booger. Here's a closer shot of Mousie on Kitty.

And for the complete story, check out this video:

As Valentine's day draws to a close, I have thought up just five of the things that I find romantic.

1. A Romantic Dinner
Every Valentine's day my husband and I go out to dinner for Thai food. It must be Thai food. And it's always someplace where you can get some nice hot spicy coconut soup. I love the sweet and tangy flavors of Thai food and, even though we eat it at other times throughout the year, I really look forward to it on Valentine's Day.

2. Flowers are Romantic
But not really on Valentine's day. I love flowers, but it seems to me that the time to give flowers is on any day but Valentine's day. It's a little too commercial, all those stands that spring up out of nowhere just for Valentine's Day. Well, that's my opinion. In any case, roses are very romantic and they smell heavenly, but I think the most romantic flower is Wisteria. I love the way the long clustered flowers can drape over arbors.

3. A Romantic Song
My husband and I have a number of songs that are "our" songs, but I think my favorite is Sting's "Fields of Gold." We chose to play it at our wedding and perhaps because of that, it brings back wonderful memories every time I hear it.

4. A Romantic Movie
There are all sorts of romantic movies, but the one that deserves a mention is Robert Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight from way back in 1932. It is the classic story of the poor, but plucky, tailor who is posing as a rich nobleman. When the princess, who falls in love with him, finds out who he is, there is a moment of despair. But at the end they are reunited and all is well. The movie features the song "Isn't It Romantic?", by Rodgers and Hart. So, yes it is.

5. The Most Romantic Place on Earth
Could anyplace be more romantic than Italy? I'm thinking especially of Venice and Verona and some of the beautiful seaside towns like Positano or Camogli or the Cinque Terre. Ah, but then there's Paris. I love Paris. And I'm quite happy to keep traveling and visiting the majority of the known world that I haven't been to yet to see if there are some other equally romantic places.

Here's an interesting meme from Blonde Momentos. It was started by bookbabie and is based on the book Not Quite What I Was Expecting: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.

The idea is to sum up your life in six words. No more. No less.

It's an interesting concept, but as I started to give it some thought, I realized that the name of my blog was my six word memoir! The name of my blog actually came from a poem/memoir that I wrote about my grandfather. You can read more about that in this entry. For some reason that title made sense to me for what I wanted to write about. I did worry originally that it was too long for the name of a blog. But I seem to have grown used to it. And now I'm quite happy to find out that it's the perfect six word memoir.

If you'd like to play along...

1. Write your own six word memoir

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post (bookbabie)

Here in Santa Barbara today we had the most amazing waves. This photo was taken at Butterfly Beach where the waves were 8-10 feet. According to the offshore buoy data, the swell was 27.2 feet at 20 second intervals. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I do know that the waves were breaking where I've never seen them before and it was quite a sight. Awesome.

Fellow February blogger Blonde Momentos is the queen of finding memes. Just recently she did this James Lipton meme. I watch Inside the Actors Studio whenever I get a chance and love the questionnaire portion of the program. For my Dad's 65th birthday, I put him on the spot at his party and asked him the questions. He had never heard of James Lipton, so he thought I was fairly crazy, but I think we got some interesting answers out of him.

Now, James Lipton's questions are inspired by Bernard Pivot's talk show questions. They are similar but slightly different. So, just for fun, I thought I would do Bernard Pivot's questions:

1. What is your favorite word?
Kinabalu. It's a mountain in Borneo and I love the way it rolls off the tongue.

2. What is your least favorite word?
Slaughter. Sounds awful and it is.

3. What is your favorite drug?
Caffeine. Especially really good espresso. In fact, I am quite addicted.

4. What sound or noise do you love?
A cat purring. I think it's such a therapeutic sound for both cats and humans. I also love the sound of rain, a nice steady patter on the roof. It would be hard to pick my favorite between those two.

5. What sound or noise do you hate?
Fingernails on a chalkboard. I know it sounds cliche, but it really makes my skin crawl.

6. What is your favorite curse word?
Damn. It's such an easy one to say. Doesn't offend people too much, either.

7. Who would you like to see on a new banknote?
How about Carey Grant? Really, I don't see why it couldn't be someone other than a US president. And he always looked so good in black and white.

8. What profession other than your own would you not like to attempt?
Well, really any profession that requires hard physical labor. Let's just say I would not like to be a coal miner.

9. If you were reincarnated as some other plant or animal, what would it be?
A dolphin.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Welcome to Italy.