7.29.2010

thursday's july2910_1 july2910_2 mocha cakes with chocolate chips and a friendly mouse

7.28.2010

wednesday's july2810_1july2810_2 walk with Hermie, he was skipping and dancing the whole way

7.27.2010

7.26.2010

7.25.2010

super . . . july2410_1
. . . special fish (Case won it for me at Comic-Con, thank you! xo) july2510_1
. . . duper backyard july2310_1 . . . weekend!

7.22.2010

growing july2210_1july2210_2july2210_3 lemons
tomatoes
baby doves
sickly ferns
blue skies
zucchinis
string beans
roses
weeds
sunshine
and sometimes tiny pumpkins
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What are you growing?

7.21.2010

happy july2110_1 very much so.
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Instead of sixty-one candles we went with just one perfect one on top of a chocolatey chocolate cupcake (from here) for our sweet Dad. Dinner, stories, laughter, sharing, a light, then singing... to celebrate his day of birth. He has spent his life building with brick and stone, building a marriage with Mom, building lovely relationships with each of his three girls and building a beautiful life for all of us.
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Thank you Dad, Happy Birthday! xo

7.19.2010

by snail mail july1910_1 Leanna Lin purchased a couple prints from me last year at an event in Los Angeles. ...
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In late spring she contacted me with the news that she was opening up her own shop/studio and wondered if I'd like to be a part of it. ...
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Today I sent a package of cards, earrings and pendants...I was quite happy seeing them all decorated in their tags, packaging, etc. ...
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Thank you, Leanna Lin, I know how special it is to be included in your dream-come-true.

7.18.2010

week's end july1610_1july1810_1ajuly1710_1 friday, saturday and sunday were full of all sorts of things like, cleaning, swimming, movie watching, pomegranate popsicles, bird chatter at the feeder, happy birthday singing, a slice of Mom's german chocolate cake, napping, a green tea jamba, freshly mowed grass and Case's kabobs
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sunday in particular was perfectly warm and lazy, just like Hermie here (prepare yourself for total cuteness!)

7.15.2010

fly july1510_1 july1510_2 ...with a carefree spirit, a soft pillow to fall back on when the days are very long, movies seen and movies yet to be seen with all of us, just the right amount of PHP, kitty pets, late night chats and sips of tea, a warm bath to nourish you right down to your bones, seeing that all your hard work is culminating into something brilliant, knowing that we will all be singing you a happy birthday in just a few days when the world stops spinning so fast.
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Happy birthday my dear sister, Pam! xo

7.14.2010

sugar + tea
july1410_3july1410_1july1410_2july1410_5
An evening out with my family, an early celebration for the two July birthdays coming up...
my dessert is the one in the top right corner, lemon meringue with berries, it was extraordinarily delicious!
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Thank you for such a wonderful night, Mom & Dad, I love our family and the places that are special to us...xo. {7.14}
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two nights ago
july1310_1
One luscious ripe red tomato disappeared in the night. It was completely plucked and gone! I wondered for a moment if the neighborhood kids had hopped over and eaten it, which makes me laugh as I type that. It looks as if an opossum has been visiting the garden just as much as I have and beat me to the first taste of the season. {7.13}

7.12.2010

eggshells july1210_3 newspaper, seeds and cobs without corn july1210_2 junk mail, mango pits, pineapple tops and sometimes a sprout july1210_1 Taking care of the compost is Case's job, but then he went out of town for five days and I had to take it over. After grumbling to Hermie for the first few days ... I found I liked moving the layers, burying the new bucketfuls, smelling the organic scent of decomposition, and seeing the new Sun Chips bag disappear week after week. So maybe it is my job now, or we can share.

7.11.2010

bits + pieces july1110_1 In the spirit of knack I gave new life to an old something I found...please visit me at knack monday morning for my guest posting.
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july9&1110_1july10&1110_1july1110_2 . . . dinner out with sisters, late night movie, baked alaska for the first time, warm rain on sunday afternoon, a walk with Dad and Hermie, freshly plucked plums, bringing out the tiny Barbie clothes Gramma crocheted so many years ago, an almost ripe tomato...one delightful weekend in July
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*hard drive update (see previous post) ... after much research, mainly by my sister, Pam, we learned that some people put their dead hard drives in the freezer and it comes back to life, that was too scary for me. Instead, my hard drive took a long rest, got new cords and with crossed fingers and knocks on wood the light came on! Pam and I quickly began moving the most important files to a new device. It was a great relief and I thank you for all of the good thoughts and well wishes sent my way. Lessons learned: 1. Save important files in two forms! 2. It will be extremely expensive to get items recovered from a dead hard drive, do that as a last resort. 3. I can depend on my big sister to make everything all better when I'm freaking out, just like she always has.
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{7.9 to 7.11}

7.08.2010

thursday
july0810_1 There's nothing I can do about it, just wait and see what can be recovered (I keep saying this to myself and anyone who will listen, over and over again.)
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Today my external hard drive sputtered and quit. I just sat there for a minute trying not to feel stressed about what that could mean. Tomorrow it will travel by mail to a wonderful hard drive fixer and recoverer (please please please recover all of it). I have other forms of back-up, but this was truly the big one.
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I have thought of all sorts of things that are far worse and tragic than this, which has provided a little comfort but also dredged up all sorts of sad things. Please feel free to share positive stories of hard drive recovery...

7.07.2010

biddy + berries july0710_1 Mom's kitty, Biddy, Uncle Biddy as Dr. Martin (his vet) calls him, had a little surgery on his neck to remove a bump that became a sore. Biddy would love to take off the funny t-shirt he has to wear and itch his blue stitches all day long, so in the mornings I go and Biddysit while Mom takes a break to run errands and workout...we eat Mom's delicious berries in her beautiful bowls and listen to the morning air.

7.06.2010

hello
july0410_2 july0610_1
july04&0610_1
july0310_1july0510_1
bright, sweet, lazy, toasty days of summer....{7.3 to 7.6}
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twinkle dinkle july0210_1
little star...a sweet baby photo shoot on Friday, she was all smiles and coos and pink bows {7.2}