Happy New Year- 2008!

This is my happy new year suitcase that stays under the bed until the year's big finale. It's filled with antique noisemakers. And a pin the tail on Froggy chart from a very long time ago.



This one's my absolute favorite: Live Turtle Races every night at 10 pm



But 50-Thrilling Girls-50 and in Paradise- is mighty thrilling too. Sounds a little Islamic- woops shouldn't say that. shh. Not sure what N.T.G. means.

Random NewYear's Eve memories:

My mother saved pie plates, and at midnight we'd go out on the porch.She'd ring a ship's bell and hand Carol and me empty pie plates. We were supposed to think of things we wanted to say to hell with, and then toss the plate over the railing into the side yard.

One early year my best friend Jeanie surprised the family by running naked around the dining room table, as the spirit of the New Year.

A friend of Jon's said he thought the reason New Year's parties don't compare to the parties in 30's movies is because of the ceilings. In movies of that time (and most movies) you never see the ceiling and it makes things seem much more ebullient or something. But it may also be because of the running times- 90 minutes max in the old movie compared to 3+ groaner hours at the party.

I bet I'll be asleep before anyone else who reads this since I woke up at 4:30 and got to the lake before dawn. I can't remember a New Year's party that was really fun, maybe because no one wants to throw that darned whip cream.

Which reminds me of one more old holiday story. Before Dinah was born we had big Halloween parties. We had a tiny backyard with a pool that just filled it. I bought a plaster Santa and put him in the bottom of the pool for a creepy effect. The pool had colored lights. Later that winter we had to get him out. The pool man was complaining. I dove into the most hideous cold water and somehow fetched that bleached out Santa.

And tomorrow Dinah's going to do the Penguin Dive at the Santa Monica Pier. I'm impressed!

Ever happen to you?

You know, when you have to type the swirly letters, have you ever gotten one that actually was a word or a sentence? Wouldn't it freak you out if it said something meaningful? (and don't call ME stupig!)

New Year's Eve Poll

At Christmas I had left over whipped cream, and I suggested to our guests that I had enough left over to fill some pie pans and toss them around. No one encouraged me. So imagine how hip I felt when I read this by burlesque queen Dita Von Teese, in L.A. Times today:

What was your most memorable New Year's Eve?

Last year I invited all my closest friends over to my new house in Hollywood that I had just moved into, and I went to Marie Callender's and bought every cream pie that they had -- about $500 worth -- coconut cream, lemon meringue, and we all paired up and took pies in the face from our best friends. But first we made outfits out of trash bags. So we had a fashion show with trash bag clothing creations, you picked your favorite song and you took a pie in the face from your best friend. A lot of people said it was the best party they'd ever been to. And there was pie on the ceilings. I still think I see little bits of whipped cream from time to time.

Hysterical Olin Mills Studio Shots

"Bobbi isn't the first waitress to fall for her manager, but she and Dale both got fired from Sonny's."

Find them here. The captions are exquisite! Who cares about writers' strikes!
The last picture in the series has been identified as Pioneer Woman- ha!

Secrets of the Deep

Great Blue Heron at Lake Balboa

Seen at dawn-- Reinterpreted via Corel Painter 4 Essentials.

Psychology of Chickens

This picture above is done with my new Corel Painter software on automatic Classical Oil Painting mode. Isn't that wild?

We have a small group of silkie chickens, only one rooster and 4 hens. The youngest hen is two years old-- Pirate, above. She and her aunt Honey have been broody for about a week now, even though they had no eggs under them. Broody is a strange state in which the chicken almost never leaves her nest and flattens out, in a zone.

Yesterday morning I saw Honey and Pirate (who has only one working eye) fighting like roosters, kicking out at each other. I put Honey in another area of the aviary and closed the door. I let her out this morning and things seemed okay, but half an hour later they were at it again and Pirate's head top was bleeding a little. So she's in a separate cage in the garage with a plate full of yummies. She looks creepy below because the Polysporin exaggerated the wounded look- I really think she'll be fine. But as soon as there's blood with chickens you have to watch out for their cannibal inclinations. (ps- thanks Corel for the beauty job!)

Nice Day, Nice Meal

Dinah did the centerpiece with this gnome band my mother sent her. They're from the early 50's. She put a lying down santa in the center.




She liked her presents, and Jon liked the box of curry baked beans I gave him. Talk about your fancy presents... but hard to find. He's heatin and eatin a can right now. Dinah was shocked that I gave him baked beans for Christmas.

Now they spell them "beanz" on the can, which seems very un-British.



Molly got nothing but wrapping paper, but found that quite exciting, and our guests at dinner remarked on how different it was from the old Chow Chow days, where we'd advise guests to walk slowly to the couch and DON'T PET THE DOG!



The Menu, presented so I can check back and repeat parts next year!

Haddonfield Fruit Cup
Roast Turkey
Mashed Potatoes with Giblet Gravy
Roasted Carrots and Red Peppers
Butternut Squash Bake with Cranberries and Apples
Roast Cippolinis
Green Beans with Sauteed Almonds
Cranberry Can Plop
Cranberry Jalapeno Relish
Pineapple Torte
Lemon Meringue Pie
Champagne, Red and White Wine

I must have bought the hottest jalapeno pepper of all time, because that relish was barely edible, even by those who like it HOT. The squash recipe is pleasant and not overly sweet. The pie crust was extra good thanks to Linda Davick's hint to use King Arthur flour. Torte was mighty tasty, even today when I had two slices for lunch.

I forgot to take pictures during the meal-- there were seven of us. After dinner Jon ran a 16 print of one of my all time favorite films, I Know Where I'm Going, dir. Michael Powell.

Makes you actually proud if you have Scottish ancestry! A very romantic film.

I got some books, and $100 to spend the next day at Santa Anita racetrack, opening day, where I only lost about $30 and would have come out ahead if I'd gotten the number right on the first race. Why is it that I get a kick out of people at the racetrack, and am a total misanthrope at the mall, (where I didn't even go this year), when it's more or less the same people?

The little plate bottom left relates to our chicken problems.

My Mother's Christmas Garden

Here is the true story my mother wrote about the Christmas garden house. It's a pdf I made from a booklet she gave us several years ago.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

(mighty busy in the kitchen...)

Christmas This and That

The moon was huge yesterday morning when I headed for Lake Balboa. I went back into the house for my camera.



Molly romped in the last bit of imported snow, a week old.



There are so many Great Blue Herons at Lake Balboa. Also coots, wigeons, egrets, grebes and white pelicans. It's a joy to watch them when we take our walk.



Later I visited Pepper. Looks like his horse bud took this photo! I wonder if there's horse Alzheimer syndrome, as Pepper no longer seems to remember his name. But he hasn't forgotten what carrots are about.

If You Get Up Early

If you get up early, you might see:

no, not Santa!
The Daily Workout at the Santa Anita Racetrack. I've always wanted to see one of these early morning workouts and then found this wonderful webcam. Something about racehorses running in the dark is very exciting. The track opens Dec. 26 and will we be there? Yes oh yes!

actually the webcam seems to run all day. The track has had major problems reconditioning after installing a new "cushion" synthetic track which is easier on horses' legs.

And today we're taking Pepper his Christmas carrots plus some pills hidden in molasses to ease his arthritic aches. Maybe I should take some.

Christmas Ideals

When I was little, a relative subscribed to "Ideals" magazine for me. As I remember it, the magazine was filled with super glossy and heavily staged holiday photos. The magazine itself was very heavy. Does anyone else remember this magazine? What a standard to live up to, though, "Christmas Ideals". I mean, every family has its bumpy patches, and some are like scaling down the inside of a volcano.

The lighting in this picture reminded me of the magazine, and I do love this ornament. It's a big one, one of those you hope isn't going to just drop from its own weight and shatter.

We went to see "No Country for Old Men", based on a Cormac McCarthy novel, with Tommy Lee Jones and a whole slew of folks with interesting faces. I only had to look away about 15% of the time. Jon warned me it would be grim but sometimes I forget what grim means when I'm thinking of the popcorn and arm rests. I think of dust storms and telegrams. But grim means stuff you hope you never will experience in this lifetime. And I don't think I want to read any C. McCarthy novels.

It's a Coen Brothers movie, with no good songs, so don't go on that account. But it's very strong and engaging if you don't mind seeing guts and gore and dead pitbulls. (At least the dogs didn't look very real.)

Night before last we saw a DVD of Persepolis, which I thought was outstanding and a very sensitive artistic treatment of a powerful graphic novel. The subtitles are dreadfully low contrast however, which makes you feel a little frantic when viewing on a small screen.

An interesting observation on NPR this morning between Bob Sheer and the old guy who's brilliant in analysing the week's news. (That would be Daniel Shorr, thanks Jon-- across the room.) Bob said he wondered if the sudden skewing of the primary polls might be due to the writer's strike, because so many base their gut opinions on the late night tv patter and jokes based on candidates' mistakes. Without the patter voters have to think for themselves? Made sense to me.

Here's an image from a 1956 issue of "Christmas Ideals", seen on ebay just now. Not exactly what I was looking for, but looks as if some Disney artist was on staff:



Snails are not customary Christmas images! Joseph and Mary didn't travel by snail. HA!

oh and by the way, I'm hoping John Edwards wins in Iowa!

When Sally Met, uh--um, QUACK!

In the tradition of Valerie Plame, I'm not identifying this secret blogger agent, but we had a very jolly time at Guelaguetzal which has the weirdest menu of any Mexican restaurant in L.A. They serve gorgeous horchata with nuts and melon and unknown items floating in it. Looks like a party in a glass. Tasty!



Ole mole-- my tamale was gigantic and delicious but better left out of the photo.
The napkin dispenser took our picture before we left.



Hey I thought Christmas was the next holiday! Secret agent, we must meet again soon!

Snowman Noses: Important Research

Having nothing at all to do today since we're done buying (very few) presents this year, I snooped around ebay to see how snowmen were portrayed in the past. They didn't always have carrot noses. Coal was a more common nose. So my mother's carrot nose phobia is maybe less peculiar. Women and drunks are often hanging around snowmen in the past.

Michigan moose baby

Ever seen a moose? I did once at a distance, in Yellowstone. They've reintroduced them in Northwestern Colorado, but haven't made them to southern part of the state though some people claim to have seen them. I think of moose as being so goofy looking but this pair is rather elegant.

Maybe you've seen this but I loved the whole series of pictures which came in a forwarded email today. (I don't know Carla Jo.) Here's the story:

"In my 33 years in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, I have never seen a newborn baby moose. This one was not even a half mile from our house. The mother picked a small quiet neighbor and had her baby in the front yard just off of US 2,at 5:30 am. Allen and I were out bike ridin g when we came upon the pair. The lady across the street from this house told us she saw it being born. We saw them at 5:30 PM. So the little one was 12 hours old. What an awesome place we live in to see such a site. Carla Jo"

My Favorite Ornament

Mighty Gator Gal. Jon bought a tree while I watched the Time Warner guy wiggle into our crawl space. We are online again, and the tree is all decorated.

When we should have been buying a tree...

just for you, lovely pals of the interwaves, just for you. sorry it's not better!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Dawn at Lake Balboa was beautiful. This photo comes direct from the camera without Photoshop intervention. I was amazed when I saw what the camera saw.



There was a mound of snow left over from a Winter Solstice event at the Lake on the weekend. Molly went wild.



Dinah came home last night. She still loves chickens, and it was wonderful to see her again, though she shows some attitude here. Welove her.



The pack is back together again! We went to see Pepper and took five pounds of carrots.



Pepper had forgotten his name, but not how much he loves carrots.



He and his pal look like a two headed horse. There's no separation of these two dear buds.

Flying is better in dreams

I just returned from a big haul airline trip. Philadelphia to Chicago to LAX. Philly is the cruelest city for security.

I saw humiliations and missed flights in progress. Wheelchair folks getting felt up! TSAs mocking people's pleas that they would miss their flights. The supervisor got called out to look at my lunch from ShopRite and decided I passed. Everything small in my suitcase was in a plastic bag because they're very hung up about that at this airport. People in line were worrying that they were going to have to take their pants off. Really! I overheard that!

I was allowed to board. Pants on. Lunch intact.

My seat mate, a very cool black chick, told me the Philly airport makes her so mad she tries to trick them everytime she flies out of there, just for fun. (Some like their fun ramped up!)

This time, she said, she'd baked a cake, but knew enough about Philly security that she didn't take the cake in a cake box, she cut it into individual slices and bagged them. But just to prove things she stuck a half-used tube of moisturizer in the middle of the cake slices. Went through undetected. She showed me the tube. Victory? or not? Last time she'd gone through they'd nabbed some new make-up items and she was still mad about losing them. We said goodbye in Chicago where a blizzard was getting underway. I missed her right away.

Sat for an hour on the runway there.

Sat for half an hour when we pulled into LAX. The seats need to be modified to accomodate the new jumbo size human.

I think I like Southwest Air but those snack paks they toss at you are filled with nasty items which you would never eat anywhere but on an airplane because you're bored and hungry. Sugar breadsticks dipped in cheez whiz, with a mega processed salami stick on the side, and experimental chocolate chip crackers to top it off? No child left behind.

I met another black chick who was flying for the first time ever, at age 40 approx. This was in Philly, before the security check. She was really worried, but she told me she thought it would be okay, because she was a Christian. She asked me if flying was like a roller coaster. I told her no, it was more like a medical waiting room, and the worst part was going through the security check. She said her son told her if anyone turned on a cel phone while they were in the air, her plane would crash. And he's seven. But buses were getting impossible, trains too indirect and expensive, so she was forced to fly, Philly to Atlanta to Memphis. We were having a nice talk when the Philly gestapo suddenly separated us, because I'd put my very heavy carry-on on a luggage pusher that had been abandoned, and that meant I had to head down a separate corridor. I had a bad feeling that my Christian pal hadn't allowed enough time for her flight.

ps added the picture a day later, a sketch done on the plane. My hand is wobbly with my favorite pen, a Niji Stylist. I need to draw on paper more often! This was a stream of c picture, remembering Medford Leas, where I spent the last four days. The flying banana peels were inspired by Linda Davick's photos of same. I couldn't figure what the buccaneer ship was about, but the next morning, at Lake Balboa, we saw a mechanized model of one of these ships careening around the lake and it all made sense to me.

Merry Medford

I'm visiting my mother in Medford, New Jersey. It's raining- cold, cold rain but not ice yet. I try to get her stocked up on things when I'm here. She really needs some new slacks, but her shape is very odd at age 92. I thought I had a brilliant idea, "Mom, maybe you should try maternity pants." (Because they have a panel in front.)

Her hearing isn't so good.

"Virginity pants?" she answered. Then we both cracked up.

Geographical Thrills

When I looked at my map just now, my Tasmanian visitor is back, and so is someone from Iceland. wow!

The Xmas Garden House

This is a doll house that my great-grandfather made for my grandmother in 1886. My mother has written a beautiful, sad story about it, but that will have to wait till another time.

There was a tradition of Christmas gardens in Baltimore, long ago. I didn't grow up in Baltimore. I grew up in New Jersey. But my mother grew up in Annapolis, and her mother grew up in Baltimore. She had a very sad childhood.

When I was little this house was always under the tree with an amazing assortment of tiny figures and furniture all around it. Cast iron hoboes, reindeer and skaters, snow babies, turkeys, tiny Oriental rugs, a gramophone, a coffee grinder, a Chinese boy and girl... A train circled the tree. I liked to put my head right by the tracks and see the train coming straight at me. The train smoke was this delicious odd smell.

My sister and I used to fantasize about the second floor of this house, because there isn't any.

I was going to decorate it fully and capture it with stop motion, but I ran out of time. Here's a little test with one Chinese cat and two turkeys. Maybe when I come back I'll do a full version. I've only tried stop motion a couple of times, and found it hard to get a sense of the timing. My new camera has a remote with a shutter button, and I can import the jpegs into Flash.

This and that and Xmas SPLAT!

aww-- from 5 years ago. a Colorado snowman.

My mother's always had a thing about carrot noses on snowmen-- they upset her-- best left to the analysts-- it came to mind tonight as my mind is starting to reel with holidays past and present.

Hope Mom remembers I'm coming for Christmas and not Easter on Wed.

I tried making her great Chex mix tonight after researching various recipes. I knew the ones calling for garlic bagel chips were not her recipe, because those chips hadn't been invented when she clipped this recipe.

The one I tried insisted it was the original from the 50's. While it was still warm I was furious as it was salty beyond endurance, but now that it's cooling off it does indeed taste like Mom's Chex mix. I found it here, and used butter not margarine.

Jon and I decided this was the year to proclaim no presents, except for Dinah, and it's amazing how all our relations seemed to like the idea just as much as we did.

(Actually we're going to cheat and give each other a present or two, but the principle is we don't need a damn thing.)

In fact the idea spread like a stain on a silk shirt and now none of us are helping the economy in China. Besides, how was his stepsister going to get those Frango mints in Chicago when Marshall Fields isn't a store anymore? Even my mother thought it was a great relief, though peculiar, very peculiar.

At the party I went to last weekend, (where I nearly hyperventilated from being around so many loud and attractive people after two months in the boonies), my friend Catherine, a very talented web designer, told me the hot thing she's been tracking is ning, so I bring this to your attention. I grabbed a spot at ning, http://funonmars.ning.com,
wow no one had taken that one yet--but won't have time to make sense of it until I'm back from New Jersey at least. Feel free to join or start your own, and explain to me what it's all about.

You get your own forum with the spot-- that's sort of amazing. And it's free. Yet another way to stay really busy and get dumber in the process.

I'll post again before Christmas-- but it's dicey in New Jersey at the Quaker retirement center, especially since I don't have a laptop.

And you've got to bake this cake

I discovered this recipe for Pineapple Torte this week, and decided to make it for a party we were invited to.

I've only made a few cakes in my life.

This cake was so good people were almost in tears. I'm not kidding. They tracked me down to find the recipe. They were gushing about it, and it was gone. I only had a sliver, and it was just what I'd hoped it would be.



Since I don't have a bowl mixer, I made the cake part with a cake mix. I chose French Vanilla. I should have used two 9 inch pans, instead of 8 inch, but other than that it went smoothly. You mix up the cake mix, coat the meringue on top of the cakes almost to the edge, sprinkly chopped almonds on them, and bake. This provides an exquisite crunchiness which is unlike other cakes.



While they're cooling you make a pineapple custard in a double boiler, then let that cool. Ours was extra yellow because our chickens laid the eggs.

When all is cool you combine the two layers with custard in the middle, then whipped cream along the edges to make it look smooth and yummy. Refrigerate for a while. Don't throw it or drop it. I know it doesn't look so splendid, but it was truly unforgettable.

And announcing!

Jon was no help-- he liked the puns and wittiest ones, but this was a NAME I needed, something that I could say without slurring or spitting.

So I took it to the Pelicans at Lake Balboa. Mouse over and then click to find the winner. (sound on)

The great entries, don't think I missed any:

Lunchmeat
Snow Man
Big Foot
white knight
Marshmallow
pudding head
Pearl
Cotton Ball
My Little Pony
Sugar Baby
Tea Cake
apollo
marcel marceau
napoleon dynamite
silverlight
Tapioca
White Shoulders
Remember Mr. Peabody?(Mr. Peabody)
Caspar
romeo
Snozzi!
Back Door Man
snow bird
Lamb Chop
Eddie Haskell
bertrand russell
Little Chick Pea
Mod Squab
White Lightnin
Mac, short 4 macaroon
James Brown
Mr. Big
Whitey?
Maltese....
Bob
Noel Coward
Squablicious
squabble
Milky Way
Pretty Boy
King Arthur
Dumpling
Kindle
Shmoo
McNugget
Iggy (short for Igloo)
Squabiscuit (a long shot becomes a pigeon)
Rocky
Coconut Creme Baby
Frosty
Sputnik
E. B. White
Alfred North Whitehead
White Cap
Flash Lite
François Truffaut
Mr. Tibbs
Henning
Ajax
Dovezilla
Dollop
Dough Dough Bird
Poppin' Fresh
Clydesdayle (Clyde for short)
De Düva
Candilicioius
Mr. Pickles
Sweet P. (P. for Pigeon)
Puff Daddy
Frappuccino Grande
Stuart Margolis
JCPenney
Walter Pidgeon
Altoid
Bibendum (the official name of the Michelin Man)
beignet
Sugarloaf
Splenda (or Splendove)'cause he's a substitute.
snowbird
white knuckles
white lightning
baker woman
pineapple torte
scratch 'n' sniff
meringue
bechamel
Foster Grant
Gregory Peck
white boy

Why James Brown? Aside from the fact I cracked up right away, we have a tradition in the aviary of totally inappropriate names. (and now the squab has a theme song!) Like the rooster's name is Elle, and the all black chicken is named Star. There used to be a chicken named Axie. Jon's favorite was Mod Squab, but that is hard for me to say,as I see that b flipping back and forth into a d. Same with Squabble, I mean I'd go back and forth rhyming with scrabble or sounding like squab. And then I start to feel like Donald Duck.

I loved these entries. Noel Coward the squab, how funny! Squabiscuit! Actually I'm cracking up all over again looking through this list. Thanks, all. And Marilyn, send me your address so I can mail the grand prize. (funonmars(at)earthlink.net)

Here's the Prize- winner tba Sunday

This dear little chicken saint came back with me from Santa Fe, from the Museum of Folk Arts and Crafts. It was NOT a part of any gift basket-- I bought it for myself! I could say give it a name but NO don't you dare! Seems to me it's a nice prize for this contest, though some pals were hinting about Kindle. But I don't have Pioneer Woman's vast resources. (That gal gives away big bucks in her contests!) In the future I'll drag out some art of mine, but if you saw what a teetery mess that closet is in, you'd say, "Don't open that door!"

I've made a list of all the entered names separate from the blog so I won't remember who said what, and tomorrow I'll go in the cage and try them out. There was a giant hawk in the back yard this morning which the crows were chasing off just as I went out to feed Mr. Mystery and his friends, so I guess the word that there's a new squab in town has definitely gotten around.

Whoever started posting the baking names this afternoon was on a psychic streak with me as I spent the afternoon making the pineapple torte with meringue and whipped cream and pineapple custard. If I don't drop it on the way to a Hanukkah party tonight, it should be a big treat.

Name the Squab all entries in

(The white boy on the left.) The pigeon on the right was stretching his neck to look tall-- he's nowhere near the same size. Lonesome dove in back is the one who lost its mate- seems to find the new pigeon pretty attractive, though.

Your entries are so brilliant I almost cried when I read them. I could make a whole cartoon series with these characters. Now I have to find a really nice prize. Hold on!

New Camera- Sony DSC H-7

Well I hope I get a better sense of how to use the features on this new camera than I did on the last one. This is a glass finial on a standing covered compote from the 1880's, commemorating the West. It has a crack in it, but a lovely Primitive charm with buffaloes and covered wagons. You can see how close up this is by the cobweb. It was hard to get the focus because it's translucent.

bit 101 meets bill gates

Keith Peters, aka bit-101, has contributed enormously to the development of friendly experimental code in Flash over the years. I've tech edited a book or two of his, but he is in a stratosphere/universe way beyond me with code.

I stumbled onto his blog tonight, where he describes a meeting just this week with Bill Gates, with lots of illuminating future talk. I loved reading this.

Scratch n Sniff Wallpaper

Read about it here. hmm, hmm, snmm, hmm.

Pineapple Torte?

No, actually it's a picture of Strokkur beginning to erupt in Iceland, a place I'd love to visit. I found the picture at this lovely site/blog : www.julepstyle.com
It's beautifully designed and a treat to peruse. All about Southern life today and yesterday.

The way I came upon it is so circuitous I have to tell you. We have a zillion small chicken eggs in our refrigerator, and I got to thinking about making a cake, or something with meringue, to use as many as I can. And then I started thinking about the elusive pineapple torte which my Aunt Bay made for me the last time I saw her, about twenty years ago, in Fayetteville, NC. I've never been able to find a recipe for this exquisite dessert, but last night I typed in pineapple torte southern recipe, and here it is.

Aunt Bay, (Mary Pride Clark) was my father's sister, and a great cook. The recipe does not look easy, but sometime this month I'm going to attempt it.

I'm up EARLY because some business things are perking maybe- cross fingers. I'm going to visit Pepper and wish I had my new camera, but it's more important to get out there and get him some carrots.

More Krampus madness

My j-walk bud, mean jean, found more on Krampus than I was able to provide. Cool stuff!

Frankly, my dear Frog

Alex Cox took this great photo of our kitchen frog, Pixie, some time last year. Pixie's still in the kitchen, now 13 or 14 years old. I bet she's the oldest frog in Northridge!

A nice day. Saw my buds at the lake this morning, and they remembered me. Sandy the can picker said, "Welcome to the Funny Farm." I told her we'd been in Laughlin, Nev. and she said when she was married they had an airplane and used to fly into Laughlin. There was a dirt road they'd circle over to make sure it was clear to land. At that time there was just one casino. Jon said, "If she used to own an airplane, why is she picking up cans now?" The mystery.

We took Molly to the dog park, a place she hasn't visited in two years, and she was well behaved and happy to be there. I used to spend a part of every day at this dog park... for years! I saw people I remembered but no one seemed to remember me, which sort of surprised me, as I don't look much different. But Lulu the Chow Chow used to be the dog I took there, and Molly was still small. I realized they knew me by my dog and not my face.

Later planted 60 seedlings in the back window box: pansies, stock, snap dragons, violas and sweet alyssum. Usually when I buy plants I have no color sense operating at all, just buy the brightest looking ones, but this time, since all they had were pinks, whites and purples, I observed the color scheme. Hope they do well.

We lost three white doves and one fancy Australian while we were away when a gate was left open. The pet sitter substituted a squab, which is a dove as big as a chicken, kind of gross looking but amusing, and the squab's companion, a pigeon. The birds seem fairly calm about it all, but this fat squab is straining the perches.

I ordered a Sony camera (Sony Cybershot DSC-H7 8.1MP Digital Camera with 15x Optical Image Stabilization Zoom) with an actual lens from Amazon, and hope it gets here soon. I got tired of reading camera reviews and this one was under $300.

Here comes Krampus

google image Krampus and you'll see some very strange pictures from long ago. I know about this from postcard collecting.