A lazy Sunday morning and the cat and I are communing on my couch.
After about 10 minutes, I pull out my camera and take a few photos of her and I.
It is never perfect, because she doesn't look where you want her to.
But I thought the photo came out cute.
There were lots of projects that I had hoped to take care of, during this "gap" year.
One of them was getting new floors in my bathrooms. The floors we have are the original ones and it was cheap linoleum.
Terrible stuff and now it is 35 years old.
All projects have been put on hold, during this coronavirus and so the other day, when my toilet would not flush correctly anymore, we had to call the plumber. It ended up being that there is something wrong with the low flow toilet and it needs to be replaced.
We gave him permission to replace it with a new one and it was installed on Monday.
I can't wash the floor yet, because of the caulking, but it looks pretty good, for now.
Though I still have to replace the linoleum sometime, but oh well...
My Water Post For Today.
The Coast Guard protecting our ship as it begins to leave San Francisco.
I have never seen anything like this and we had two of them.
Note they had a gun at the front of the boat.
You don't think of security, when leaving on a cruise...but I guess so.
No matter what, it is San Francisco and that is always something beautiful.
I hope you enjoy.
A sunset from last week.
The smoke had cleared out and so it was just the sun doing its thing.
We have not had such weather in weeks, due to the Bobcat fire.
Still, it was so lovely to see.
The windmill just adds to the peace.
Enjoy.
I went shopping on Friday. My day to up my risk of getting the Coronavirus.
I hate it, by the way.
I parked in my usual spot and saw that Vons had quite an outside display going.
I know that last year I took photos at Trader Joe's, but I don't remember Vons going to the effort.
I thought they did a good job and when I passed it by, I stopped to take a few photos of it.
I do love those pumpkins with the knobs on them. They are the pumpkins on the far left on the photo. I would not buy one, but they are definitely one of a kind.
I guess I am not the only person who is ready to decorate for Fall.
My final thought was...I wonder if they take them in at night, or somehow secure them from vandalism. I hope so.
I decorated the outside of my house for the Fall and Halloween and while I was at it, I placed a few decorations around the Living Room.
My Husband did not remember the lit pumpkin, because I usually have it up for Halloween night only.
I decided to place it on my little round table and then asked him if we had any automatic light controls, so that it would light up every evening. Similar to the blue light we have shining in our Den window, for the 2 students killed at Saugus High.
He pulled out the controller for our Christmas Tree and we set it up. A two minute job and I have a lit pumpkin for the season.
I sat at my chair and smiled at it.
I am in the mood for Halloween, anyone else?
Let's start ths post with some credit. This photo was taken by Greg Doyle. It is an excellent photo of the 2 Super Scoopers refilling themselves with water for the northern section of the Bobcat fire.
The photo is taken at the west end of Lake Palmdale. What you can see in the background, is the hill that contains the San Andreas Fault. I went looking for confirmation of what I believed and found this interesting WEBPAGE with photos of the fault line coming through this area of Palmdale. The fault goes right under the Tuff Shed building on the right side of the planes. Those sheds must be pretty tuff. :-)
St. Andrew's Abbey is about 5 miles or so away from this lake, which is a sag pond, and it sits on the San Andreas. A close in spot to refill. Hopefully, they will save the abbey and the other houses in the area of Valyermo, CA.
The Bobcat Fire has been burning in the Angeles Forest for the past 2 weeks.
It has attacked Mt. Wilson for several days and as a matter of fact, is still doing so.
Our firefighters have been working so hard and with air support coming in (from other fires), we keep beating it back...but then it returns.
What this photo shows, is that there is upwards of A Billion Dollars worth of Television, Radio and Communications equipment, up there.
If the fire burns those buildings, Los Angeles goes off the air.
Good luck to the firefighters and may Wilson survive, once again.
Photo is from an Southern California Edison camera and a plane has just dropped phos chek (a fire retardant).
Fall has finally arrived and not a moment too soon.
Coronavirus, heat, power outages, and fire have made this summer, the one to forget.
Looking foward to the falling of the leaves, pumpkin decorating, house decorations, and candy.
All the good things of Fall.
Enjoy the season.
My Water Post For Today.
I was looking for something from last Fall and I found the fountain at The Bowers Museum.
I have highlighted it before, but it looked so serene, it came back for another go round.
Notice that they used the rocks below the fountains, to also be in the bottom of the fountains.
Tying together the ground, the fountain, and the water itself.
I ate lunch right near these fountains and yes, they are beautiful and serene.
I hope you enjoy.
I just concluded my 4th week of school.
It has been much harder than when I started this process in 2013.
I keep hearing from my COM 501 (Applied Communication Theory) professor that she front-loaded the class with readings and now the best part of the course comes, working with theories.
I will let you know how that goes.
Both teachers mention that I need to be thinking about what I will do for my thesis. I think I have a bit of time, before I have to choose that.
No matter what, it has given my life purpose in a time of shutdown and I appreciate it.
I also feel good about giving my school some money and getting something out of it.
There really should be a discount for return alumni, but I am at a point in my life where it doesn't really matter. Thanks Coronavirus...not!
We have had our new kitchen cushion for almost a month now.
The cat has totally ignored it...until Thursday of this week.
My Husband mentioned it to me and when I had a free minute, I went looking and there she was. Not in her normal spot by the window, but sitting in the middle.
I will never understand cats.
A Happy Jewish New Year 5781. The first hint that we are leaving 2020 behind.
In honor of that fact, I decided to bake a New Year spiral Challah, for our dinner tonight.
Please note that the recipe that I used this year is for the bread machine, but it is double the capacity that mine can handle. What I did was halve it.
I added raisins to the recipe, too. My Husband loves it that way.
1 1/2 cups water
5 large egg yolks
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1/3-cup oil
4 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2-cup sugar
1-tablespoon active dry yeast
For egg wash: 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Sesame seeds or Poppy seed
Directions
Place the water, egg yolks, salt, oil, flour, sugar and yeast in the bread machine pan. Process the ingredients in the dough cycle. Remove when the machine beeps indicating that the dough is done.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Divide the dough in half, and then into three sections.
Roll each section into a long strand. Braid the three strands, pinching the top and bottom ends together.
Place on a parchment-lined or lightly greased, or Silpat baking sheet.
Repeat with the remaining dough, making the second challah.
Let rise, covered, for 30 minutes. Brush with the beaten egg.
Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or a combination.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden and the challot sound hollow when tapped.
Cool on a wire rack.
I had an appointment on the other side of the Santa Clarita Valley, on Monday.
On my way home, I end up passing the SCV Senior Center at its new location on Golden Valley Road.
I checked it out once, just before I "retired" and figured I would fill out the paperwork, another day.
Well, as so much of 2020 has proven to us, we locked down just shortly after our return from the cruise and so it never happened.
I knew they were giving out lunches via their parking lot, but I had never gone into it, to see what is going on.
I was alone and I had the time, so I pulled in.
They had a maze of cones that directed you to the small line. I told the first man that I was not signed up for this service.
He told me to stay in line and they would direct me and they did. To a chair with a phone number on it.
I parked by the chair, made the call and gave the employee my information.
A few minutes later she brought me a sign and said get back on the line and show them the sign.
I did and lunch was mine.
I was surprised that there was no charge involved.
Interesting food and way too much. I shared it with my Husband.
A few weeks ago, I took at turn down the street where Saugus High School is.
In the past few months, they finished the big beautiful auditorium out front.
Of course, the problem is that they are not in session and even if they were, they could not use it.
What a shame, especially since all they have had is the gym, for major performances all these years.
"Rona" is taking its toll.
I have moved things around, in my little desk space.
2 plants that were in the way have now been moved to other rooms in my house. You can see what they looked like, on THIS post.
The hanging planter was in the way of my bulletin board and so I decided to move it to the craft room. It is much easier to see the things I am tacking up on it.
To turn on the lamp right by my desk, I have to move the fake rubber plant. It was getting old, real quick.
So it now lives in the Living Room.
If only I could get this education by osmosis, life would be perfect. :-)
My Water Post For Today.
Back at Bridgeport Marketplace and the residents.
I have a photo of a turtle swimming toward me, looking for yummy food.
His problem is that I do not have any food, nor would I touch the machine that dispenses the yummy food.
His loss, but it was nice to get a photo.
I love the "sails" by the water and their shadows. The designer did a great job at the marketplace.
I hope you enjoy.
Nephew number 2 is going to get married next month.
Due to the pandemic and the 14 day quarantine, for entry into his state, my Husband and I have politely declined attending.
I would like to be alive for his first anniversary and be able to attend a celebration at that time.
They did not want us using money for a gift, but I decided to make a custom gift with their names on it.
I ended up purchasing a hurricane lantern that has an electric candle that comes on for 6 hours and then is off for 18 hours.
It has their last name initial on it and their first name etched below the initial.
Being both their last names are with the letter "F", I hedged my bet as to what name his fiancée takes.
A couple of weeks ago, we painted our kitchen cabinets and so we had to keep our kitchen windows open.
I really enjoyed the look of the open windows and the wind blowing through our kitchen.
It was really a totally different atmosphere and made me wish it was not so hot in the summer.
This Monday, it got much cooler and I would have loved to open those windows...but there are multiple fires burning around California.
In other words, I can't use my beautiful windows to make my house better.
I guess that is why I never use them.
It comes every year and it still hits me like a ton of bricks.
We have moved on in our thoughts. Rebuilt the area around the World Trade Center and memorialized the many who died.
Here is my favorite part of the World Trade Center Site. The Callery Pear Tree.
The Survivor Tree, was planted in the area around the World Trade Center.
Somehow, it survived and was nursed back to health and returned to the memorial site.
Life goes on.
I ate the last eggplant on Wednesday.
I felt it was time to show off my garden and how it grew this Covid 19 year.
In the first photo, it was July 2nd, just 2 short months ago.
Everything was hopping. I had cucumbers, eggplant and two types of tomatoes
The bottom photo is September 9th.
What a difference those 2 months made.
I have 1 small "large" tomato, and I am waiting for it to ripen.
I still have many cherry tomatoes, but as they grow upward, they get smaller and smaller.
Nice and sweet, though.
Oh, and one radish left in the ground.
That's it for the year. It was an interesting project to keep me busy...but now it is just about over.
Dying in the last part of summer's oppressive heat.
It finally dropped temperature by about 20 degrees on Tuesday.
Thank goodness for that, it was blast furnace HOT during Labor Day Weekend.
I think part of the reason is the fire up above the Azusa area...you know, the one started by a gender reveal party.
So it did keep things cooler on Monday and much cooler on Tuesday. My backyard was in the 80's.
The sun, when I went out to put out the trash, was a glowing orange orb. Very lovely.
You take what pleasure you can, from the situation.
These days in quarantine seem to run into one another...
The other day, during a search for a post, one came up for MEATBALL STROGANOFF. As you can see if you click the link, I originally made it back in 2015 and I have not made it since.
I had a pound of hamburger meat in the freezer some beef broth that was on expiration, a package of frozen noodles and some onions, so I decided to make it for us last week.
Once again, the hardest part is making homemade meatballs, which I did. You can buy the frozen ones and it gets even easier.
Looking for something different, check it out.
My Water Post For Today.
Here we are, back on Moonstone Beach, with a better view of the shore, then the first one I posted a few weeks ago.
I love the ground cover on the right and the colors, of course.
Note that the sea is actually 3 colors. Usually Lake Ontario is only 2.
Maybe next year...
I hope you enjoy.
We are now sweltering in blast furnace heat.
Just a few days ago, it was still nice and semi-cool and we actually had fog in the morning.
Fog on September 1st, pretty outrageous.
Doesn't it look so cool, through my kitchen window?
I can't wait for the change of seasons.
When I check in on Twitter, usually 1 time a day, people end up liking a Twitter site @Ratemyskyperoom.
This week I finally followed them on Twitter and what a hoot it is.
As one of many, I Zoom and Facebook several times a week, so trying to make my location look interesting, is part of the game. We did it with our Son, right from the start. Acknowledging holidays seasons of the year and Birthdays with Nick-knacks, plants and such.
I started to notice that this Room Rater person (actually a couple) likes when people put pineapples in the photo. I had no idea why, but learned on Thursday.
I checked on the Internet:
"How the pineapple became the ultimate symbol of Southern hospitality. Shaped like a giant pinecone with a voluminous crown, the pineapple immediately commands attention. While it once represented unreachable wealth, the fruit now represents warm welcomes, celebration and hospitality, especially in the South."
I am not into donating to PAC's, but if you purchase a Room Rater 10/10 Pineapple, part of your donation goes to getting Native Tribes PPE. You can see their page, HERE.
Absolutely the best part of quarantine.
Tom Seaver, one of the central figures in the NY Mets 1969 World Series victory, has died.
As I have mentioned before, Tom was one of those first "date" questions that ended up being common ground, for the Californian and the New Yorker.
Tom grew up a few blocks from where my Husband grew up, in Fresno, CA.
When I said that the only person I knew who came from Fresno, was Tom Seaver, my "date" said, yes, we grew up together and went to Fresno High. He was pretty scrany back in those days and did not grow to his full height, until his USC Days.
He showed me his yearbook and there was Tom.
Now, you don't marry a man because he knew someone you followed, back in the days when I was a Met Fan, but it was a touch point.
We have bought Tom's wine, for the past 5 years (and drank one of them). This last year, we knew he was battling alzheimer's (or so we thought), but the wine was offered and we bought some. We kind of knew his days as a gentleman winemaker were numbered.
That day came on August 31st, when he died of complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19. You can read about it HERE.
You will be missed, Tom.
Makenna used to sit on the ottoman in the evening.
Recently, she seems to sit on the floor.
We are not sure why.
She also seems to disappear from our view for hours at a time. It is almost like she does not want to be available to us.
I am glad to see her anytime, but I would love to see her back on her ottoman.
As I found out on Monday, this month is not the Harvest Moon, September 1st is the Corn Moon.
The Corn Moon only happens every 3 years, when the closer Full Moon to the Autumnal Equinox is the one at the end of the month or early October.
This is a 3rd year and so we do have a Corn Moon.
It gets its name due to the fact that the corn is harvested in early September.
I love the stories of how moons get their names.
Saturday breakfast, I went all out.
I had a Donna Bell Strawberry Scone and I wanted some protein to go with it.
I scrambled some eggs, added cheese and bacon and had a true morning brunch experience.
I had to bake all 4 scones and when you decide to eat them, you need to heat up the glaze for a few seconds.
OMG, truly delicious.
To make my life even worse, they bought blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, to add to their normal scones of banana, cinnamon and chocolate chip.
I have to keep reminding myself, they are not cheap...
