Hooray for books...

 Again with thanks to my west coast brother.  Today is "National Paperback Book Day," definitely a day worth celebrating.  Over the years I have dscovered many of my favorite authors via paperback books. John D. McDonald, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Lilian Jackson Braun and Nevile Shute come to mind.  

During the year that I taught in upstate New York I didn't have a television, but there was a paperback book store only a few blocks from my apartment. It was conveniently located next door to the laundromat.  Pretty clever, I think.

What I like most about paperback books is their portability.  I can easily fit one or two in my small carry-on bag when I travel.  

I know what you're thinking.  "For goodness sake Luci come into the 21st century.  You can listen to books on your I Pod or any similar gadget.  You can even check out audio books from the library to listen to on the go. If you want to hold something in your hand you can read from your tablet.  You don't need old fashioned books with paper pages."

I know all that is true.  There are many, many options out there.  And yet, I can't help remembering the time that my spouse and I were on a cruise and the book I had brought along to read in my spare time (there is a little spare time) which I had carefully downloaded on my tablet from my local library, refused to be read in proper order.  It would start in the middle when I opened it or worse at the end, never at the page where I had stopped.  Eventually I did finish that book but not until I was back in Fort Wayne and could borrow a paper copy from tne library.

So I will continue to carry paperback books with me when I travel. No travel plans right now but I have no doubt that something will be coming up.

Here kitty, kitty...

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "International Tiger Day."  I'm not really familiar with tigers, having seen them at a distance in zoos, but I do think they are beautiful big cats. 

But, closer to home, we have a tiger striped cat who prowls our cul-de-sac most days.  She has a collar and looks well fed so I presume she has a happy home nearby.  

I think, though, that she has delusions of tigerness.  She would like to be padding softly through the jungle or across the veldt sneaking up on an unsuspecting gazelle (or some kind of animal), pouncing and making the kill.

While this may be her dream, her reality is lurking under or near our bird feeders, waiting for some unwary bird to fly near her.  They never do.  

 The antics remind me of a book I used to read to my children about the little blue bird who comes walking along, walking along.  When the following cat gets too close (just when my children would get worried) the blue bird would fly away.  And so it goes in the real life of our back yard.

going shopping...

 Between us, my wonder spouse and I have 10 grandchildren ranging in ages from eight to 27.  Almost all of them are of an age where money is a cheerfully given and gratefully accepted birthday gift.  

However, being pretty sure that our soon-to-be nine year old granddaughter would really like to have some physical presents to open, and knowing that she is quite artistic, my spouse and I took ourselves to the United Arts and Education store today.

This store is a fantasy land of all kinds of art materials, educational aids, games, puzzles and so much more.  

After an absolutely delightful hour of exploring every aisle we came away with several gifts, an interesting variety, that we hope will delight her.  A couple of them might even get her big brothers involved. 

True confession, while we were there we also bought a new jigsaw puzzle for ourselves and I bought myself a nice fat new sketch pad, because being retired gives one time to play and be creative. Hooray!

the perfect food???

 According to the latest food pyramid, a healthy diet should consist of vegetables, meat, fruit, dairy products and bread.  Just coincidentally the pizzas my spouse and I finished off for supper this evening, after having some for supper last night and lunch today, contained all of these elements except fruit, although technically tomato is a fruit.  My spouse likes Hawaiian pizza so his absolutely has fruit.

 

So, does this make pizza the perfect food?  When you consider that it's delicious eaten at home or at your favorite pizza place (we like B'Antonio's), it's reheatable but also fine eaten cold, and seems to keep for a long time in or out of the fridge, I think the answer is obvious. 

Is it a coincidence that the new food pyramid is shaped like a slice of pizza?  I think not.

about those relatives...

 Today, according to my Page-a-Day Maxine calendar, is Parents' Day.

It is also, according to my west coast brother, "Aunt and Uncle's Day" and "Savvy Auntie's Day."  In my life time I have been blessed with wonderful parents, a loving parent-in-law, a loving step-parent, four fine uncles, four wonderful aunts, two loving grandpas and one honorary grandma.  She was a good friend's grandma, but she lived next door to us and we called her grandma.

Now it's my turn.  I am, by age, the matriarch of my family.  I think I was a good mom, my children have turned out just fine, and my adult grandchildren, who are also doing well, love me.  I have also tried to be a good aunt to my three nieces and three nephews and their spouses and children. 

I'm not sure if they consider me savvy (probably not) but I think they know that I love them all.  

Yummy...

 I hope you ate well today.  According to my west coast brother today is "National Hot Fudge Sundae Day" and "National Wine and Cheese Day."  You're bound to find something you like somewhere in those choices.  

My wonder spouse and I managed to find something to our liking.  This evening we went to dinner with my son and his family.  We were celebrating two birthdays and a new job, so lots to be happy about.

My daughter-in-law, one of the birthday people, selected Red Robin as the site for dinner since she had a coupon for a free 'birthday burger.'  The reason and the destination both sounded good to my spouse and me, and so we went to Red Robin for the first time in at least three years.  I used to go there fairly often with my son and his family but the granddaughters have grown up and their tastes have expanded.  Dinner there today brought back some sweet memories.

I had water instead of wine, but I did have a generous amount of cheese on my bacon cheese burger.  It was served just the way I like it with cheese and bacon of course and sliced tomato and mayo.  No lettuce.  I am not a fan of lettuce.  Happily it came prepared exactly as I had ordered it.  This does not always happen in restaurants.  

I am glad to be able to report that the Red Robin onion rings and sweet potato fries are just as delicious as I remembered.  

Sadly, after eating our fill of burgers, fries and onion rings, my spouse and I decided that we had no room for hot fudge sundaes.  That treat will have to wait for another day.  Happily tomorrow is another day.  

Eureka!!

 The new system works and we have water flowing to all of our flowering plants at the front of the house.  Around the other three sides of the house we have bushes, lilys, hostas and similar plants that have been coming up and thriving (or at least surviving) for years.  They do not need a special watering system.  

But now we have a watering system on the front side of the house that my wonder spouse assembled with a little help from me.  He designed, organized and installed the whole thing, following diagrams and directions, and putting all the little pieces together.  My help was of the 'standing by to hold things or hand him things' variety. 

Here you can see one of the larger hoses and the little ones that run off from it to the individual plants.  If you look closely you can see the aqua top of the water spike in the pink plant and the red top of the water spike in the lily. 

Each plant has a small hose running directly to and attached to a little hollow spike which is inserted near the roots of the plant and carries the  water to the roots.  The whole system is on a timer which is scheduled to turn the water on for an hour beginning at 6:00am.  Tomorrow morning will be the first test of this part of the system.  Sometime in the next few days I will cover the exposed hoses with mulch and sometime in August I will post a picture of our flourishng flower beds.  If you do not see a picture sometime in August you can assume the worst, but I have high hopes.