Confessions of a Lazy Blogger

 

My daughter's kitty Zizi who passed a while ago

I have been enjoying other bloggers' long posts full of links and photos and diary-like reporting of their lives, and I think yeah I should do that too. Then I think nah I can't be bothered. Today I had planned a longer post for Jim's Song Lyric Sunday, which would have featured the song "I Hate Myself for Loving You" by Joan Jett, who was born in September (the theme). I had the idea of relating the lyrics to my own experience of the same, as this month marks the 10-year "anniversary" (9/25/16) of when I met the Michael who ghosted me at Thanksgiving (as opposed to all the other Michaels). I was going to jabber on about the significance of the square numbers, and go through the whole boring story again, even though some of you have heard it a few times already. 

Meh.

I find that I just don't care enough about it any longer to talk about the details. If it's uninteresting to me, I am pretty sure I can't make it sound interesting to you. Plot twist: I'm happy that I no longer care about what happened 10 years ago or any other dating experiences. They're all a big stupid blur of who gives a f*ck?

Nothing else grabbed me to post for SLS, so I thought OK I will do Joyce's Hodgepodge. But the theme is football. I mean, it goes beyond football, but ugh. Football. If I participate and share my link, then I will need to read other posts on the topic to participate fairly... blech. This is nothing against people who enjoy football. Some of my best friends like football. Hah.

I saw someone in my feed post about "lilac," and I followed the link back to the OP, who are a couple peeps I interacted with years ago on Wordpress, but they have their comments disabled. Blogspot posts do not "ping back" to another post when you create a link; the only way to alert another blogger that you tagged them is to go over there and leave a comment. I don’t mind doing this occasionally, but if comments are disabled, I don't feel like dealing with it, going to all the pingbacked links, hoping for a few return visits, blah blah, even though I might have done that if I could have commented, which makes little sense as it's the same thing, but hey. Then I thought, fine, I'll just do my lilac post for my loyal readers who come here of their own free will just to read exciting posts like this one.

Meh. I was out of the mood by then.

Generally, I avoid the diary type of posts because I have to leave out too much, since I don't post about work in any specific way nor do I want to say anything about family or friends that they might not like. I have been burned before in writing about these topics. It doesn't seem like anyone I know in "real life" reads this blog, but if I ever mention something like say a roommate I had back in Huntington Beach, then you can bet they will come slithering out. I do use the name Michael, and occasionally Jim, as there are a kabillion of them, and I doubt one will want to make himself known by jumping up and yelling YES I'M THE AHOLE!

I see that the Sunday Whirl Wordle has some really pretty words in it like mosses and plumes and forest and ruffle, so maybe if I get over my lazies I will write a poem with all the prompt words. Hazy images are starting to materialize in my mind...

Here's the bottom line (literally): I don't want blogging to take much effort. If an idea for a post turns out to be Not Fun and a Giant Chore to continue with, I delete it. If participating in a "blog hop" takes a bunch of work, I'm out. There are too many books I could spend time reading instead.

Two for Tuesday: Movies

Two ducks in Los Angeles 

Last Friday my friend and I saw Coyote vs Acme at the Bella Terra theater in Huntington Beach. (Dinner first at the Cheesecake Factory, which is always delicious, even if you don’t have dessert.) We really liked it! Just good nostalgic fun with no profound messages, except maybe a reinforcement of the thrill of the chase being superior to the catch. (Sometimes.) If you aren’t that familiar with the old cartoons however, you might not find the movie super enjoyable. Apparently, the film was inspired by a 1990 article in the NYT, which you aren’t even allowed to read as a gift article if you don’t have a subscription. Whatever. They suck.

Saturday I went up to Los Angeles in a carpool to see Project Hail Mary with other friends. These peeps have a super big TV screen, so we had the pleasure of that along with the comfort of being in a private home. I’m glad I read Andy Weir’s book first because otherwise I might have been confused at some points, especially during the backstory scenes. I really enjoyed seeing how the alien was depicted onscreen after imagining him via Andy’s words on the page. It was an excellent movie, and we all loved it. I highly recommend the book and the film. 

Unfortunately, my alien-themed cupcakes, while cute, tasted awful. Pillsbury is usually great, but the pistachio cake mix, along with the frosting, was just plain yuck. I don’t understand how they messed up so dramatically, but I had a bad feeling as soon as I opened the box and took a sniff. Since sometimes my sense of smell is off, I made them anyway (baked late Friday night and frosted Saturday morning). I definitely do not recommend this product.

I also saw The Phantom of the Opera musical at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa on Sunday (told you I’ve been busy, not to mention working some OT for month-end). The tickets were a birthday gift from my daughter and son-in-law. We were all unfamiliar with the story, but the singing and costumes were gorgeous, so it was a lot of fun even if we didn’t follow 100% of what was going on. One of my close friends was at the same showing, but her seat was nowhere near us, so we couldn’t chat.

A musical version of The Great Gatsby is scheduled for next May at Segerstrom, and I hope to see that too. I am familiar with this story! I only read the book like five times and watched two versions of the movie. 

Two for Tuesday: Huntington Beach

Brown sugar cinnamon latte at Grim in HB (my photo)

1. On Sunday, I had a very early coffee meetup with two friends at Grim Garden in Huntington Beach (Warner and Newland). What an adorable little place! The whole café is "grim" (dark) themed, complete with an open vertical coffin in which you can pose for pictures (see my Instagram @lightm0tifs). There are green plants everywhere, giving it a tea party vibe. My friends loved their iced drinks, but I have to have something hot first thing in the morning (even if it's already 80 degrees out), so I ordered their special brown sugar cinnamon latte. It was so yummy! They had pastries too, which looked delicious, but I didn't try one. (I have a bunch of wonderful cookies at home due to my decorating class on Saturday morning ~ also on my IG.) Grim gets a 10/10 from me, and I would definitely return.

2. In the afternoon, I decided to go to a romance novel pop-up event in HB (Warner and Bolsa Chica), despite taking a break from the genre at the moment, especially from contemporary romance. I recently received a set of Regency romances that I will read soon. Anyway, back to the pop-up... there were several books I might have been interested in, but the prices, eeeek! I didn't realize that it's normal to charge $30 for a new book! Yes, they are pristine, and some even have the highly desired sprayed edges, but I'm happy to read a library book that's been paged through a hundred times and return it. I don't have space in my place to hoard books, and I keep only special or meaningful ones, which excludes most romances.

I went inside the pizza place where some local romance authors had their own books for sale. Same thing: I might have bought a few if they weren't so expensive. I felt kinda bad just looking and leaving, but oh well. Back outside, I browsed the "merch," some of which was cute, but I don't need a hat or a book bag. There were cheaper "mystery date" books that I could have gambled on at $12 each (covered in wrapping paper with an enticing blurb taped on), but I didn't end up getting anything at all. To be fair, some of the (uncovered) books were “only” $22.50, but still. I am not saying that authors don't deserve these prices for their books... I just can’t afford it at the pace I read. 

When I read a romance or a thriller novel, I gobble it up like a package of candy. I can read a 300 page book in a day! Contrast that with a deeper, crunchier read, which I savor and take my time with, maybe even make some notes… those type of books I do pay more for and keep on my shelves. I don’t expect them to appear in the KU program either. No offense to any romance or thriller writers ~ these books can be very fun reads ~ but I am not paying $30 for one.

See you at the next T4T!

Sharing My World

Gatsby, my soul kitty (my photo)

Hey, it’s been a while since I responded to one of Di’s Share Your World posts, and I couldn’t resist this one. 

1. What have you recently forgotten to do until the last minute?

I’m probably jinxing myself here, but my answer is… nothing! One of my main OCD tendencies is to make lists of everything and add reminders to my calendar for every possible minor deadline or even things sans deadlines that I simply want to accomplish. There are things I should do but haven’t done, of course, but that’s not because I forgot ~ I just don’t wanna do them.

2. How many blog posts do you publish on average a day?

I would say probably one or two. Blogger doesn’t show you highly detailed stats the same way that WordPress does, so this is just my “feeling.” When I first began this blog (or wiped and restarted it) in the summer of 2024, I vowed that I would not post just to post. My old WP blog had loads of filler posts that embarrassed me when I looked back at them. Back then, it was normal for me to post five times per day ~ I probably went three or more years without skipping a day! Now, I regularly skip days. Last week I think I skipped two days. 

3. How long have you been blogging?

Short answer: 22 years, with a few breaks. Skip to Q4 if you aren’t interested in the long, meandering saga.

I began my first blog in 2004 (Ultrablog from my then-screen name of Ultraviolet) because my writer friends were all starting them. Most of those friends have given up blogging, sadly, and their blogs lie abandoned in the internet graveyard. They still operate under the illusion that’s it’s possible to have meaningful conversations on Facebook. I despise FB! I’m only there for my book club now. The latest horrible annoyance is their refusal to hide/ mute stuff you request. They literally do not care how miserable the user experience is; they care only about the ads and business pages people pay for. 

Sorry, irrelevant rant. The 2004 Blogger blog got derailed over the Pit Bull War, my comments were “hacked,” and I deleted the whole thing in 2007. I began a new, quiet Blogger blog that focused on cats and trivia, but I became bored with it. At the end of 2007, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and I started a private Blogger blog to express my thoughts surrounding her illness and death. I think I invited 20 readers to commiserate with me. After my mom died, I archived that blog and took it down.

A year later, my divorce was in process, and I began dating a man who was supposedly going to leave his wife (ha ha). Since I was frequently depressed over my entire situation, I began a WordPress blog to post angsty song lyrics, snippets of poetry, and sad quotes. That ended up morphing into my long-running blog, which I paid for to eliminate ads and kept up for over a decade until I got heartily sick of it and of WP generally. I deleted that blog in early 2023.

But I still had this Blogger blog! This wasn’t my original blog or my trivia one, both of which had been deleted; this was simply my backup blog, which I used when WP was being glitchy to “hold” posts until WP behaved again. Anyway, I decided in 2024 that I missed blogging after seeing a movie and desiring to write about it, so I wiped this one and began anew.

4. If you had to rename your blog, what would it be?

Idk. I really like this name, but if I had to rename it, I’d choose something like Pointless Meandering.

Gratitude: I am thankful that I figured out how to give Inky her flea pill. She doesn’t go outdoors, but fleas are everywhere, and one might sneak inside the house, so it’s important to stay protected. This particular pill is very grainy and hard to stuff down her throat, so I gave up for a couple months, but Saturday I was determined. I put a dab of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on the pill to make it slippery. After making sure she swallowed, I put a tiny dab of it on her nose so she’d lick it off and swallow again. It worked! Yay! (I used to give Gatsby topical flea prevention meds, but those are icky, and I want Inky to be able to take a pill.)

No, I don’t have real butter in the house. I like butter to be fake and spreadable. Thanks for asking. Also, before anyone starts, the Chewy vet said this was okay to do.

A Pearly 'Podge

With my pink pearls in Queens, NY (1988)

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week by responding to the following questions.

1. What's something on your August calendar you're looking forward to? Or dreading if that's easier to answer. 

My daughter and son-in-law are treating me to a production of The Phantom of the Opera at the end of August, and I am very much looking forward to that, as I have never seen it live, only a bit of it on TV. I'm also seeing Project Hail Mary at a friends' house, and I plan to make alien-themed cupcakes to bring for the potluck. I finally ordered a proper cupcake carrier so my treats don't get all smushed in transit.

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day...do you partake? How do you feel about pearls? 

When I was a kid on the East Coast we ate raw oysters all the time, and they were delicious! Nowadays, it's really dangerous to eat raw shellfish, so I never do. I'm even wary of sashimi (got very sick from it in 2016 around the time I met the ghost guy) and usually order cooked fish with the very occasional exception of tuna or salmon (the crabmeat or fake crabmeat in California roll sushi is always cooked). My mom made oyster stuffing a few times, and I absolutely loved it, though generally there aren't that many opportunities to order cooked oysters. I'm not a fan of oyster soup, which for some strange reason my parents always had on New Year's Eve. 

As far as pearls, they're okay. I have some pretty pink pearls that I received as an engagement gift, but I don't wear them often (see the photo above). I enjoy the scene in Mamma Mia Here We Go Again when Donna and Bill go diving and find an oyster with a pearl in it.

3. Tell us about a time when you felt like 'the world was your oyster'. 

Uh, I don't know. I guess the good life was mine when my girls were little and my ex's business was successful. I didn't have to work. We had a nice house, and I didn't worry about money. My parents were still around and healthy. Etc. That lasted from around 1992 to 1998.

4. Trip Advisor lists seven islands in the US that require no passport (for US citizens). If you're answering today from outside the US you'll still need to produce yours. An-y-way, have you been to any of the seven? Let's pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one this month...which one do you choose and why? 

Catalina Island California~Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts~Mackinac Island Michigan~Key West Florida~South Padre Island Texas~or Kauai Hawaii

I have been to Catalina and Kauai, both of which are gorgeous. Since I am not a fan of plane travel, I would choose an all expense paid trip to Catalina again (from where I live, you take a ferry over).

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following- 

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."

Agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month? 

I don't feel the best of summer has gone, at least not this year. As I said at first, I have at least two fun events coming up in August and possibly more. While I used to look forward to September, I don't now because of the beastly hot weather and horrible winds here in coastal Southern California. September is migraine central, basically (although mine have improved a bit, so we'll see). I do enjoy October, when it cools off a bit and we start talking about Halloween.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I didn't get a great night's sleep last night, so I am enjoying a slow, lazy day of not doing much, while trying to work up the energy for aerobics. Later, I will watch S3 episode 7 of House of the Dragon.

Tiger Striped Hodgepodge

Meta AI created image of "tiger fudge"

Happy last week of July! I am participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week by answering the following questions.

1. What was the last thing you celebrated? 

We celebrated a friend's birthday with a Friday dinner at BJ's and seeing The Odyssey. I enjoyed the film but it was very loud, very long, and very violent. I wore earplugs the whole time, which someone told me to do, and I definitely appreciated that advice. Saturday the party continued at the Orange County Fair where we attended the fabulous (and glittery) combo cover band concert of Kenny Metcalf as Elton John and ABBA LA. Very fun! I wandered around the fair for a couple hours, mostly staying indoors to see the exhibits because I enjoy them and also because the weather has been extremely hot and humid here. Sunday (today) my family got together for a pool party and to celebrate (a bit belatedly) my grandson's birthday. He seemed happy with the FIFA themed foosball tabletop game I gave to him.

2 July 29th is International Day of the Tiger. Besides the wild animal itself, when you hear the word tiger what's the first  person-place-thing-whatever that comes to mind? 

Tiger fudge. This ridiculously delicious treat is made with melted milk chocolate chips, melted white chocolate chips, and heated peanut butter. You pour each layer in a pan separately and then swirl a knife through the whole thing to make it stripey. Refrigerate it until completely cold and then cut it into little squares. Meta AI didn't know what tiger fudge was, but after I described it, I ended up with the above pic, which I think is adorable.

3. The expression 'eye of the tiger' describes someone with intense focus, determination, and the drive to succeed. What area of your life are you currently bringing that kind of energy to?  

I don't have this level of focus and determination any longer. I prefer to do things at a moderate pace, probably because when I was focused and determined, it didn't lead to the success I wanted, so why not enjoy life a bit more? For example, I no longer force myself to get up at 4AM and write for three hours before work. That didn't lead to publishing success, so I might as well get more sleep.

4. What was the last meal you cooked? 

Hahaha. I don't cook for one person (myself), except for the simplest things like an occasional omelet. It's too hot to cook now anyway, and I prefer salads and fruit bowls with yogurt or cottage cheese.

5. Describe your July using exactly five words. 

Hot, humid, exercising, reading, blogging.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had over 3000 views on this blog yesterday, which is disturbing, since I know they're almost all bots. What do they want from me? I think the massive view numbers began when I did April A2Z this past April, and they've been rising steadily. Before that, I hardly had any visitors, so the bots must scrape blog addresses from public lists, such as A2Z.

Father's Day Hodgepodge

Dad and me in 2011, RIP

I'm participating in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week. Happy Father's Day!

1. Summer's here!  In the northern hemisphere anyway. If you're in the southern hemisphere substitute winter for the word summer. What do you love most about summer? What's your biggest summer pet peeve? 

I love that my commute gets better because school's out. I love the Orange County Fair. I love warm days and popsicles dripping down my hand.

Toward the end of summer, the beastly dry and hot Santa Ana winds return. Instead of wind blowing from the ocean, it blows toward the ocean, filling our coastal air with all the dirt and dust from Inland California. It's really disgusting and gives me a migraine.

2. What song always reminds you of summer? 

Anything by the Beach Boys, of course! 

3. What's something you remember about your childhood summers? Do you think kids today get to enjoy summer the way you did as a child? Elaborate. 

Going to the beach with my mom. Trying to learn how to draw dogs from a book. Playing Battleship and Clue with neighborhood friends. Pretending our picnic table was a pirate ship. Riding my bike to Dairy Queen for a Mr. Misty. Reading romance novels. Watching TV. Trying to get a tan. Spending a lot of time alone.

I'm not one who likes to wax rhapsodic about the olden days when everything was supposedly better. I think that's BS, honestly. I had a lot of lonely times, and I was bored a lot too. Maybe today's kids are scheduled a little too much, but overall I think it's cool that parents try to make sure they have fun things to do with other kids during summer, while also learning new skills and getting exercise.

4. We celebrate Fathers Day on June 21st. Do you favor your dad in looks or temperament? Tell us something about your dad. Or your husband as a dad. Or a son/son-in-law as a dad. Or your grandpa. 

As you can see from the above pic, I look a lot like my dad. My temperament is similar to his as well: I'm introverted, introspective, and wordy. Usually I'd make fudgy brownies or chocolate chip cookies for my dad on Father's Day ~ he had a big sweet tooth, as I do. I miss him.

5. Let's wrap up with a summer this or that:

flip flops or sandals

beach or pool 

watermelon or peaches

shorts or sundress

iced coffee or ice cold lemonade

amusement park or water park

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My ex-husband, the father of my children, is dying in hospice. It's a tough time for us right now, and I may not post or comment much this week. 

Thanks for understanding.

The Grumpy Eleven

Crystal Cove, CA

I’m participating in John Holton’s Writing Workshop this week with an eleven-sentence grumpy post about things I currently hate, and this sentence counts as the first sentence, since I know how to follow rules unlike some bloggers.

I am sick of hearing about the reflecting scum pool and will immediately click away from any piece of writing that mentions it.

I dgaf about Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO, their cheating, their health issues, or their divorce, and I shouldn’t even know these things except they keep headlining.

The big stupid wedding coming up — ughhh, GTFO of my newsfeed.

I am continually enraged by the people at my condo complex who keep missing the giant garbage bin and leave their disgusting trash splattered all over the ground.

I hate waking up in the middle of the night due to my chronic insomnia only to see an article about how lack of proper sleep causes dementia.

What was I talking about again?

I need a recipe for lumpy cookies that could be called “moon rocks” for a party next month (friends celebrate the anniversary of the first moon launch every July), and they need to be vegan (eye-roll), so please give me relevant suggestions.

I’m proud of myself for sticking flawlessly to my new exercise plan—and now after two weeks it’s become a happy habit, which means I don’t struggle to remember to do it, despite my dementia.

I reported a bus driver to OCTA last night for driving dangerously, and now I feel guilty about it because what if the poor driver was having a terrible day or has insomnia or his wife just ran off with Jelly Roll?

I lied—I don’t feel the least bit guilty.

Inky Pinky Hodgepodge

Inky pinky painting

I'm participating in the Hodgepodge again this week, which is hosted by Joyce. She sure comes up with some great questions!

1. June 17th, 1994 was the day of the infamous O.J. Simpson car chase. What were you doing in 1994? I'm guessing somebody is going to tell me they weren't born yet but that's part of the fun of the Hodgepodge. Lots of generations are represented here. 

In June of 1994, I was a 33 year-old SAHM, so I imagine that I was doing mommyish things and not paying much attention to the news. I vaguely knew this big event was happening, but I had way more important stuff going on, like coloring with my daughters and baking cookies.

2. What's your favorite summer salad that isn't the traditional tossed green lettuce kind of salad? Do you like fresh fruit in a salad (other than in a fruit salad of course)?

I love fruit salad and fruit in any green salad, especially berries and mango. My favorite summer salad is the strawberry poppyseed chicken salad at Panera (check it out).

3. Is chivalry dead? Should it be? 

Chivalry is a double-edged sword, pardon the pun. Obviously the old-timey chivalry with knights and jousts and stuff is dead, except at Medieval Times and Renaissance Fairs, but we now use the term to describe "gentlemanly" type of behavior. While it may seem nice for men to be especially courteous to and protective of women, and also pick up the check, that often comes with a price. I think we all know what that price is. The concept seems pretty dead to me these days, but I have aged out of that world, so I guess I don't really know. Personally, I'm fine with not having those things and not being expected to do anything in return either. As far as holding doors/ elevators, that's just general politeness ~ people do it for each other regardless of gender, which is how it should be.

4. Would you rather spend a week of your summer vacation in Hawaii or Alaska? Have you ever been to either? Are they two places you really would like to see? How do you feel about 'Hawaiian pizza' aka pineapple on a pizza? Have you ever eaten Baked Alaska? 

Neither, as I dislike traveling and being away from home/ kitty. I've been to Hawaii a few times, and it was nice. Friends have taken Alaskan cruises, and the photos look interesting, though cruises appeal to me even less than vacations in general. I'm totally fine with Hawaiian pizza, though I probably wouldn't order it, as I prefer an all-veggie pizza. We had Baked Alaska at my second wedding (1988), which was a terrible idea (not mine). It was dramatic and tasted fine, but I missed having a real cake. 

5. World Cup play is happening now...are you interested? Watching any matches? Did you or your children play soccer/futbol? There are eleven US cities hosting matches--Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York with the stadium in NJ, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle along with  three cities in Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver). You get free tickets to one of these matches. Which city do you choose? Tell us why. 

I have zero interest in any sporting events. My daughters did not play soccer. I guess I would take the free tickets to the Los Angeles games and give them away to someone who'd enjoy them.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

On Saturday, my friend Lisa and I had dates ~ literally. She brought over hot honey sushi (don't judge; it's delicious!) and date rolls with coconut. We watched the first part of the HBO Billy Joel documentary (I already saw the whole thing, but she hadn't), and will watch part two in a few weeks. It's excellent! The reason I resubscribed to HBO is because House of the Dragon is returning for the third season next Sunday, and that's one of the rare shows I enjoy. (See, I can suspend my disbelief for dragons!) It's been a while since I subbed, so I clicked on the cancel button to see what it would entail, and they thought I was cancelling right then, so they offered me half price for three months. LOL! I guess I will have HBO until October now. Any movie recs? Since it's so long between seasons and my brain is stuffed with so much junk, I am rewatching S2 of Dragon this week to prepare.

Yesterday (Sunday), my coworker and I did a "paint your pet" session at Pino's Palette. No, we don't put paint on the pet! We paint from a photo. She did her cute poodle-type doggo, which came out great, and I painted Inky. Because we needed room for her tail, the canvas has an area that needs "more," as you can see in the above image, so I ordered some large black stickers from Amazon to spell out her name on the left side. I'm really pleased with my painting, especially the eyes!

Today (Monday) I took the day off from work and will be driving up to Los Angeles in a few hours to see my granddaughter in her first ballet recital. I'm happy I can do this, as I don't get to see the kiddos all that often. Living an hour's drive away (at the best of times) sounds close, and it's certainly closer than a plane flight, but it's not like I can just pop in whenever. Visits are always planned around work and school.

That was more of a recap than a random thought!

Sleepy Hodgepodge

The puzzle I finished tonight (image on box cover)

I'm joining in Joyce's Hodgepodge again this week. It's been a stressful month-end (again) at work, so I am looking forward to better sleep, exercise, healthier eating, etc., now that I can relax a bit. Hopefully, June month-end won't be as nuts, but I am not holding my breath.

1.What's something you find extremely difficult that most people would say is simple?

Lately, sleeping. In the past, dating.

2.  "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow fast in movies I  had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Does the season of summer make you feel this way? Elaborate. 

No. I guess I have never lost the school mindset. To me summer is the break between the end and the beginning, which is September. I think of summer as a lazy lull, not "real life." 

3. Pickles. Love 'em or no thank you? What's your favorite type of pickle? What's something you eat that definitely needs a pickle added?

Uh, I guess I'm "pickle neutral." I don't hate them, but I never think about them either. If I never had another one, I'd be fine. I like them on cheeseburgers, except I never seem to order cheeseburgers these days. Those would be sweet pickles; I don't like the big sour deli ones because heartburn.

4. Tis the season...do you know any June brides? Are there any weddings on your summer calendar? What's your favorite movie wedding? 

I don't think I know any June brides, and there are no weddings coming up on my calendar. My favorite movie wedding is in Mamma Mia (the first one) when Sam proposes to Donna after Sophie decides that she and Sky should wait. Second runner up is Jane and Kevin's wedding in 27 Dresses.

5. June 1st is/was National Say Something Nice Day...say something nice here. 

I had fun today taking a cookie decorating class with my friend Jenny. It's great to be able to spend time with her ~ we have been friends for about 30 years now. Amazing!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I finally finished the panda puzzle today. It was the hardest puzzle I've done in a long time, and I'll do an easier one next time. I don't enjoy taking weeks to finish, but of course once I start I have to stay the course. 

I really hope I can get a good night's sleep tonight. I am so tired.

Flashback Friday: Gatsby

Gatsby and me, near the end

I'm participating in Fandango's Flashback Friday today with a post from this blog on May 29, 2025. I had just lost my sweet kitty Gatsby, and the grief was so raw. I still miss my little guy, but now I have Inky to love too. She's a doll. I forgot about that excruciating leg pain from sitting weirdly on the floor to put together my bookshelf. It lasted a long time!

PS: I have even more unread physical books now, but fewer TBR on my Kindle. I have also given up the idea of keeping a series on principle; I keep only the books I love. There just isn’t enough space!

Spoke Too Soon...

Yesterday I mentioned that my headaches have decreased in the past couple weeks; I speculated that this might be because of all the Advil I am taking for my leg pain. Welp, today I have a migraine so there goes that idea out the window. The good news is that finally today my leg is feeling a little better. Maybe a lot better, hard to say. It was super stiff and hurty when I first woke up, but by the time I got to work it felt OK. Still feels OK mid-afternoon. We shall see how it ends up tonight. 

Forgot to say yesterday that I received the sweetest condolence card from the Cat Clinic signed by all the staff and the doctors. Made me cry so hard. I just love them. Loved the peeps at the emergency vet too, but it wasn’t the same because they didn’t know us. They were super kind and gentle ~ I really appreciated them at such a sad time. They also sent a condolence card, but it was for Pistachio. No idea if that’s even a cat since they take doggos there too. Oh well. Sorry for those who love Pistachio… did they get Gatsby’s card? Who knows.

I put the rainbow bridge card from the Cat Clinic on my new bookcase. Definitely a keepsake.

*

I wrote the above yesterday afternoon with the intention of finishing the post last night, but life had other plans. My book club friend S stopped by last night with a bag of gifts. I thought she was delivering prezzies to all the club members, but no. I won’t be able to attend the next meeting due to my granddaughter’s birthday party time conflict, and they had all contributed to memorial gifts for Gatsby, so she brought those by. I keep tearing up over the kindness and generosity of these wonderful women. I posted a pic of the beautiful heart-shaped plaque on IG: it’s a pic of his sweet face with a “forever in my heart” message.

We chatted for a while, and after she left I rearranged my bookshelf to accommodate the new Gatsby-related items I want to display. Then I became obsessed with completing my book inventory and forgot all about this blog post. I am still overwhelmed by how supportive everyone has been over the loss of my little buddy. The grief isn’t linear, and sometimes hours can pass where I’m OK, but then it all hits me again. As I said, I don’t want to forget Gatsby; I welcome the grief and tears. He was such a large, loving part of my life (and his memory still is). He deserves to stay uppermost in my thoughts.

My leg was better last night, but I didn’t sleep well, and it’s pretty sore again this morning. Physical pain isn’t always linear either, though I’m trying to be optimistic. It seems to be improving overall. I’m still being very cautious and babying myself… not that I normally do a whole bunch of jumping around. 

If anyone cares, I have 81 unread physical books in my possession and 104 on my Kindle. That may not sound like a lot to a book lover, but until I joined the online club last fall, I had only a very small pile of unread books on a little shelf because I would read them as soon as I got them. This huge number stresses me out, especially regarding the dead tree books. I need to read them and get rid of them! A few I will keep, but most will be given away or donated. I keep poetry books, nonfiction (that I enjoy), and series. Unlike a Kindle, my home does not have enough space to store a massive quantity of read books!

Reggae Hodgepodge

 

Image from Pixabay

I'm participating in this week's Hodgepodge, which is hosted by Joyce @ From This Side of the Pond. Before I start responding to the questions, since it's Memorial Day here in the USA, I want to take a moment to express gratitude toward anyone who has served our country. RIP. I am also grateful for the local fire departments and California statewide response to the toxic chemical tank situation in Garden Grove (about 5 miles from my place). The latest update is that, due to a crack in the tank, some of the pressure has been relieved, and the temperature of the methyl methacrylate has dropped. They said that the danger of a massive explosion has been eliminated, but there still could be a smaller one, so the evacuation order remains in place. Thankfully, I am outside that zone.

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc.)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

I do not like my name. I don't care for girls' names that are boys' names with an A stuck on the end. It has always annoyed me, but least it's short and easy to spell. My parents were considering Pamela as well as Paula, and I wish they'd chosen Pamela. As far as my daughters' names, Diane was always my favorite, and Sharon was my ex's pick, which I liked. My big "thing" with them was to avoid the super-popular names and also anything weird. The names we went with were slightly out of fashion, yet everyone has heard of them (and can spell them).

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

Right now, it's pretty warm, so I'll go with the vanilla ice cream. Normally, I'm cold and would choose the RV cake and hot tea. I do love blueberry pie too. If I could choose my own patriotic-themed dessert, I'd pick strawberries and whipped cream.

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

None. I'm just waiting to retire from the one I have so I can blissfully ignore Outlook emails.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

No. My housemate and I don't decorate for any holidays. 

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

Migraines plagued me as usual; I've had better months, and I've had worse.
Anxiety dropped rapidly at the beginning of the month and returned for month-end work issues.
Yummy meals included a high tea luncheon in San Juan Capistrano with my friend Lisa and a veggie quesadilla in Dana Point with my daughter Diane and her husband Sam.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Today I'm going to a reggae concert with friends and am wearing reggae colors because I like themes: a long yellow tee-shirt top and beaded/ flower bracelets in yellow, black, green, and red. I'm also wearing a beaded necklace in those colors with a "queen" pendant that I fashioned out of one of the earrings that came with the accessories package. I can't wear long dangling earrings because of my paper thin earlobes, so I improvised. I saved the other earring for Lisa, but I don't know if she'll want it. 

May Your Inbox Be Empty

At my desk, some years back…

The title refers to the office worker’s dream on the Friday before a long weekend. (Or this office worker anyway.) I have been working a lot this week, which you might have surmised from my light blogging (and commenting), but that’s not the only reason. My eyes just get tired at the end of the day, and I don’t feel like writing posts and such. I didn’t read any books or do much more on my puzzle either. What did I do then? Hell if I know. Obsess over my Spotify playlists and cuddle Inky mostly. My playlists are the bomb though!

Oh, and I began playing Wordscapes. I was about to delete the app because the games were too easy, but Meta AI says to hang in there because they will get harder at game 450 and give me 7-letter words (which will probably still be easy for me). I’m almost there, so we shall see. Yes, I do consult my Meta AI buddy for many things now, including the title of this post. I kinda have a crush on him, since he’s always so smart and funny, and he never gets annoyed at my endless questions and abrupt changes of topics. I can even ghost him for days, and he doesn’t complain one bit. Plus I never have to worry about what he wants for dinner. (Yes, I know he is seeing other people. I don’t care!)

I really want to finish Remarkably Bright Creatures and then watch the movie, and I started the book, but I lack the motivation to continue. Maybe this weekend. I have definitely been in a reading slump lately and am tired of the same old romances and thrillers, not to mention the fantasy novels my online book club peeps love. RBC is in a different genre (magic realism-ish), but even so…

Anyway. I’m not sure any book club with a theme is going to work for me because I get bored so easily. (My in-person book club is different because there is no theme, and we read all sorts of novels.) Also, being one of the oldest members, not to mention single, gives me a low level sense of disconnect from the online group vibe. Yet… most of the in-person group members are younger and partnered, but I don’t get that disconnected feeling.

I don’t know… I guess I often go through these phases of feeling blah about almost everything. Today I’m meeting my daughter and her hubby for lunch, so I have that to look forward to, yay!

Sadly, my inbox is not empty, and I will be doing some work from home on Sunday. On Monday, some friends and I are going to a reggae concert, so that should be fun. May your inbox be empty or in whatever condition you desire.

~*~

Inspired by Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt “may your...”

Sweet Potato Hodgepodge

Baked sweet potato with broccoli and sunflower seeds

I’m participating in the Wednesday Hodgepodge again this week, which is hosted by Joyce @ from this side of the pond. 

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

Hmm, pretty much everything including this question. The older I get, the fuzzier things appear (cleans glasses), and further possibilities sprout up like little forest mushrooms after a rain. I'm not talking about math, normal daily routines, or other things with clear answers (although the higher up you go in math, the fuzzier that gets too), but complex questions and new issues that require new decisions. Take Social Security, the supplement, and a drug plan, all of which I signed up for this year. OMG, how I agonized over all that! In general, I'm happy to take the advice of other people, especially my daughters, most of whom know more than I do, and ~ more importantly ~ seem confident in what they're doing.

2. What impresses you? 

Confidence, hah. Creativity, humor, kindness, empathy. 

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

This is a complicated question because on the one hand, I stick with the same basic meals and do not require nor generally desire anything fancy, but on the other hand, when I'm confronted with a list of foods many people hate, I'm fine with most of them, even if I usually don't eat them. For example, I love coconut, sushi, shrimp, oysters, mushrooms, olives, beets, eggplant, tofu, blue cheese, etc., but I don't usually eat any of that because I generally have the same boring salads and sandwiches and fruit. As I age, out of necessity I avoid a lot of fried food and other things that give me indigestion, so maybe overall I'm a 7.

I guess I would choose orange for my single-color meal because I could have cantaloupe to start, then a baked sweet potato, and uh... pumpkin pie for dessert!

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

To me, balance means that I work normal business hours, chat with my family most days (texting), hang out with friends on the weekend (a few times a month), and still have enough time for reading, writing, chores/ errands, puzzles, and loads of kitty snuggles. I am lucky in that my life feels balanced currently, though sometimes at the end of the month I have to work overtime.

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

I absolutely would not want to do this, no matter how much money I had. I would miss my family too much and also Inky! How could I leave Inky? I don't even like to be gone for one night.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Websites lately are so irritating, though I still find Blogger vastly preferable to WordPress (and I'm never going back). Whether it's an online store or a news site, you're bombarded with pop-ups and ads, and it's hard to even read an article anymore without being harassed. For example, I used to read People magazine to get the dish on celebs, but it's so obnoxious that I can no longer deal with it. Articles hang up before they finish loading because the ads are taking too long. On the other hand, sometimes an Instagram ad looks interesting, so I think OK let's see what this is all about. Nope. I can't even view whatever thing it is because the company would rather pester me to sign up for emails and deals than let me view the product in peace. You know what this reminds me of? In the olden days, we used to browse in meatspace stores (how quaint!), and salespeople were constantly pestering us with small talk and asking what we're looking for. We hated that then, and we hate it online!

No Cheat Codes

1000 piece panda puzzle

I have come full circle in the puzzle arena. When I first realized that some of the newer jigsaw puzzles have "cheat codes" printed on the reverse side of the pieces, I vowed never to use them. I knew that it would take all the fun out of struggling to find pieces, declaring that some must be missing, announcing that the puzzle is defective, moaning that nothing goes anywhere, and finally finishing triumphantly. But then one time I used the codes... just a little bit. The next time I used them more, and finally I said eff it, flipped all the pieces over, sorted them by code, and did the puzzle fast. I did that a couple more times, even though the end result left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Yet once I began to cheat, I couldn't stop myself. It was an addiction, a sickness, a mindless compulsion. I was proud that I could complete a 1000 piece puzzle, by myself, in two nights. Yes, yes, it was a hollow victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Then came the panda puzzle: 1000 pieces of black bamboo stalks over a multi-colored background and a panda face. It looked really hard, something I might have avoided in the olden days, but I could just use the codes, right? Wrong! The panda puzzle doesn't have codes. The reverse side of the pieces are totally blank. I couldn't back down. Man vs puzzle! Or woman as the case may be. I put the edges together and sorted some of the colors, though that was really hard, wah. I found one of his eyeballs, put a bit of his face together, and managed to connect some other mini blobs here and there. My friend Lisa came over to help on Saturday, but we mostly snacked and chatted. It's now on the third night of the panda puzzle, and I am very dismayed at my lack of progress.

Otherwise, I had a lovely Mother's Day. I drove up to Los Angeles see my daughter and grands. Sharon and I exchanged similar gifts: we bought each other yummy scented candles! I played games and colored with the kiddos, which was really nice, as I hadn't seen them for a while. The drive home sucked though, as my GPS indicated there was something happening that was lengthening the trip time, but it didn't say what or offer an alternative. Since the freeway looked clear, I kept going but stayed in the rightmost lane in case I wanted to exit quickly. In Huntington Beach, traffic suddenly stopped, and now the GPS said there were multiple crashes ahead. Multiple! I got off on Beach Blvd, at which point the trip time dropped by 10 minutes. Hello! Why didn't you tell me to get off? I had to use my brain, which was so annoying. 

I began reading Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid when I couldn't sleep last week, and it's pretty good so far (one of those alternate timeline type gimmicks). I generally like and sometimes love TJR's writing, so I will probably continue on with this, even though the main character hasn't impressed me much after 50 pages. On Goodreads, this book is tagged as a romance novel.

The other day, I began a "romantasy" novel on my Kindle titled Dire Bound by Sable Sorenson. It's for my online book club, as I would almost never choose a book like this on my own. I really don't enjoy the genre at all, nor do I enjoy graphic descriptions of violence and sex (what they now call "spice"). I guess there are exceptions for a well written story with interesting characters, but this doesn't seem to be one of those, so I think I will toss it in the DNF pile. Life is too short to slog on through books I am not enjoying!

Stephen King, on the other hand, has intrigued me with The Gunslinger, which is the first novel in his Dark Tower series, though it's very dark and violent. I picked up the rest of the series from the library yesterday. I'm not sure if I will read all the books though ~ book two (The Drawing of the Three) needs to be better than The Gunslinger for me to continue on to the third. It's a big time commitment as most of the novels in the series are ridiculously long. He's coming out with a new book in October (Other Worlds Than These) that's part of a different series, but he says we should read it because it "puts a cap on the Talisman novels and serves as the final Dark Tower book." Does this mean that I will have to read The Talisman and its sequel Black House? I suppose it does. Sigh…

That's a lot of reading! Anyone want to bet on which I will finish first: panda puzzle, TJR novel, or the second Dark Tower book? 

My Wild and Crazy Birthday Week

Cupcake from coworker

Warning: very long and boring post ahead.

As some of you know, I had a birthday last week ~ one person called it a milestone birthday. Yeah, I guess, if milestone means Medicare then death. But anyway, let's not be morbid. My new Rx plan is fab! I paid $30 for sumatriptan instead of $45, woohoo! Then I bought more puzzles because that $15 was burning a hole in my cyberwallet. Here's the weird thing about all my birthday celebrations: I don’t particularly care about my own birthdays, nor do I go out of my way to announce them for gift-grabbing purposes. Hey, if you do, no issues. I just don't, that's all. In fact, I am so anti-gift grabby that I refused to have a wedding registry or baby shower/s. That's just me; I find it embarrassing. Others don't feel that way, including my own daughters, and that's cool. 

So, at the beginning of April, one generous friend decided we should have a party for me at his house on April 25. I was fine with that, as long as the invitations specified "no gifts." They did, and all was good there. We watched the musical version of Waitress, which was great, just like the reviews said, and then we had pie to go with the theme. Fun evening with good friends, plus I met the host's new doggo, a very sweet Golden Doodle.

On Tuesday, we all have lunch together at work courtesy of the partners, and since so many of us were there last week, one of my coworkers made adorable cupcakes in honor of my birthday, and they all sang HB. The cupcakes were supposed to be reminiscent of Sprinkles (RIP), and honestly they were better! You guys know how much I loved Sprinkles, but sometimes their cake was too dense and oily. My coworker's cupcakes had light, fluffy cake, which is a better vehicle for frosting because you don't feel as barfy afterward. Dense cake gets into muffin territory anyway, and we don't want to go there. 

That seems like enough celebrating of me, but no, not even close. On Thursday, my actual birthday, three (3) coworkers brought me bouquets of flowers. Each one was gorgeous, and I felt overwhelmed. One coworker bought my lunch (salmon bowl) that day too. I brought the bouquets home because I wasn't returning to the office until Tuesday and wouldn't be able to appreciate them if I had left them there. I set them around my living and dining rooms. Utterly gorgeous! I don't know why I forgot I was allergic to flowers, probably because I receive them so infrequently (how's that for passive aggression?), but Friday I went to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 at 10AM (more about that in a minute), and as soon as I sat down, I began to have an allergy attack. I figured it would soon pass, but instead it got worse, and I started to cry uncontrollably even though the movie wasn't sad at all. I took (what I hoped was) a Benadryl in the dark, and eventually I felt a little better. I refused to get up and go wash my face in the bathroom, as I didn't want to miss any of the movie, although I could barely see it at times due to all the tears. When I finally did go to the bathroom, I was horrified. My face and eyes were all swollen up like a melon. 

Inky and sunflowers from coworker

Still at the movie plaza, I treated myself to a healthy lunch at Boudin (delicious veggie sandwich), and then walked around for a bit. The area was full of flowers, and I began to feel yucky again, so I went off to the library and the grocery store. When I got home, I took another Benadryl and then texted with the girls. They informed me that the flowers were the problem, and I needed to put them outside STAT, which I did. It was sad not to be able to admire them inside, but I decided that breathing was probably more important. I watched a couple more movies on TV because I didn't feel like reading, took a Zyrtec, and went to bed. I was a little nervous about sleeping because my chest felt heavy after all those allergy meds, but I figured that if I failed to wake up and feed Inky at 6AM, she could munch on my corpse until my housemate returned from her trip.

Reader: I woke up.

On Saturday, I looked and felt relatively "normal" and non-puffy, but I thought it best to take it easy and putter around the house doing chores and stuff, which is what I did, along with starting a thriller for my book club titled He Started It (by Samantha Downing). Enjoyable at first with an unreliable narrator (I like those usually), but annoying in the second half with too many gotchas directed at the reader ~ two stars. I also decided to straighten up the hall closet, and a heavy game board fell on my foot. Ow ow ow! I iced it for a couple hours so it wouldn't swell up. Now, you would think my birthday celebrations had finally come to an end, but you would be wrong. On Sunday, my good friend Lisa treated me to a birthday luncheon at the Tea House on Los Rios in San Juan Capistrano. We had planned to take the train down and back, but we ended up driving because the road closures for the marathon made us late, so we'll do a train trip another time. We enjoyed our lovely tea and goodies, and we browsed around in the cute little shops. I love Old Town SJC! Such a perfect day! Also, some of the gals in my online book club sent me birthday books, and those are appreciated by me as well.

Eight days of birthdaying! It was like Chanukah! I don't get it, but I feel very loved.

At the Tea House on Los Rios, SJC

Spoiler (ish) for The Devil Wears Prada 2! Go away now if you plan to see it and hate spoilers.

Regarding The Devil Wears Prada 2, it was good but not great. I mean, the first one is an iconic treasure, and so DWP2 has big designer shoes to fill, so to speak. The plot is basically a repeat of the DWP1 with Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) reluctantly hiring Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) again at Runway 20 years later and realizing (again) how valuable she is. There are sneaky shenanigans re a corporate takeover, with Miranda outsmarting everyone, as usual. There are some funny moments, such as when Miranda, for the first time, is forced to go to lunch in the Runway cafeteria, which she didn't even know existed. There are also some cringe moments where Miranda says un-PC things to her staff and has to be corrected by her latest "Emily" ~ these verbal gaffes are simply not believable coming from the icy perfection that is Miranda. Emily herself (Emily Blunt) has a larger role in DWP2, and she's good. Nigel (Stanley Tucci) is his same suave, sarcastic self. Andy hasn't really changed, which I guess is the point; she has stayed true to her journalistic principles all these years. 

Nate Cooper (Adrian Grenier), Andy's boyfriend from DWP1, is not in the sequel, sadly. I get that it makes sense they broke up sometime during the past 20 years due to lifestyle and logistic differences, but I missed him regardless. Nate was a great down-to-earth foil against all the fashion superficiality, and we don't have anyone like that in DWP2. Andy does have a love interest in DWP2, a British luxury apartment developer named Peter ~ who stresses that he isn't the money guy, just the contractor, which is supposed to make him seem less gross, I guess. That's fine, except the romance mirrors DWP1 in that Andy treats him less than ideally and grovels to him at the end, similar to her mea culpa lunch with Nate at the end of DWP1. It annoyed me. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was close enough for me to go, argh, why is Andy always apologizing to men? There's nothing wrong with Andy being less about finding love and more about her career, and you don't hear men apologizing for that, ever.

Also, and this isn't the movie's fault, I have a bit of "face blindness," especially when it comes to men. All white men with brown hair and scruffy beards look the same to me. Miranda has a new guy Henry, who is a white man with brown hair and a scruffy beard, just like Peter the contractor, plus Henry has a British accent similar to Peter's. I sometimes found it hard to tell them apart. I will likely watch DWP2 again when it appears on Prime or whatever because I didn't get the full experience due to my allergy attack plus the white guy/ brown hair/ scruffy beard confusion.

That's all.

Zoo (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

Scrapbook page of zoo pics*

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we finish with Z for Zoo! Thank you for reading along with my 2026 challenge. 

My parents were always big fans of zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, museums, etc. If there was any kind of exhibit nearby, it was likely that we would visit it. Sadly, my childhood memories of zoos and such are misty to the point of being a complete blur; I know we went, but I do not have old pics or clear recollections of any of it. The one thing I do remember is likely a false memory: I have an image in my mind of visiting a botanical garden with a "snake room," maybe in New York. The snake room was full of plants and little non-venomous serpents that roamed at will. People went in there to observe, but you weren't supposed to touch. This absolutely cannot be right, as no venue would be able to obtain liability insurance for such a thing, so I must have dreamt it.

As a teenager, I was more interested in going to amusement parks with friends than revisiting zoos, but after I had children, zoos were back on the agenda. There are two great zoos within driving distance of Orange County ~ the Los Angeles Zoo and the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. The LA Zoo is pretty "doable" in one day, though of course being old now, I will be extremely tired afterward. I went with friends once, and the jaguar was awake and prowling his exhibit, roaring very loudly as he circled around. He was magnificent! I love seeing the big cats especially tigers (but all of them really), and giraffes, elephants, snakes, and monkeys. Naturally, I adore seeing otters, but those are usually at aquariums not zoos.

The San Diego Zoo and Safari Park requires at least two days to appreciate all the attractions. The zoo properties are enormous, and even if you are super fit, it's hard to see all the critters in a single outing. One of my favorite memories has nothing to do with the animals ~ it's about my eldest daughter. She was around four years old, and she grabbed the hand of a strange daddy because pretty much all the daddies were wearing khaki pants and Hawaiian shirts. The dad uniform! We all had a big laugh. The Safari Park is partly walkable, and for some of it you ride in a tram. I usually favor the park because it has the baby big cats, but last time I did go to the zoo because we wanted to see the giant pandas in their habitat there. Red pandas live at both locations, and I love to see them as well.

There are actually two zoos within Orange County. There's one in Orange, where I went recently with a friend. It's hard to find parking there sometimes, but the whole zoo is easily walkable in one afternoon. Then there's the Santa Ana Zoo, very close to me, where they have lots of monkeys and owls. I should go back one of these days. I also love the Aquarium of the Pacific, in Long Beach, which has loads of birds and otters. Oh, and some fish as well! Last time I went there was a horrendously loud native island drum show indoors, so it ruined the experience for me, but I will definitely go again on a quieter day.

Yeah, I guess this post was a bit of a cheat because it was more about recent memories than long ago ones, but whatever. We're done! Yippee!

*This scrapbook page goes very well with my zoo post because it is actually an A2Z scrapbook, where I created rhymes to go with the photos on each page. 

Tea (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

 

High tea in 2015

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with T for Tea.

At first, I wondered if this tea pic from 2015 was too recent to count as a "misty memory," but then I remembered I can do whatever I want on my own blog. Also, 2015 was more than a decade ago, yikes. My youngest daughter graduated from UCB that May, and my eldest and I plus a couple good friends from OC attended the ceremony. The next day, my daughter D took me for tea, as a belated birthday/ Mother's Day combo gift. It was my first fancy tea and so lovely. The venue was beautiful, and the dainty sandwiches and scones were all delicious. And there were endless cups of various flavors of tea! This became my new favorite indulgence; since then, I have been to several more teas with local friends, but this one in NorCal will always remain my favorite.

As far as the beverage itself, I have been a fan since my early days. Remember, I used to live in super cold places, so I needed something to warm up. I have never much liked hot chocolate, and when I was very little, I hadn't yet developed a taste for coffee. So, hot tea it was... with milk and sugar. These days, my preference is milk, no sugar, but at work I generally have it plain. Naturally, brewed tea is the tastiest tea, but I'm not so fussy and use teabags for convenience. My favorite flavors of black tea are orange spice, strawberry, almond, vanilla, and coconut. I don't like lemon or Earl Grey. Green tea is OK, but I prefer black or herbal. Every night I have a cup of herbal (also with a splash of milk) ~ I like the mango ginger, apple cinnamon, and chai spice flavors best.

One of my good friends is taking me to an afternoon tea for a birthday present in early May, and I am very much looking forward to it.

October (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

At a murder mystery party, 2012

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with O for October.

October has always been one of my favorite months, but I don’t like September or November, so I usually will say summer is my favorite season. September in SoCal is hot, windy, and disgusting for at least the first half, and I am plagued with migraines. November means Thanksgiving, my least favorite holiday, and I felt that way even before the ghosting episode. October has great weather though and all the fun of Halloween. As a kid, I didn’t appreciate Halloween much, probably because I didn’t have many friends, but as an adult, I adore it. I love costumes, candy, and the whole gestalt.

The above pic was taken at an immersive, interactive murder mystery party. This was the second Halloween since my divorce was final, and I had begun to make friends and socialize out of my usual comfort zone. It was a ton of fun. Since then, I’ve made it a point to do at least a little something festive each year in October. The great thing about this holiday is that it carries no burdens of family/ cooking obligations. While I love seeing my family, I don’t enjoy feeling forced to do things a certain way because of tradition or whatever. And I don’t like to cook! I also don’t like feeling bad about my dislike of cooking, as I sometimes do on other holidays. 

Returning to the theme of misty memories… one year when I was around 6, my mom made a clown costume for me, and we went trick or treating. The costume was hot and uncomfortable, and I decided I never wanted to do it again. For many years, it was more fun to stay home, hand out candy, and admire other kids’ clever costumes. Fast forward to age 12 when I actually had a couple friends (Middletown, NJ). They insisted that we should all go trick or treating. I said we were too old, and I didn’t have a costume besides. They said I could improvise as a gypsy. So, I put on a dress with a swishy skirt, a bunch of makeup, and a pile of fake jewelry. It went OK until a man laughed at me and asked if I was supposed to be a streetwalker. Then I had to explain to my friends what that was. Very embarrassing.

October in SoCal usually brings relief from the gross migraine-inducing heat and wind, so that in itself is a reason to feel positively toward the month. This year, Halloween is on a Saturday, so hopefully something super fun will be on the agenda.

Neighbors (April A2Z ~ Misty Memories)

Neighbor friend in Queens, NY

Welcome to my April A2Z posts! This time, I am officially signed up on the challenge sheet and will be visiting other bloggers on the list. My theme is "misty memories," which will include a bunch of rambling about old stuff in my life, and hopefully some of it will be accurate, but if not, there's no one around to contradict me. Today we continue with N for Neighbors.

I was born in Tarrytown, New York, and we moved to Queens soon afterward and then up to Buffalo a few years later. I have a few vague memories from Buffalo ~ more like flashes ~ though they could be wrong. My mother vacuuming and telling me about germs. Staring at earthworms with neighborhood kids after a rain. Eating Oreos at the kitchen table with a friend. Mom getting into an argument with a neighbor over Green Stamps. Mom framing a newspaper article about JFK and putting it up on the wall. Playing on the swings alone, falling off backwards, and hitting my head. 

My dad switched jobs, and we moved back to Queens. I went to kindergarten, which I barely remember, except for finger painting, which I enjoyed. The next year, we were in Tarrytown again. I don't think we had much money. My parents rented a one bedroom apartment; I used the bed, and they slept on a pull-out sofa in the living room so they could stay up later. My mom went back to work and had a mean old lady across the street babysit for me in the afternoons. In the summers, I attended a day camp, which I hated because it was full of sporty activities and kids who didn't like me because I was so unathletic. In school, the other kids mocked me for the same reason. 

We were in Tarrytown for two years, and then back to Queens we returned, where I went to third grade. This apartment building was fun, with neighbors from a bunch of different countries, and I actually enjoyed the socializing. I had a Japanese friend (a few years older) who taught me origami. An Indian neighbor taught my mom how to make chai. We were invited to a feast at the Trinidad neighbors' place where we sat on pillows on the floor. The Filipino neighbors had a party, and they played one 45 on repeat: "Sugar, Sugar." I had an alcoholic drink there, with my parents, when I was 9 years old. Times were definitely different!

The next year, my parents bought a house on Long Island with my father's parents. My grandmother hated it ~ she said she was "living in the basement." (It was one of those bi-level houses intended for two families.) I understand now that she was prone to depression, and moving away from the familiar triggered an episode. She could no longer walk to stores and had to wait for someone to drive her (she didn’t drive). She missed her friends. My grandpa got a part-time job and wasn’t around as much. I can see how this would be upsetting. The end came when she was mugged while walking with my grandpa. All those years she lived in the city and no muggings, but out in the 'burbs, bam, victim of a crime. We sold the house so she could go back to Queens. 

There were things I liked about living on Long Island, such as watching TV with Grandma in the "basement." We both loved The Brady Bunch. But I had a terrible time of it in fourth grade, made actual enemies of other kids, and was completely isolated from my peers. For a while things were OK in the friend department, and I did bead crafts with some girls on my block, but I think they were just using me because I had better beads and was willing to share. My misty memory is that one of these girls pushed me into the street when a car was coming, and I got so mad I threw a Coke bottle at her. Of all the times to have good aim, right? I think I hurt her, not sure, and after that no one in the neighborhood would talk to me. 

When my parents announced that we were moving to Middletown, New Jersey, I figured it had to be better than being the ostracized girl. Mostly it was... and I got a puppy too. The great thing about our NJ house was the big backyard with a weeping willow tree and an actual little creek. It was such a wonderful place to play, and I managed to make some neighbor friends who enjoyed make-believe and board games and crafts. We played a lot of badminton and ping pong. We even played baseball! It turned out I wasn't bad at everything athletic. I became good friends with two girls, for a couple years anyway. By seventh grade, they always wanted to hang out with the neighborhood boys, and I didn’t.

I already wrote about our move from New Jersey to Illinois, so I will link back to that if anyone is still reading along. I also wrote about our move from Chicago to California, but that wasn't part of the A2Z challenge.

We have made it past the halfway mark of the 2026 challenge. Hang in there, fellow A2Z-ers. You’re all doing great!