The yard was all a flutter when this Harris Hawk landed in a tree yesterday. The quail and morning doves took off flying. One flew right into the window. At least it wasn’t the hawk. Last time that happened, it broke the window! I wrote about that HERE. FYI, there are better hawk photos in that post. This is the downside to my Bird Buddy and putting seed on the ground for the quail. This is also of the reasons why Olive the cat is never allowed outside. And I only let Waffles out on a short leash with me attached to the other end. I’ve been hearing beautiful song birds and I thought it was th ..read more

Week one was a success. The morning strolls were perfect. I even got hubby to tag along. Waffles met Rascal, a poodle mix his size, who belongs to a neighbor. They’ve played together a few times in the park. Then Sunday morning, not only Rascal was at the park, but also a dog the same size named Ku’uipo, which means sweetheart in Hawaiian. Waffles had so much fun, he was grinning from ear to ear. Waffles tilts his head when he wants to tell me something. You know what else was a blessing this week? Waffles began to sleep through the night! Yay! Also, I saw my first baby quail of the year! Th ..read more

FYI, parts of this post is from previous May Days. In first grade, my teacher Mrs. Iverson showed us how to make May Day baskets from pink and yellow construction paper. We drew ivy and flowers on the paper baskets with our thick crayons before going up one-by-one to our teacher’s desk to get the handle stapled on. On the way home from school, we walked together picking dandelions and soft lavender-colored clover to fill our baskets. The more daring kids picked pansies or snap dragons from a neighbor’s yard to add to their construction paper baskets. We took turns “May Daying” the neighbors ..read more

Bird Buddy updated their app with a new feature. On live streaming on my phone, I can now snap photos. That’s how I got the photo above. Before, the app took photos on its own and for some reason, the Cardinal wasn’t getting many photos. I mostly got Mourning Doves and a Curved Bill Thrasher. My Cardinal couple probably flit away too quickly to get their pics taken. Now, when I spot them at the feeder, I can take their pictures. FYI, that’s a sunflower seed stuck to the bird’s beak or he’s in the process of chomping it down. Enough with birds. This post was meant to be about changing my sched ..read more

View from the corner of our street, looking back at our house. Here are four random things racing around my brain: Mail Mix Up A package arrived and it was in a locker at the community mailboxes. When we get packages, the mailman puts a key in our mailbox to a large locker. My key was for locker #3, but I noticed that locker already had a key in it. The locker was empty. The key stuck in locker #3 was for a different locker. I pulled out the key and discovered the lock was broken. Whoever used the wrong key to open up locker #3 forced it open and took my package! I used their key to open up t ..read more

Saguaro in bloom. The other weekend, we had a couple over for the “Rib King’s” Baby Back Ribs. In case you missed the post, I wrote about my husband’s cooking technique for BBQ ribs HERE. We had a fun night, they loved the ribs and my old-fashioned potato salad. They mentioned inviting us over to their home for open houses. Their community has open houses each Saturday. You can tour homes ranging in price from $1.5 million to $12 million. Two homes were listed recently at the high end. I thought it would be fun to take a look at the sky high homes. Saturday came and we hadn’t heard from our f ..read more

The past week, cacti bloomed. The beauty is fleeting, because the flowers only last a day or two. This beauty is next to our driveway. Leaving for a walk, my husband and I stopped to admire it. He said, “I feel so much pride in this cactus, which is funny, because I had nothing to do with it.” I felt the same way, proud of our blooming plant. This was our cactus two days after the photo taken above. I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. —Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright made his home in our desert. He appreciated the beauty surrounding us. I’ve visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s desert ..read more

My beautiful boy in his Nutcracker bunny suit at age three. I’ll never forget being in a community production of Nutcracker with my son. He was the infamous bunny (it’s a Balanchine thing.) I had two roles: party guest and rodent. I would take my son to my ballet class and he would play with another three-year-old named Katherine Bottoms. Her father is actor Joseph Bottoms and her mother was an amazing dancer who had danced with New York City Ballet. While we moms took class, the children played together. One day, I spotted my son lying on the floor in the dance studio. Katherine had tackled ..read more

This past weekend, I was fascinated watching two mourning doves flying in and out of a bush in our backyard. They would fly up to the bush, sit on a branch and then disappear inside. They were carrying twigs and grass in their beaks. I got the photo above before scaring the birds to the top of our pergola. One of the doves kept guard from the top of the pergola before continuing the chore of building their nest. I wanted to get a picture of the nest, but this is what I saw when I got up close: Do you see the dove roosting in her nest? Her eye is to the left of the vertical branch. I backed ..read more

I wrote this post on April 7, 2020. We were living in Palm Springs and on shutdown. It was such an odd time. I’m not sure I really managed to get over it. I have more anxiety now than I did prior to COVID. I need more time to myself and less engagement with people outside our family. Those are just few things that linger. One of my favorite streets on my morning walk. 21 Days. Isn’t that something? My daughter came home a few days before we got the order. I’m so glad she made it here. She’s been a joy to have around along with her fur baby Waffles. We have plenty of room to have my husband, me ..read more