Poetry reading and lunch at Ann Kreile's flower-filled house.

Ann and Connie.

 The two Nancy's.

The beautiful deck.

Jean Hester had to leave early and I didn't get her picture.

Fallbrook Flower Show- April 2014

 I think this is Mary Anne's winner.

 Jean's winner.

 A very unusual flower!

Paula and one of her winners.

The stray cat becomes my cat

He's been hanging around for several weeks.
Maybe it's because I feed him.

He has several favorite places to relax.

I named him George after an old family friend. 

He finally got used to me enough to let me pet him. Then I could even pick him up.

So I was able to get him into a carrier to take him to the vet to be neutered. He's an outside cat (so far) so I don't want him impregnating the neighborhood.

I thought he would hate me after all that but he's been friendlier than ever. He sits with me for two petting sessions every day.

My friend, Don came over yesterday in his golf cart. We were sitting in the kitchen chatting when I looked out the window and saw this...

Maybe he'd rather go home with Don.

Or maybe he can drive. I notice Don left the key in the ignition.

Megan and J.P. come for a visit

We started out at The Jolly Rogers in the Oceanside harbor for drinks and dinner. It was nostalgic for Nancy and me. We hadn't been there in a long time but we used to eat there often. It has a beautiful view of the boats in the harbor.

The next day we went for a hike on the trails in Fallbrook.

Tootie stopped for a drink.

The happy hikers.

The next excursion was to the beach in Del Mar.

This was right next door to our Time Share so Megan and J.P were able to take advantage of the facilities...the pool and the hot tub.

 The next day it was on to Venice for lunch on the very hip Abbot Kinney Blvd. at an ultra hip

restaurant. It was delicious!! 

After we ate we were eying this dessert on the table next to us. They had hardly eaten any of it!!

It looked so good we were trying to figure out how to grab it after the people left. The hostess noticed us drooling and sneaked it over to us. (I hope she doesn't get fired). Then she even brought us 4 spoons. We were thrilled and it was the BEST.

A very exclusive dress shop on the street.  Megan had designed the logo for it when she lived in L.A.  Pamela happened to be there that day and Megan introduced us to her.

After lunch we took Megan and J.P. to pick up the van they had rented for their trip to Yosemite and Death Valley.

We had a great time but it was over too soon. 

After visiting their L.A. friends they'll return to Brooklyn and then maybe back to J.P.'s home in France. And then ...who knows?

Diva Challenge # 169- String Theory : Circles

To see more go to www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com

My stray cat

I certainly don't need another cat but I can't stand to see an animal go hungry. He doesn't allow me to get near him but comes every day for his breakfast and dinner. One time he sniffed my hand. He's very "talky" and really sounds like he's carrying on a conversation.

I'm going to contact the Feral Cat Society and see if they can trap him and get him fixed.

Sitting on the planter ledge ( two stories up) outside the living room window.
Who could resist?

Looking quite content.

Making himself at home on a broken bench on the deck off my art room.

A ceramic cat at Al and Linda Brandli's house. I think Al might have made it. 

I wonder if my stray cat once lived down the street at the Brandli's? I must call and ask them.

Rescued kitten

My neighbor, Don, found this abandoned baby kitten. He told me he found it in my driveway. Probably so that I'd feel more responsible and would be more apt to take it in. He didn't really find it there but the ruse worked. I couldn't resist.

I certainly didn't need another cat. At the moment I have 4 plus a stray that I've been feeding. My neighbor, Paula, came over to help and had called a friend who might be interested in taking it.
The friend came and brought some kitten formula but said her husband wouldn't let her have it.
I guess that's another reason I don't have a husband!!!

Paula suggested the Fallbrook Animal Sanctuary might have some nursing mother cats who could maybe take it in. I didn't really want to burden them since I know they are up to their eyeballs in cats.
I bottle fed the kitten for a couple of days. Luckily it slept all night. I called and emailed everyone I knew but no takers.

I went to the sanctuary and asked them. They knew of a sanctuary that had nursing mother cats and abandoned kittens. They had someone who was going to take some of their kittens there that afternoon. They also said they had wonderful success with finding them homes. She told me it was 100 percent. Hurray! I was so happy. I left them a very large contribution. I left with a few tears. I had already gotten a little attached. One more day and I would have had a 6th cat.

Sepia Saturday- The Scopitone Repairman

In the 1960's I went to Las Vegas with a group of friends from the ad agency that I worked for. One of my friends was named Mark Draper. He reminds me so much of the main character on "Mad Men"- Don Draper. Both of them invented new names and lives for themselves. Sometimes I wonder if the writers on "Mad Men" knew Mark.

I didn't know Mark had invented a new name for himself until we ran into his father in the casino bar in Las Vegas. He called him Skip. Not a name (or even nick- name) that would befit the suave, sophisticated Mark who we all assumed came from a high class, well-to-do family. We certainly didn't picture his father being a Scopitone repairman.

What's a Scopitone you might ask and why is it in this Sepia Saturday post with a juke box theme?
Well, a Scopitone is a juke box with the addition of a movie/video. They were invented and popularized in France in the '50's and then imported to the U.S. (Warning!-This video is waaay too long so you might not want to watch it all. And mute it for the first 16 seconds.)


They didn't last long in the U.S. because of bad marketing and bad management. (or so I read) Apparently they were marketed to cocktail lounges and hotels instead of the teen hangouts as they should have been. Also they were expensive. A song on the juke box would have cost 5 cents... on the Scopitone- 25 cents!!!
Also their production values weren't very high. Here's another example:
(After you watch this go to sepiasaturday.blogspot.com for more juke box stories)

House Concert at Phee's

It was Tartan Day- April 6,  so we had Scottish music and several people wore tartan, including a couple of tams.

The music was by Alan Reid and Rob Van Sante.
Alan, a multi instrumentalist and song writer, joined Battlefield Band soon after its founding.  He helped develop their unique sound by including keyboard and bagpipes. He performed with them from 1969 to 2010. (In this photo he plays the accordion.)

Rob van Sante, a guitarist of skill and subtletly, has toured Europe, North Africa and the Middle East playing with top British artists.

A "non- Scottish" guest winds it's way among the audience's feet.

March book club

Here's the only 2 photos I took at our last book club.

It was at Kathy's house so there was an uninvited but oh-so-welcome guest...

Kathy's dog, Ruby.

 Penny and Ruby

Beth and Ruby

Our trip to Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii and a visit with Aunt Kate and cousins, Linda, Kathy and Becky

Nancy and I had a very short trip to Hawaii to visit my 92 yr. old aunt and 3 of my cousins.

We hadn't seen any of them in a very long time. This is Kathy, Linda, Nancy, Becky and me, with my Aunt Kate. Linda and Kate live in Lihue, which is on the island of Kauai.
Kathy lives on Maui. Becky stills lives in our family town of Dixon, Ill.

My Aunt Kate had several birthday celebrations while we were there. Her real birthday was March 28. Since we were leaving on the 27th. we celebrated before then. And the celebrations kept coming. She enjoyed all her cakes. I think there were three.

 Our hostess gift for Linda. 

She treated us to several nice lunches and dinners, plus a very nice tour
of the north shore of the island.

Linda's daughter, Betsy and her grandaughter Lily. They live with Linda and Kate. 

Betsy and Linda are both nurses, so Kate gets such good (and professional) care. 

 We had never met Lily and Betsy and we really enjoyed them.

 Linda said her favorite site to visit in Lihue is The Grove Farm. It's an old sugar plantation that has been kept very much as it was when it was a working plantation. We took a very interesting tour.

This is the office with one of the resident cats.

 There were also geese, turkeys, ducks, chickens and this pig:

More wildlife:

An unusual spider...

 that wove an interesting web with it's own little red porch light.

 

More of the resident cats. Just like at Hemingway's house.

The cook showed us how she still cooks on the old wood stove. 

She baked some cookies for us.

One of the old platters.

A beautiful, completely needle-pointed love seat in the living room.

Linda took us on a tour of part of the island.

Wild chickens are everywhere.  Some of them very beautiful.

Linda and Nancy on one of the beautiful beaches.

Linda, the mermaid!

We ate lunch at this luxurious hotel...

on the patio, overlooking the ocean.

We really didn't want to see any hula dancers but while having drinks in the bar at our hotel one night the musician asked if any of the audience wanted to hula. Of course, they did! It turned out to be a fun way to see a little impromptu real Hawaiian culture.

On our last day we wandered around a cute little town and stopped in for frappes at a little coffee shop. We had a delightful conversation with these two native Hawaiians who hang out there. One of them had been to Pala. Imagine someone in Hawaii having heard of Pala. It turns out he was quite a gambler and has apparently been to every casino. (in the world??)  He grew up on a sugar plantation.

The other guy was retired from the Coast Guard. He was so nice. He was interesting and even acted interested in what we were saying!