My kitty, chair made new, Mayan Jaguar lettuce and petunias

 The sun was creating a glow around the fur on my cat, Fluffy. I can't figure out how to crop this photo and make the remaining closeup of the cat larger.

Above is the chair I spray painted this week, with special Krylon Fusion for Plastic paint for plastic. Below is the same chair before I painted it. The paint color I used is Blue Hyacinth.

I really do not want to throw out plastic chairs and mine have lasted for a decade with an occasional repainting. 

Do you think veggies can be pretty? I had to buy this lettuce to plant when I saw the dramatic name "Mayan Jaguar Lettuce", plus the six plants look like a bouquet to me.

On the same visit to the garden center I bought these two petunias plus two alyssum to plant in a pot. Plus I added two more petunias to two hanging pots.

My first coffee shop visit in a year, beautiful gardens there

 I visited a coffee shop for the first time in a year, and picked a new shop run by volunteers, which is surrounded by gardens and located right along the Pacific Ocean. This was my first time here, and I think it will be my go to coffee shop. 

Note the large patio and the wisteria on the left side of the building. The coffee shop opened a year ago, during the pandemic. That is a hopeful act indeed.

The fountain on the patio. There are only four tables on the huge patio so people are widely spaced.

Above are two different sculptures of Joseph; his face in this sculpture is very kind and thoughtful.

This area is dedicated to Joseph as he holds a tiny baby. I understand from reading the plaques that families who lost a baby through miscarriage or abortion visit here for comfort.

I walked and walked and got my steps in, after I enjoyed a large latte at the coffee shop. This is a healthy and beautiful environment, and the outdoor patio offers an ocean breeze and no people squeezed together. I am glad I discovered this shop. I almost went to a national chain store downtown with a tiny patio. In these pandemic days I chose this coffee shop, staffed by volunteers. Anyone else have a favorite coffee shop?

This book is amusing, including the title "This Book Will Save Your Life"

 I am happy I discovered this book, it is a joy to read.

This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes

This is my favorite novel that I read thus far this year. The author is talented, the plot fun, fascinating and original, and she created a main character, Richard, I was cheering for. Richard lives alone in the Hollywood hills, and was pushed by wildly odd circumstances to leave his secluded carefully organized life: personal chef delivers food to him, he works from home managing investments while exercising on his treadmill. A sinkhole appears in front of his house, a horse appears and falls into the sinkhole and becomes terrified, his neighbor is a famous movie star who has his helicopter and stuntman rescue the horse. Did I mention Richard drives down the highway, chasing a car, believing a stranger is kidnapped and he attempts a rescue? Many more things happen to Richard as he becomes more of an integrated human. Donuts are in the novel. I found this novel very fun to read.

I had not heard of this author before, and reading the book I assumed the author was a man, I don't know why. I want to read more of her books and learned that her first book was published in 1989. This book to me shows flashes of genius. Have you read any of her books?

Pretty Flowers

 

Three views of my Pride of Madeira, a small bush when planted three years ago and now as tall as I am. Hummingbirds and bees like it as much as we do.

Note above the bit of flagstone patio and trellis I had installed in my front yard. A great place to sit and read, chat with people, and people watch. Bounce sits out there with us, of course.

My Santa Rosa plum tree's blossoms on March 10 of this year. 

My orange Four O'Clock vine from February of this year, it is vigorous and covers a lot of my back fence, one plant has grown to six feet tall and 15 feet wide. It keeps its leaves all year and always has some flowers.

Here is my trellis at night with solar powered lights, a Christmas gift from Lane.

"He hath made everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Do you have pretties in your yard, balcony, patio or neighborhood?

Easter Blessings, A Flower Cross and a Bulldog

 

I love to see flower crosses in churches. Some years ago I was a member of a church that created one each year at Easter, and during the service we could all go up to the front of the church and add flowers. A symbol of hope and beauty.

Bull dogs make me smile. 

Years ago when I was in college (yes, many years ago) I visited Jerusalem at Easter and walked the Way of the Cross, it is amazing that you can walk in such an ancient city, and walk where Jesus walked, possibly your feet touching the same stones or road he walked upon. It is a deep religious experience.

Jesus is risen. The Victory is won. Sins are forgiven. Praise God for His Son. Jesus promises all who follow him that he is preparing a home for us in heaven.

"God's power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God's right side in the heavens." Ephesians 1:20

[Added on April 5: My adult sons and I attended church indoors for Easter. It was very joyful. Our church is now open for indoor services and the new young lead pastor, the praise/worship band, and the congregation were all energized to meet in person and worship together. What joy. Then my sons and I had an Easter feast at my house and we all pitched in with preparation. We had roast boneless leg of lamb cooked by me, Colt prepared coleslaw, Lane prepared baked asparagus wrapped in prosciuto, we also had baked yams and wild rice. I made a side dish of plain yogurt with lots of fresh mint from my garden. Delicious and a happy day. The guys each took home food for the next day and I have plenty left for today. I hope your day was joyful too].

This and That

 Here are a few bits and bobs from my wide ranging thoughts. It's somewhat of a roller coaster inside my mind folks.

First off, censorship. NO. In a word, NO.

Censors, step away from Dr. Seuss, Step away from Miss Piggy. Step away from Pepe Le Pew. You are damaging freedom of expression. Publishers don't decide to drop books from your publishing house because of possibly offensive content,  that people want to buy. Not only is that self-censorship but it prevents readers from buying the books they may want. I hope dropping certain Dr. Seuss books is not the beginning of a trend of publishers dropping books because the book may offend someone, or may have unpopular ideas.

And Amazon, stop your new censorship of books, by you refusing to carry certain books. You are a mighty and powerful seller of books, you may sell more than half of all books sold worldwide. I didn't look up the numbers but you know it is huge. You may refuse to sell three books today, three hundred books next year and three thousand books the year after, hurting their sales due to your personal likes and dislikes. See, I told you it's a roller coaster. 

I am a freedom fighter in my own way.  Being a librarian and writer words are precious to me. If you do not defend words you don't like then you are not a supporter of freedom of speech.

Above are plum blossoms on my 3 year old Santa Rosa plum tree; they are hanging on even during heavy rain. Hurray. Hoping plums will follow; I had a nice plum crop last year, the birds pecked a lot of them, which is annoying. They are welcome to eat the entire plum, but not to peck and ruin them!

Bounce waits at window when I tell him someone he loves is coming over. The card is from a friend and is a quote from Cicero that says If you have a garden and a library you have all you need. That card suits me to a T, she knows me. Though I would add "if you have family, friends and Jesus" to that list.

"Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness  in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."  The list of full armor of God is found in Ephesians 6:10-19. 

Priscilla Shirer wrote a wonderful book about this, "The Armor of God." See her photo below, she has written many excellent books and starred in the movie "The War Room." She is a beautiful warrior for Christ and a leader for women.

                                                                     

 

 

 

Mary Oliver's Poem The Poet Thinks About The Donkey

 

I love donkeys and the poetry of Mary Oliver. Here is her poem "The Poet Thinks About the Donkey", so appropriate to read as Palm Sunday approaches. This year Palm Sunday is on March 28 and I think of Jesus riding upon a donkey and entering Jerusalem one week before Easter Sunday.

The Poet Thinks About the Donkey by Mary Oliver

 On the outskirts of Jerusalem
the donkey waited.
Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,
He stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,
leap with delight!
How doves, released from their cages,
clatter away, splashed with sunlight.

But the donkey, tied to a tree, as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.
I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,
as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.