My Favorite Little Town

It was so hot at the Wine Art and Music Summer Social last night that you could have fried the proverbial egg on the sidewalk. Christie and I set up our table on the east side of the street which had canvas shades that were dropped down to give us some reprieve from the blistering heat but ,as you can see in the above photo, they only shaded the table and not our legs and feet. I now have a sunburned pedicure after three hours of trying to hide my feet from the late afternoon sun as it moved around and down the west side of the foothills. There was a breeze once in a while but most of the time it was hot and still. We drank LOTS OF WATER.
Both of us sold some of our gourds which was a pleasant change from other fairs and festivals where we worked at it all day and sold nothing. We saw people we knew and enjoyed talking to others about gourds. Lots of folks were interested and thought we made beautiful art from what one lady called a "hard pumpkin". I had to laugh...not at her of course.
Even with the heat we had a good time. With all the music floating in the air, people laughing and wine flowing ...everyone enjoyed themselves. It's nice to see folks relaxing, talking, and enjoying a summer evening together.

This is the Imperial Hotel. This is where you bought your glass for the wine tasting and got a map to direct you to all the vendors and wine tables.
I love these old historic buildings. In this area most of the old buildings have been restored instead of torn down. Fires did destroy many buildings and, sometimes, whole towns around here back when there were no fire departments and little water. Stone and rock became the building method of choice because it didn't burn. It's a wonderful thing to see these beautiful old stores, hotels, and houses taken care of , used for new businesses and being lived in.

 This old wall is a foundation for an old hotel. It reads Amador Hotel circa 1855. Someone has tried to remove the E and L on the end of Hotel...possibly as a protest to the hot summers we get up here. It was probably some unhappy tourist who didn't realize how amazing the heat is here in the summer. Or maybe it was some local teenager who didn't have anything better to do. There's not a lot going on in this little town for teenagers unless your into 4H, gold prospecting or rattlesnake hunting.

Only two miles from Sutter Creek on Highway 49, Amador City is the state's smallest incorporated city by area.
It was incorporated into a city around 1915. Historically, it's located in a rich gold bearing area of the Motherlode of California. In 1848-1849 an unknown creek was prospected by a wealthy rancher named Jose Maria Amador. There were no known settlements until 1851 but the California Gold Rush changed the landscape of California forever and towns began to appear everywhere.A post office was established at Amador City in 1863.
Amador's most famous and productive mine, the Keystone, produced about $24 million in gold during 1853-1942. These prices would be higher using today's gold values....a lot higher. Gold was around $20. an ounce back then and today averages $1200. an ounce. Wow!....Yea!! If those miners had only known what was going to happen to the price of gold 150 years later I'm sure they would have saved some for their grandchildren. Life was hard though and the work was backbreaking. Most of them died trying. Prices for everything were obscenely expensive and most of the miners were taken advantage of by local suppliers. It was called "mining the miners".
Women played a big roll in this depending on their skills. They started restaurants, laundries, boarding houses, bath houses and brothels. Never let it be said that women didn't have the moxie to stand on their own two feet in the history of the western movement. They did what they had to do and some succeeded rather well.

Well, enough of the history lesson. We had a nice evening in spite of the hot weather. We made a little money and had a good time. It was what The Bean, my five year old grandson, would call a "handsome" evening.

Pyromaniacs Down on the Farm

Every year, in the summer, our gourd group is invited to have one of their meetings at Sylvia's Farm. We have a workshop and a potluck lunch and a whole lot of fun. We have a short business meeting on the porch and drool over Sylvia's house with all the antiques, wall to ceiling bookcases and the beautiful built in buffet filled with gourd art and old dishes.
Her garden is always so lovely and the weather perfect. It has never been too hot to be outside whether we're having a meeting, eating or working on the gourds. So far we have been lucky. Sacramento valley can be extremely hot in the summer. Yesterday was perfect.

We all shared our skills with a propane torch, a smaller (creme brulee) torch, and a heat gun. Some of us had learned this technique a couple of years ago and either showed others how to do it or perfected our own skills. We all had a good time lighting the gourds on fire, burning them and putting the burning embers out with our spray bottles of water. Later the gourds will be stained, embellish, and turned into a piece of art. The burning is a great effect and makes the gourd look very old. Usually this is done on a gourd that is broken or one that a critter got to when it was drying...and if a rat didn't help make the holes, you can make them yourself.
At our next meeting, I will take some pictures of the finished gourd art and post them on the blog.You'll be surprised how these burnt gourds transform into beautiful vases, bowls and containers of all kinds...even jewelry.  We had so much fun with the torches, but were very careful not to get anywhere near the dry grass around the farm. This project could turn into a disaster if you weren't careful. Sylvia and her husband have a perfect covered, concrete area in front of their workshop, with metal tables and running water. It's always a great place for us to "play with fire".

Then we ate...
Everyone brought the most delicious food and we feasted like kings and queens. I brought a dessert with...what else... ZUCCHINI. It was a lemon zucchini cake with pecans and a cream cheese, lemon zest frosting. Everyone like it and I used up two more of my prolific zucchini.
I love going down into the valley to Sylvia's place. It's so nice to know that ,not far from the booming metropolis of Sacramento, there is still a small farming community with people who grow their own food, raise animals, and have dogs that greet you like you're the most wonderful person they know. She and her husband have lived there for 35 years... raised their kids there and have no intention of moving and selling their farm. It's a place with too many memories to sell for a profit.... Two much love in the walls.
Thanks Sylvia. Again, we didn't burn down the barn and , again, we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Tonight is the Amador City Wine, Art and Music Summer Social.I love this venue. It's only from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. and very low keyed. (Could be all the wine.) Everyone seems to have a great time and if we sell something...all the better. Christie (a fellow gourd artist) and I will have a table set up with some of our gourds. If you're anywhere close to us , come by and visit.
This is an event sponsored by the Goldpan Merchants Assoc. and the Amador Whitney Museum. Wine tasting is $15. which includes a commemorative Amador City glass to take home and entitles guests to taste all the participating wineries. There's live music and lots of local artists. Should be a nice evening.

Wordless Wednesday: Dahlias, Harvest from the Garden and My Sweet Baby Birds.

"Sumptuous Oblivion"

Are you ready? I'M HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!! ( That was fun!) I feel like Wonder Woman... or someone.
Has the hot weather and a few zucchini seeds blossomed into a prolific plant that is growing more zucchini than you know what to do with? Are you known as the "giver of zucchini" by all your friends and family? Do they close the shutters and lock the door when they see you coming? Well, I have a better way to give this vegetable away. YOU DISGUISE IT!

Some times you have to trick people into thinking that they are receiving a gift when dispensing excess veggies from the garden to wary friends. So.... may I introduce the very beautiful and delicious
~Sophie Zucchini Bread~.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com and it is the best that I have found . It's very simple, uses three whole cups of shredded Zucchini and is absolutely wonderful. As Laura Stotko says, who submitted this recipe to All Recipes, (The bread is...) "Extra dense with zucchini, this loaf has the classic combination of cinnamon and nuts to tempt you into a sumptuous oblivion." I agree.

Let's get started....

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups all-purpose flour              
2cups white sugar

1teaspoon salt                             

1teaspoon baking soda                  

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon         

1/4 teaspoon baking powder          

3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) I ran out of walnuts and used some pecans instead.                                           

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C.)

2. Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and baking powder.

3. Beat eggs. Add and mix well: sugar, vanilla, and oil. Add shredded zucchini to egg mixture. Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in nuts if desired.

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.( I use Pam non-stick spray that is called BAKING. It has wheat flour in the oil. Nothing sticks and I don't have to grease and flour the pans.)

4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan, on rack, for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan and completely cool.

I had two different pans and they cooked differently. The black one on the left cooked faster and at 50 mins was overdone. I may not have had as much batter in it.  The pan on the right was done perfectly at 50 mins. When I bake this bread again I will set the time for 40 minutes and check both of them. It would probably be better to have exactly the same pans and try to distribute the batter as evenly as possible. Know your oven. Some ovens cook differently and some pans heat differently. 

 

This bread was so delicious. When Sis came last weekend we finished off almost all of it. It's even better the day after you bake it and thick slices toasted with butter spread over it is almost a religious experience. Wrap one of these babies up in some foil or plastic wrap, tie it with a lovely ribbon and take it to your neighbors. You may have to call it something besides Zucchini bread until they taste it. Maybe "Sumptuous Oblivion" or "Bodacious Bread". Make up something that really tickles your tastebuds. Remember that you're making zucchini irresistible. It's a righteous pursuit. Then, when they come over to your house for the recipe you can tell them they need ZUCCHINI to make the bread. That's good for at least 3 medium sized zuks. The neighborhood attitude will change and you can start a Zucchini Stand in front of your home.

Try the bread. You'll love it. Make lots of it and freeze it for next winter.

Next time we will use more grated Zucchini in a Cornbread Casserole. I'm on a mission here.... This vegetable will not be composted.

My Friend's visit and the Saga of the Baby Birds

I waved goodbye to my friend "C" this morning as she drove down the road. She left earlier because the day is going to be very hot and the valley even hotter. She wanted to drive home, pick up her cat, Max, and settle into her home by the lake before the heat of the afternoon finds it's footing.Summer has arrived.
She drove up on Saturday from Sacramento. We had such a nice visit. Mostly stayed around the farm, but we did go out to dinner Saturday night at Teresa's, our local Italian restaurant. Was it good!!

"C" had a knee replacement about 5 mos. ago and is doing really well. As hard as it was to go through, it will be worth it in the long run. She did all the exercises and physical therapy that she was suppose to and it has paid off. She is walking without pain and has, for all purposes, a new knee.

While "C" was here I had a meltdown over these baby birds. It appeared that they had been abandoned by the parents. As I told you in another post, these House Finches had built a nest in a container right next to the front door and that door, being our only access to the front yard, was causing the little family of Linnets a lot of stress. Well Friday afternoon the babies were looking dehydrated and very sad.  Two of them looked dead. The parents were no where to be seen. The Internet said that I should watch the nest and the parents should come every 30 mins or so. There were a "no show" that afternoon and on Saturday morning they were no where to be seen. The babies were looking really bad. So when "C" got here I was beside myself with worry and not sure what to do. She and I decided to move the whole container with the fake greenery, the nest and the birds in it over to the other end of the porch.

You can see the tin with the babies and nest hanging on the last porch post in the photo above. Carl was so curious about the birds and even though they were not making any noise, he kept watching them.
I made some white bread soaked in warm milk and using some tweezers, got the babies to eat some of the wet bread. Three of them started opening their mouths and taking the food. The other two were underneath and didn't seem to respond at all. We moved the Hummingbird feeder away from the babies and decided that we would watch out of the living room window for a while and see what might happen. It was almost 24 hours since I had seen the parents.
Within 20 minutes or so, guess who arrived? Yep! Mom and Dad. First Dad arrived and flew over to the front door. He was having a fit and I was beginning to think that I had made a big mistake. But, Mom flew right to the nest and started feeding the babies. I was so relieved that I almost cried.  I know that they had not been there all morning or the afternoon before and those babies were dying for some food. I don't know where the parents went or why. I only know that I was sure they were gone forever. Maybe they were tired of the commotion at the door. Maybe they were afraid of the other nest of sparrows in the eaves near them. Maybe the Hummers where bothering them. We have a little Hummer we call the "crazy one" who chased the other Hummers away from the feeder and zooms around the yard like a dive bomber. He kept flying around the nest and acting like he was going to attack the babies. I was ready to get the fly swatter.
I will never know what the problem was, but those two Finches didn't show up for about 24 hours and those babies almost died. Thanks to my friend's encouragement and help with moving the nest, the babies are doing well.
I will still put a chair and pad underneath the nest just in case one of them falls out. They are so small but they are packed in there like sardines. I could just see one of them trying to spread it's wings and flipping itself right out of the nest. I don't know why I'm being so paranoid about all of this. Nature has it's moments that are hard to watch and understand. I live with this. I shouldn't be so sensitive but these babies are so needy..., and sweet.

Look at these little guys. They are getting cuter and bigger by the minute. They look at me like they know that we helped them. I love to think they do anyway. All five are doing well. Maybe Mom and Dad took a short vacation for the day on Friday but that's not going to cut it around here. They need to finish what they started. They can have their fun after the kids are grown and gone, like the rest of us.

The other big news is that my wonderful, computer literate friend "C" sat down and showed me how to transfer more that three photos  to my blog on one post. I have never known how to do this. That's why you never saw more than 3 photos on any one blog post before today. That's why you saw so many collage photos. Picassa would not let me post more that 3 photos from their site. Well, you live and learn. I made the forth photo extra large just to celebrate. Now I can have some fun...
Thanks "C". You've brought me one step closer to knowing what I'm doing here. You're a sweetie. Come up again soon.

Dogs on the Bed and Baby Birds on the Porch

My sister went home on Wednesday. We had such a good visit. She understands the situation around here. If you come up for a little rest and relaxation you must accept the fact that, whatever you do, it will be with two small dogs who seem to think that they are here to entertain you and keep guard over you. Sis understands this and says that the dogs are part of the reason that she comes up here. She better say that. The prospector and I would get hurt feelings if she only came for the pups. Well no, not really. I do understand what curling up with a small, soft, warm puppy can do for your soul. It's the best feeling in the world.
Carl and Cutter were her constant companions. They followed her everywhere..... except for lunch in Sutter Creek and WalMart. Yep! I took her to WalMart. That's how exciting it gets around here. How many folks can say that they went to WalMart on their vacation? We tried on clothes, bought makeup, and I almost bought a really cute BIKE. It looked like the one I had when I was a kid, only it was pale yellow and had a basket, a water bottle holder and a flat rack on the back for .... a picnic basket. It was very solid and looked like something I could ride without breaking my neck. It was $150. I even looked at helmets. This might be serious.
The reason I mention this is because I'm notorious for my vicious antagonism of "bicyclist" on the back roads of our county. I have been known to cast aspersions on these small groups of roving, obnoxious people who think they can go anywhere, take up the whole road, throw their water bottles on the ground and not move over for cars. (My blood pressure is building as I write.) Anyway, I saw this bike and all of this irritation went right out the window. I still think I would love to ride this lovely bike down our only paved road to the river. The exercise would be good for me and I would stand a better chance distancing myself from a hungry mountain lion if I needed too. Well, maybe not, but I could definitely outrun an attacking Rattlesnake.
So Sis and I had a wonderful visit. They're never long enough but she will be back. It's only a 2 1/2 hour drive up here. Our cars know the way, like a horse to the barn, and I have the pups as an incentive.
We experienced a very hot (over 100 degree) day on Sunday and now we are back to mild weather. This is amazing. I shouldn't even say anything or I should knock on wood when I do. I hope this summer weather stays like this until Fall. It's so pleasant. We don't have to water the garden so frequently and the fire hazard is so much less. It's really lovely.

Now for an update on the baby birds....
as you can see they are a bit crowded. I'm worried that they will be falling out of the nest before they are ready to fly. I have put a chair with a pillow on it, underneath the nest, just in case.


One little fellow seems to be complaining about the living conditions (below). Or, it could be that he is fed up with this women who is constantly taking pictures of him.

He's annoyed about something....

My friend "C' is coming up tomorrow for the 4th of July weekend. Can't wait. Then I have to kick it into gear and prepare for the Amador Wine and Art Festival next Friday night in Amador City.

Vintage Thursday: Beautiful Blue Window

When I bought the Enos fruit salt bottle a few weekends ago I also found a window. Now, I don't usually buy old windows, but this one really caught my eye. It was very dirty and I found it leaning on some old pieces of farm equipment with a tag hanging on it that said $7.00. I grabbed it and went over to the owner. I asked him if he would take $5.00 for it and he said "Yes."

It has old glass with a few bubbles in it and the frame is the most beautiful shade of blue. I love the color that is left on the wood. I don't think I want to remove it.

The glazing compound is old and dried out. In fact, there isn't much of it left. Even though the frame is solid, the glass needs to be re-glazed and is hanging in there with very little support. Fixing this will be the first thing I do, because I absolutely want to preserve the original glass.

I think this window is so beautiful but I don't know what to do with it. Should I hang it on a wall in my house, as is, or put old pictures in each frame? Maybe I could put a mirror behind it or hang it on a fence outside. I've never had one before so I would love any ideas that you might have. Please help me out. This beautiful window needs to be revived and re-purposed. I know someone out there will have a great idea.

To read about and see more vintage things.... go to Colorado Lady's Blog and check out other wonderful posts on all things in the twilight of long ago. If you love old things, you will love this site.

Mokelumne River and the Puppies

This is the Mokelumne River. We live very close to it, so sometimes we take the dogs and go for a walk along the edge of it. It has not been designated as "Wild and Scenic" yet, but hopefully it will be some day. This river needs to be protected. It's so beautiful that it takes your breath away. We need to preserve this beauty for the generations to come. Read about it here.

This was Cutter's first trip to the river and he was not too enthusiastic about it. He did not want to walk down from the road to the small beach... not even with Carl. So we carried him down and once he got down there he was OK... kind of. I could just hear him saying "Oh, this is different. Big water, lots of water. Oh, but lots of new smells and Oh, what's this." He was so cute. Carl didn't tell Cutter that last year, when he was a puppy, he didn't want to get in the water either. Oh no...


Carl sacheted down to the water and walked right into it. Not far, but he was showing Carl that he was a big dog and this was how you "get in the river". Cutter followed Carl all over the beach but he never went into the water.
It was a beautiful day. We will have plenty of time to get Cutter use to the "big water" and, if nothing else, it's the most wonderful place just to take a walk or have a picnic.
We came away with some great photos and a bag full of trash left on the beach. Some folks just can't seem to find a garbage can if their lives depended on it and the irony of it is that there were two cans up on the road where we parked. Littering is a way of life for some people.

My sister is here for a few days. We are going to get a pedicure and have lunch in Sutter Creek today. See ya later....

(Click on photos for close-ups)

The Net of my Memory

The Gift

Time wants to show you a different country.
It's the one that your life conceals,
the one waiting outside when curtains are drawn,
 the one Grandmother hinted at
 in her crochet design,
the one almost found
over at the edge of the music,
after the sermon.

It's the way life is,
and you have it, a few years given.
You get killed now and then,
violated in various ways.
(And sometimes it's turn about.)
You get tired of that. Long-suffering,
 you wait and pray, and maybe good things come
- maybe the hurt slackens
and you hardly feel it any more.
You have a breath without pain.
It is called happiness.

It's a balance, the taking and passing along,
the composting of where you've been
 and how people and weather treated you.
 It's a country where you already are,
 bringing where you have been.
Time offers this gift in its millions of ways,
turning the world, moving the air,
calling,every morning,
 "Here, take it, it's yours."

~ William Stafford ~
1914-1993

(The photos are of my mother, father and myself around 1947 at Harbor Gate housing in Richmond, California.)

I love this poem. I hope someone "gets" this poem like I did. Please leave your thoughts even if you don't usually comment. I would like to hear what others have to say about this poet and THIS poem. William Stafford was an American and a contemporary of my parents. He was born the same year that my father was.

Vintage Thursday: Recycled Shutters and an Old Enos bottle

This is my kitchen window. It faces south and up until last year, I never liked it much because it seemed too big and too open. I finally found the answer last year when I bought an old four sectioned, wood louvered shutter at Room With A Past in Walnut Creek. It didn't need paint and only has two broken louvers that I have never fixed and I like to think of it as ~antique ambiance ~ (that's a synonymous expression for "too lazy to fix it")
Last week I pulled everything out and cleaned the whole window . What a project, but it was worth the effort. Everything looked so good that I thought I would take some pictures and do a post on it.
I love these shutters. I can adjust the light as much as I want and still see outside. It just feels cozy and looks a lot better. Getting the shutters in, out and around the window frame is a bear so I won't be cleaning it again for a long while.

The weekend before last The Prospector and I stopped at a yard sale and I found this old bottle. I paid $4.00 for it. I love the color and the silvery residue on the glass. It's a nice complement to the only other old bottle that I own (next to it in the photo).
When I researched it I found out that this was not a rare or unusual bottle. It was very common in fact and a remedy that was very popular.

We certainly wouldn't want to feel "out of sorts" or "bilious", have a sluggish liver or constipation. This magic elixirs, only a teaspoon in a glass of water, was the answer to all kinds of upsets. Bilious (interestingly spelled with two "L"s in England) has to do with liver dysfunction and also means irritable and ill-tempered. Eno's Fruit Salt was made in England, but lots of these bottles were found in the ground... HERE. It was probably imported to Canada and the United States for good reason.... maybe... hangovers? What do you think?

Please go over and visit Colorado Lady's blog for more vintage stories. 

Wordless Wednesday: Something's Happening

Fried brain today....

It's one of those "I've got nothing." days. I sat here trying to decide what I wanted to blog about and went from old photos of my grandfather, to researching the initials on a sweater in an old picture, to the Sierra Club history, to some old photography advertisements, to an old early 1900's camera on Ebay that I almost bought before I came to my senses and realized that I didn't know what I wanted to post about. This doesn't happen to me very often. I wasted two hours of my morning trying to decide what to post. Still, the bed is unmade, I need to do a load of laundry and my body is in desperate need of a shower.
So I leave you with a Fox... A Common Gray Fox, that came down to find water and a few grains of corn that we leave (I'm sure she thinks) just for her. The corn is for the deer but all our wild creatures are opportunist around here so she was probably looking for leftovers.
She was very beautiful. I think that she might have been the beastly beauty that caused all the commotion last Wednesday night, but she is so beautiful that it's hard to believe that she would make that much noise and dispatch some unsuspecting critter in such a violent way. I know! She's a wild creature.
She was very weary of the dogs barking across the driveway. She hardly noticed me hiding behind the garage with my camera, but then she sensed something was not safe and she loped up into the trees and disappearing into the underbrush. Wish I could follow her, at her speed, to see where she goes and if she has babies close by and what her den looks like. Litters are born from March through May so she might have a few babies very near by.
Well, it's time for other things. Maybe tomorrow I will recover my brain and give you something with some interesting family history...or maybe not. I'm in a warm, summery mode right now. All I want to do is play in the garden and photograph unsuspecting wild animals. I guess it could be worse....

"Son"shine Weekend

Our oldest son was here for the weekend. "M" came up to celebrate Father's Day with us. He brought his cat, Lucky, with him. She is a sweet old cat who needs medication twice a day. Lucky is a very nice cat to have around. She is quiet, content to sleep on the extra bed and doesn't seem ruffled by the Pupster and Cutter, even through she doesn't live with dogs at home.
I told you that the dogs would set up a vigil in the hallway while she was visiting and , well, as you can see.... Carl did.

Poor Carl just about wore himself our being vigilant. I got that "Why I'm I having to go through this" look constantly. It helped that our son gave both dogs a lot of attention. Still, Carl was determined to see this threat to his way of life, that had taken over the extra bedroom, as an invasion of the grandest proportions.

We were in the guest/computer room yesterday morning. Our son was bringing us into the advanced computer age with directions on how to use an iPod suffle that he gave his Dad for Father's Day. We were all in the room, with the cat, with the door closed. The cat got up and walked over to the door. That's when I heard a loud sniffing sound from the other side. I knew who it was so I opened the door just a couple of inches. Guess who? (above).... He backed away and sat down looking like we were all being traitors, but with an edge of despondency too. "Oh, Carl. Come over here. Come see Lucky. She's a nice cat." I said, quietly, through the crack in the door. He just sat there and looked at me. I guess there will never be an indoor cat in this house. Cutter had given up and spent most of his time outside.
We had a lovely weekend with our son. I wish our other son and his family could have been here too, but they were here a couple of weekends ago so I guess I can't have everything I want.... and The Prospector got a phone call from "J" with best wishes.
What we really need is the two story, 4 bedroom house that we sold 15 years ago. I NEED MORE ROOM!! The boys are very good about the "no room to spread out" situation here. I guess I worry about it too much. So, to compensate for tight quarters, I baked brownies and made some orange buttermilk ice cream. This always seems to work.One has nothing to do with the other but, somehow, it makes tiny spaces seem more tolerable. Isn't that weird !

We are so fortunate to have two sons that still like us after all these years. I had many moments when we were raising them when I thought that we were doing all the wrong things and that they would regret their upbringing.... but hang in there, all of you who think you don't know what you're doing. Your best efforts will be rewarded. The rest is water under the bridge....and it seems that children can be forgiving too. We all like each other. What a nice result for all the anxieties of parenthood.

"Awesome" Entertainment

I have a treat for you. I have been introduced to an Australian group called THE AXIS OF AWESOME. and OMG! These guys really are "awesome", and talented.
People ask me why I love the Internet. This is one of the reasons. I don't go to concerts. I'm not that "hip" anymore (maybe I never was) but look at the things you find around the world on the Internet that you might never know about otherwise. These guys are really funny and very good. My friend "C" emailed me this morning and shared the link with me. I watched some of their other videos and all of them made my morning a little happier and put a smile on my face. One called ~ Axis of Awesome on Q & A ~ where they are doing a bit in front of some Australian Officials is the funniest "put down" of government officials I've ever seen and so clever.
These guys can be totally irreverent. They do a "Lets see how far we can push the envelope." song called "What would Jesus Do?" that borders on the "God may punish us for this one." but they keep it likable.. somehow. You don't have to watch this one. (Please, my Christian friends, don't get all irate and stop reading my blog. Be open minded. On second thought... just look at the first video.)  There mock up of death metal is hysterical. As you can see I had a great morning with this. At least just watch the one song on this link. I guarantee you will enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I&feature=player_embedded

My oldest son is coming up for the weekend. He is bring his wonderful cat, Lucky, with him. She's a very sweet cat. She is old and on medication, so she goes where he goes. She will share the guest bedroom with "M" and have her own cat box. She's special.
Carl knows something is up. He and Cutter will be standing guard in the hallway all weekend. I can see it now.
 Have a good weekend. Got to go and bake something....

Wordless Wednesday II: Sweet Cutterbutt