Witchy Women

A couple weeks ago I found myself shopping for witch hats. One can’t attend a witches Halloween party without a proper witchy hat, can one? And what better day to blog about witches than on Halloween?

One witchy hat

Now that Sharon and Jim are back in California (after a way-too-long stint in Texas and Australia), she decided to throw a First Annual Witches and Wine Party. And if anyone knows how to throw a party it’s Sharon. She’s a mix between Martha Stewart and Joanna Gaines…an excellent cook and a talented decorator.

The hostess and me

Friday night, 19 of us gathered at Sharon’s Santa Rosa home to be bewitched, so to speak. Some of us met in high school, so have been friends for 46 years. We still have a strong connection, which I think is a rare thing. How lucky are we?

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My Sandal Saga

I bought a pair of sandals nearly a million years ago but should have bought 2 pairs. Because as often happens with things I like, Teva discontinued these casual cuties even though they’re the more feminine of the Teva selections and everyone I know who wears them loves them. Comfortable and cute yet functional. C’est la vie!

Anyway, now that you know this, I recently wore them to Sonoma where Sharon, Pam and Sue joined me at a gorgeous 20-acre vineyard in the hills above the town square. I’d relocated 4 feral cats there and now it was time to remove their cages.

The cats’ view. Not too shabby

First we decided to have lunch in town on this scorching but beautiful day. We quickly learned we should have made reservations as apparently it was still tourist season. Live and learn. So we began to walk the square looking for a restaurant without a wait.

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One of These Days

When one has 5 cats, 4 dogs and an array of rotating foster kittens, one can expect constant activity, except maybe in the wee hours of the night. And sometimes not even then when one particular dog snores like an inebriated sailor cursed with sleep apnea.

Skip, my snorer, sleeping with Oliver

Now don’t get me wrong. Skip’s snoring is actually kind of endearing. But how such a small mutt creates so much noise is baffling. Being an insomniac with 2 functioning ears, I can attest he is loud.

That’s when I started thinking of how one of these days it might be nice to sleep 8 hours instead of my usual 5. And I thought, what would life be like without my animals? Well, the dam burst and within mere minutes these 17 thoughts poured out of me.

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My Chosen Few

There’s an elderly woman in middle America who blogs about her gout and what she did that day, which sometimes includes visiting the local Hy-Vee market to buy groceries. Why don’t we call her Mabel? Mabel then proceeds to explain how she cooked supper that evening. All in one run-on sentence with just a few typos.

Probably Mabel

Mabel

I don’t recall how I came across her blog out in the vast blogosphere but I forced myself to keep reading. I was fascinated by its mundaneness while being intrigued with her large following. Nearly 1000 readers follow Mabel’s blog. That’s a dream to me. An unrealistic, keep on dreaming kind of dream. dream a little dream

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Trying to Turn Back Time

I recently made the mistake of buying a 10x magnifying mirror. I ask you, what was I thinking? There’s no good reason to buy an item that only magnifies your imperfections while accentuating those you had no idea you even possessed. But did that stop me?magnifying mirrorLet’s face it – we live in a youth-oriented society. Wrinkles are not appreciated here like in Japan or the Philippines, where those with nooks and crannies are revered for the wisdom that comes with age (accompanied by great storytelling). Nursing homes? What are those? Continue reading