Trader Jodes sells a bunch of green stems that when place in water become daffodils. If a friend hadn't told me about them I would have thought they were what, maybe something to eat. So twenty four hours after I placed them in water the flowers are popping out. I love it. The kitchen looks so alive with these flowers.

Yesterday the butterflies were here, all over my garden. All over the peninsula and today they are gone. Some migratory pattern. I am not sure which direction they are going, they flutter in every direction.

This morning I drove to Santa Cruz. Poppies every place. Suddenly the world seems safe again.

At dinner at Hula tonight I was stuck in a seat facing a mirror. Yikes I kept seeing my face and hating it. Do I really look like this. The image in my mind is nicer then the image in the mirror.

Went first to see Sunshine cleaning, the new movie and loved it.

This morning on my walk on the wharf I saw a dozen small dead sardines scattered across the walkway. No one was around. I assume they were used for bait but I did not know for sure.

The cormorants at the end of the breakwater were splashing the water. When the sea lions took a break from their barking I could hear the splashing.

met a friend to write this morning at the
tropics in Pacific Grove. 'We meet most Fridays.
we talk and write and read to each other for an hour and a half and then it is back to our real life

I went to Home depot to buy some potting soil and also bought some geraniums. Tomorrow I will do some planting in this warm sunny time.

Made tocos for lunch but somehow got the corn tortilla too greasy when I fried them. Dripped grease every where, I am not sure what I did wrong. The rest of the toco was fine.
The kids came over and made a big puddle in my driveway. I sat in the shade and watched. When they were done they were wet and tired.

I am slowly picking through the rash of weeds growing in my front yard. Every year I do this until they win. They seem so small at first and I think yes I can free this garden from weeds but then at some point I have lost.

I am in the winning stage now and am enjoying sitting in the sun pulling weeds.

I listen to a gathering of old Italian men at the Osio cafe. I am tryng to write and they are talking loudly in a language that is familiar but I don't understand.

I wonder why my Italian mother never taught us Italian.

I wonder if it is too late to learn. i think so.

Driving along the coast this morning I saw a helicopter hovering over a fishing boat about a mile out. I could not figure out what they were doing. Maybe the paper will say something.

The wind is up this afternoon.
the sun was out all day but still it was cold.

cold and sunny day. Spent the morning in class and then the afternoon hanging out with a friend that I don't see very often. Went to dinner at Ocean Sushi on Webster street.
good day today but too busy.

I just wanted to go to the movies and have a night out. Let me tell you that Deception is terrible, glossy, slick and dumb. I wanted to see something better but this was the best of a bad pick.

Maybe next week there will be good movies.

It is the classical mind body problem. Should the Monterey now faced with reduced income save the library or the sports center. The mind of the body? The community meeting last night sponsored by the city everyone a chance to have their say about decreasing funds for the city budget. What should be cut?
I vote for saving the library

Driving home from CSUMB at noon today I noticed in the bay a group of a dozen commercial fishing boats gathered near the shore. ?hat are they fishing. are there really fish out there? It's been a long time since I've seen such fishing activity in our bay. I hope the fish have returned.

I'm tired of being angry, being upset with the world of economics. I've been faithfully watching the News hour and reading the New York Times. Enough. The anger is fueled by a sense of helplessness. What can I do.

So today I intend to enjoy the sun, to actually notice my life and find enjoyment in each moment.

Warm sunny day. Went outside to the back yard to check on the apple tree. They still are just sticks in the ground but I can see some tips beginning to push through. Maybe they will live.

We are beginning to talk about what to plant in the vegetable garden next month.

Went for an early morning walk on the wharf. People busy setting up their stores and restaurants. Hoping people will actually show up later in the day. I was there just looking, not buying.

the bay was calm, sea gulls calling out with persistent voices. Several rafts of sea lions hung out near the end of the wharf.

No problem with parking at 8am.

I have been caught up in the latest P.D. James mystery, The Private Patient. It's not that the book is so good, rather reading it feels like being on vacation.
But now it is over and I need to go back to real life.
Sun is out after a day full of fog.

The morning started foggy. After days of sunshine I had forgotten about the fog. I watered the new fruit trees, Sun came out in the afternoon just as a friend arrived from the bay area. Fog was back in the evening. Saw a great blue heron working on his nest down the street,

I finished reading SEASON OF MIGRATION TO THE NORTH by Tayeb Salih. It was written in 1969 but the book I am reading was recently republished. A well written compelling story of a village on the Nile and the influence of the Europeans on their lives.

Now I am looking for another book to read.

Yes it is true, the piles of books in my life are beginning to bother me.
Surely I can do something about them.

My sister and I had a good visit, talking and eating and parallel play with our new tiny computers.

We did take an early morning walk along the waterfront before the cold wind came up.

My sister and I started walking on the bunny trail but it was too cold so we turned back early.Wind and cold. So went for lunch at Turtle Bay and came home and read for awhile.

Went to a birthday party this afternoon in Carmel Valley.
a tea party.
talked, laughed. All was good.

Luckily I had a warm sweater on when we sat outside.

Came home and took a long nap.

Went to the movies in the late afternoon to see CLASS, a french movie about a multi cultural high school class room. Very intense. I recommend it.

Parking my car in the municipal garage on the third floor I saw a group of older respectable looking adults guzzling beer in the corner. I've seen teenagers hide out in a garage and drink but not old people. I wonder what was going on.

Went to the library looking for a page turner, something to entertain and distract myself,
didn't find the right book so I am distracting myself with the internet.

This morning at dawn, the sun coming up below the clouds, we had a rainbow.

Spent the morning at the Writers circle learning how difficult it is to get one's writing published. Not a surprise and yet I did have this fantasy that I could make it happen.

The nine year old boy told me that the librarian told him that he owed $65 in fines. He asked me gravely how was he going to get that money. That was more money then he had. He didn't know why he had this fine on his library card.

I reassured him that we would go to the library and figure out what to do. He is part of the family and we would all help out.

Driving in the rain this morning I saw the first cluster of orange poppies along the side of the road. If there had been road space I would have stopped and taken a closer look.

As it was I just had a glimpse of these poppies and the realization that wild flowers were on their way.

Lots of rain and wind today. Wanted to go for a walk but didn't. Went to a friend's house for dinner. Actually she cooked a marvelous dinner. I feel so satisfied.

I've started to watch the first season of THE WIRE from HBO. My daughter has recommended it and I hesitated but now I am hooked.