A Pool In A Backyard

Weather in California has been hot. Eight-six degree is at the low end and ninety four at the high end. Inside the house it is cool with air, but outside the sun seems to burn right through you. One alternative of being hot is to go swimming. Luckily, having a pool in the back yard is a plus. The water is cool in the morning but by afternoon it feels lukewarm. Either way, it is refreshing to jump in or (walk slowly down the steps) into the blue-green water.

My granddaughters spend more time in the water than I do but I like that I can get in whenever I feel like it.

Not only is the pool fun but being with two of my grandchildren is heaven on earth for me. We laugh, sing, watch movies, and what ever strikes us at the moment. My memories are when they were little girls and I have to keep reminding myself that they are young adults!

"When I was a child,

our summer days were

spent swimming; chlorine

in my hair was like perfume."

Patti Davis

The Largest Fair I Have Ever Attended

My granddaughter suggested we go to the Orange County Fair. I have been to the Pueblo and Greeley Fair in Colorado and thought it would be similar. Boy was I wrong! The OC Fair is huge with something for every one; artists, farmers, culinary people, entertainment, crafts, quilting, livestock, live music, food booths, garden and floral areas, carnival rides and clothing. We were there over two hours and I still wanted to see more. I may have covered one fourth of the fair.

There were booths with socks, hats, t-shirts, lamps, massage chairs, gourds, hot tubs, a canning section, how to cut up a watermelon, wine and beer booths, honey for sale, a museum of Agrarian Art, among other interesting things to see. I felt as if my eyes were twirling in my head because I did not want to miss anything. For sure, there was something for everyone from toddlers to an eighty year old and any one in between!

My granddaughters left to go ride the carnival rides while I toured the different exhibits. One lady tried to get me to take crochet lessons and the watermelon man asked if I wanted to learn the fancy ways to cut a watermelon. If I hadn't wanted to see everything I may have taken him up on his suggestion and learned fancy ways to cut a watermelon. But there was so much more to see I had to keep moving!

A Chinese act of balancing chairs straight up to the sky had a man doing acrobatics at the top of all the stacked chairs.

A gourd section attracted me because my daughter is a gourd artist and I wondered if she had ever entered a contest at the Orange County Fair. Somehow, the gourds my daughter creates are more professional looking than those at the Fair.

Fun At The Fair

In and Out Burger

My granddaughter from Colorado and I flew to John Wayne airport about a week ago. Among the many plans of what to do in California, we wanted to try an In and Out Burger. Today we drove to the red and white building and ordered the all famous burger. The place seems to always be busy and luckily we found a booth as we waited for our order of fries, pop and burger.

We enjoyed our lunch in the air-conditioned restaurant and watched people from every walk of life. Business looking people, casually dressed people, sports looking persons, old, young, and what looked like a variety of different ethnic looking people entered and left the restaurant. It seemed that everyone loves the In and Out burger!

As we were leaving, four young men, wearing McDonald shirts with the arches, were entering and I figured they must prefer the In and Out burger to the McDonald's one!

"Cups and burger wrappers

used In-N-Out Burger chain

are printed with references

to Bible verses."

A Semi-International Lunch

Vacations had my friends traveling to different parts of the world. Africa, Greece and Turkey, Hawaii, Paris, France; and New Mexico. It was fun having each person tell about their visits to the other side of the ocean. I don't know who decided on having a lunch with food commemorating the countries visited but on July 12, 2018, we gathered at the home of the friend who had traveled to Paris. Her décor was all French; serving dishes, plates, wall hangings, wine, bottled water (Perrier),and crepes she prepared herself. She looked very French in her black beret as she greeted us at the door.

 The lady who had traveled to Africa had already treated us to African food at her house but on this day she brought a dish with cheese, watermelon and cucumber. I do not know if she was kidding, but she said that the watermelon was African!

Hawaii was represented by a beautiful looking dish of fruit and coconut covered bananas. New Mexico had a plate of calabacitas; a dish of zucchini and corn. Greece and Turkey was represented by a Greek salad, Kalamata olives plus cookies from Turkey and Greece. Eiffel tower cookies and apple strudel were brought by a friend for our dessert. The cherry tarts were prepared by the hostess.

Not only was the food original and tasty but the conversation flowed as we talked about our travels.
A fun afternoon and having our eyes opened by tasting different foreign foods.

A great luncheon that couldn't be beat

by a few ladies who love to eat.

Cuisine from different countries we did share

and it turned out to be a fantastic affair!

E. Moscoso

A Horrible Scar

Today I saw a horrible scar about five inches long. It hurt to look at it. Yet, I am sure it hurt my friend more! She had her knee replaced and looked forward to better days. Her leg was all black and blue from her upper thigh to her ankle. The skin around the stiches looked red and her knee looked swollen. She mentioned that she could only handle the pain with drugs. What do you do? You sympathize, try to empathize, try to distract her by what you hope are interesting conversations, you take her food, you eat lunch with her, water her plants, but there is nothing you can do about her pain. I guess it is something only the person who has been operated has to figure out for herself.

On the other hand, I was impressed how well she gets around with her walker. She mentioned she showers by herself. She can fix her own lunch, though she mentioned friends had stopped by with food so she didn't have to cook. "I would if I  had to," she told me. She seems in good spirits and I am not sure I could handle an operation like that and do as well as she is doing.

At her first appointment with the doctor he told her she was exactly where she should be and that made her feel so great that she and the friend who drove her to the office went out to dinner after the  appointment. Time is the important factor in recuperating from a knee operation and also doing her daily exercise therapy.  I know that before long she will be back to normal because her positive attitude, her sense of humor and driving will are always present in my friend!

As much as I wanted to take a photo of the bruised and stiched leg, I did not. So it is up to your imagination to picture the horrible scar!

"I'm fine, and my hips are fine.

My false knee is fine.

My false hip is fine.

Everything is cooking."

Liza Minnelli

Coney Island Lovers

Looking for a movie to watch on Friday evening, I checked out Prime free movies. One caught my attention because the blurb said it had action, passion, infidelity, and excitement. I had not heard anything about Wonder Wheel with Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi and a Juno Temple.

Those seemed to be good actors so I clicked on it.  The background music was upbeat and my first thought was that it was Woody Allen's style. I couldn't help but think that someone was copying his method of beginning a movie.  I watched the credits before the movie began and guess who had written and directed the movie? Woody Allen! How about that, I thought, I can pick my favorite writer, actor and director before seeing the credits!

Woody Allen has always been a favorite of mine for his sense of humor, how he manages to have characters true to life and how he can move the characters through life in a realistic way. This movie did not disappoint me. Jim Belushi is married to Kate Winslet and he is a rough, gross man that loves his wife but she is unhappy. She runs into Justin Timberlake where he us a life guard on the beach. An affair follows but then Jim Belushi's daughter shows up, running away from gangsters who want to kill her and there is a shift in the relationships. When Justin Timberlake meets the daughter it does not take long for him to fall in love with her. The mixed up group is mismatched; Kate Winslet does not care for the daughter, she sees Timberlake as her escape out of being a waitress, she has a son who starts fires, Jim Belushi is a recovering alcoholic and treats women without respect yet in his own way loves them, and no one appears to be content with their life. Yet, one wonders how their lives will turn out. It is almost predictable but not quite.

I enjoyed the movie, felt bad for some of the characters and enjoyed others. What surprised me is that I had no idea that Woody Allen had a new movie out. I read that he does a movie a year and I usually find out before hand that one of his movies will be coming out. Wonder Wheel was a surprise. I guess you will have to see the movie to know what happens.

Some reviews were not favorable but I liked the movie and it could be that anything Woody Allen does, I will like.

Best Seat In The House

Every year, for the 4th of July, I drive to Greeley, Colorado to attend the famous parade and rodeo. After the parade I usually visit friends and return home feeling as if I had celebrated the day properly. This year I did not feel like making the drive fifty miles north. A friend invited me to go to Blackhawk and I did not feel like going and giving the casino my money. Instead, I got up and decided to cut down some small trees and branches that were popping out of the larger trees. I believe those seedlings are called weed trees and they grow where they don't belong. Grabbing a saw I began  sawing and feeling like Paul Bunyan as I brought down many branches. Most of the limbs were about finger thick, so it really wasn't hard work!

My grass cutter arrived around ten and began mowing the lawn I asked him if he celebrated the 4th of July and he said, "I celebrate every day!"  After he finished the lawn, he began working on the gate he had repaired about two months ago. He did not like the way it scraped on the cement. He sawed and drilled until he felt content with the gate. By then I had a pile of large branches I had cut and he took them, along with the mowed grass, to get rid of them at the dump.

I received a couple of calls from friends wishing me a Happy 4th of July but even then I did not feel as if it was a holiday. I read where Bette Midler said she did not feel like celebrating this year either!

Going to the grocery store, I thought it would be empty because every one would be at barbeque's or family gatherings. How wrong I was because the store was teeming with grocery shoppers. They must not have been celebrating either, I thought.

 In the evening, I turned the television to the PBS station, and saw there was a 4th of July show from Washington D.C. I decided to watch it and enjoyed the entertainment, fireworks, patriotic music plus songs by Jimmy Buffet, The Temptations, and the Beach Boys. A couple of the old songs made me get up and dance in my living room! What a fun show and seeing the many persons in red, white and blue outfits gave me a feeling that I was finally celebrating the 4th of July. With my feet up on the coffee table, no Sulphur smelling fire works, no traffic and no ear splitting booms I enjoyed the party!

The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and God Bless America brought tears to my eyes

because I kept thinking how proud I am to be an American. There is no other country I would rather live in than right here. Seeing our beautiful flag flying gave me a good feeling. I couldn't help but think,  how great our country is and to watch a patriotic show without political tensions was a pleasure.

Finally, 

I was celebrating the 4th of July!