Obon Festival

I upgraded to Lion OS and I can't say I'm completely enamored. The scrolling is exactly the opposite of what I was used to with the magic mouse, and I often use Preview and the F3 button to look at all my pics at once to get the feel for the blog post storyline and now that doesn't work. I haven't figured a way around it yet. If you know, please share. I'm sorry if none of this makes sense too.

Anyways - I went to the Obon Festival in San Luis. By the way (PSA), San Luis is pronounced like San Loo-es, not San Loo-ee. And we had a real good time. They were doing a martial arts demonstration inside the building which made me laugh (shame on me) because essentially they were wearing helmets and face masks but they were whacking the dickens out of each other. Right over the head. Whack, whack, whack. Very rhythmical. I thought it was hilarious.

The vendors indoors were very rummage sale too. Except the book seller. All sorts of books on Japanese culture, history, food, novels. I went crazy!

Outside there was the food and fun. This bonsai demonstration was really interesting. The son explained what the father was doing. A typical juniper bush was being pruned in a very specific way, both plant and roots, to be a bonsai.    

I'm going to try this, you know I am. I've always wanted a bonsai.

This is the before picture. The plant was a standard shrub in a pot like something you would buy from a nursery.

This is the after shot. 

The father was putting 

the finishing touches 

on the tree.

The chicken dinner was really delicious
too.

Happy (Summer) Solstice!

Or winter solstice for those down under 

- just think, the days will only get longer for you now, 

and for us northern hemis 

- the nights. 

Also I want to thank everyone who reads this blog. 

I am grateful to have you.

Whetstone Box

I'm not saying I'm the only one, but I bet we are a small club. Of people who can get excited by a box.

It's clear I am recently enamored with bento boxes, but an old wood box?

Treasure!

Look! It has pedestal feet! And double sides! And all that writing! I wonder what it says.

It measures 14 1/2 by 10 inches and it's 6 1/2 inches deep.

What do you suppose I should do with it?

Giveaway Time

Hello Fine Readers!

It's time for a giveaway.

My current hobby is bento boxing and I'm just a beginner, so I need all the help I can get. I found a fabulous book that I would love to pass on to one lucky person who is interested in it. Will mail anywhere in the world.

Just leave a comment HERE at this post. Giveaway ends Halloween night.

Si the Gargoyle

I've been searching for the actual photo that is at the bottom of this blog with absolutely no luck. Right now I'd be happy to find the scanned version on my hard drive because it was a film photo like the picture above and my new banner. The two photos above are in frames that sit on a very tall bookcase just underneath my gargoyle which is as it should be the highest thing in the living room looking down upon us protecting us from evil.

I'm on vacation and I decided to make a to do list so I wouldn't sleep the week away. On this list are some fun things too not just vacuum the carpet and clean the bathroom. I thought it would be no problem adhering to tasks such as read everyday. Of course I do read everyday but I meant from a book not a computer screen.

But I haven't read everyday from a book or watched that pile of dvds from netflix. Instead I've been in a spacey phase in between creative pops. And it's all because of Bento Boxes.

Yesterday there was a article in the New York Times about Bento Box Lunches and as I read it today I realized I knew the majority of the web sites cited and the people who were interviewed and I've only been into this my brand new hobby for three weeks! To me Space Cadet Judy that is amazing. Also my bento box photos on Flickr have gone wild. Usually I'm lucky if any of my photos are viewed twice. There's nothing like it when things all fall into place. So the natural progression is I'm making another blog Judy's Bento Box. Hope to get something posted there soon. [NOTE: First post is a go. Come by and say hi!]

Also I finally decided to join the world and updated my profile as well.

Day 23: Climbing Mt. Manly Quilt

Quilts are funny little creatures. They start as big swaths of cloths and turn into their own story. One thing I've learned thus far in designing a quilt for The Mister is ...

DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!

Now I've got lots of fabric I will not use for this project or probably ever, but we'll see, and that the mixed set of manly ideas are like mixing your drinks. It's enough to have me spinning for at least seven months. 

Oh I know it's my fault. I just thought the color scheme, the theme, I thought that he might like to be a part of the design concept. Well some input is one thing, but fergoodnessake. Stop Stop Stop I don't need any more INPUT! 

All that said. I started on the manly man quilt WITHOUT a plan. And it is shaping up nicely.

Fun Friday Night

I was looking around at blogs I haven't read for awhile and found this.

  

I had a good time with this even though I had to register. Good time to use that old hotmail account.

Check it out. I bet you look smashing in red white and blue too. 

Thoughts For A Monday

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

We here at the little ranch house are flying the stars and stripes and the peace flag to commemorate MLK Jr's birthday (which was January 15, 1929). His desire and ability to convey civil rights, human rights, and promoting peace were such an inspiration to me. I'm so glad he was born and lived a meaningful life. 

The 60s were a trip. So many wonderful leaders were assassinated, and violence was everywhere. Dinnertime's nightly news ritual was how many bombs were dropped in Vietnam today, along with a death count. Policemen in riot gear beating blacks with batons or water hoses. People running and screaming and being dragged by their hair. No wonder I had nightmares on a regular basis.  No wonder I don't watch the news as an adult.

 

The suffering hasn't ended either, but I feel a sense of hope. Like something around the corner will be worth the price of admission. That maybe the economy has to crumble to the ground, so we can get rid of the fat, fat cats, fat cars, fat CEOs. Watch out I'm climbing up on my soapbox.

 

I used to be a very political animal. Political History was one of my majors in college. (I switched around a lot - really just liking everything I was currently in to.) Recently I used to write a political column for the newspaper. I was even asked to run for office by a political watchdog group. None of this is that remarkable except for the fact that I'm a minority around here. I'm a liberal. Where I live is staunchly conservative. People around here don't celebrate MLK day. Some of them might not even know who he is.

 

So, although I left the political scene, I will proudly celebrate this day, this uppity black day, because tomorrow will be even better!

 

 

Embrace 365 Days Of Grace

At two o'clock in the morning I had the most incredible wave of thoughts. I was pissed. First I didn't want to be awake. I was cold. I remembered all the horrible things this nasty boss did to me. I went screaming down memory lane about an old flame that I wish gets everything he deserves (and somehow I think he will). And most importantly I was mad at myself for not being to shake it. All this friggin negativity.

Think good thoughts, I commanded myself. You're alive, girl! Be grateful.

But I couldn't. I kept going back to hate. And then my heart started to pound. Bam Bam, like too fast and too hard. Like someone knocking on your door in the middle of the night. All of sudden, I think I'm going to die of a heart attack. It happens, you know, people just die of heart attacks all the time. Bam Bam Bam. Get a grip, girl! (aside: I wonder how old I'm going to have to be when I consider myself an old lady. Get a grip, old lady!) 

Four hours later exhausted I fall back to sleep. I have a theory about all this just in case you want to know. It involves MSG in restaurant food and sinuses. Lack of oxygen really, but anyway.

Today I'm wandering around the web - kind of aimless, but I'm happy. I'm looking for gardening blogs. Kitchen garden, potagers, vegetables and flowers. That kind of stuff. And I run into



and all at once I know I need to incorporate this into my life.

They say happy people live better lives, and I believe it. So much energy is consumed with anger.

First day - my five small things:

1. The way Si leaps on me whenever I sit in the sun, like Yay lady! Time to snuggle!

2. My new crock pot. I made potato soup for lunch. It was good!

3. Going for a walk down to the mailbox. Well, I felt good when it ended. Two miles of up and down hills. Boy if I did that everyday, I'd be in good shape.
  
4. I'm really glad I didn't die of a heart attack this morning.

5. Cloud pictures.

Once Again

Not So Long Ago made with the words of my current blog. 

I Just Thought made with the words of the category North County Notebook.

  

I have a little Wordle addiction right now that I am working through. Honestly I would love a whole wall of this. Not a little page size, but one wall of huge words in vibrant colors with a cool red sofa in front of it. Maybe in a loft, in Chicago, hanging with people who get you. And laugh. 

  

Thanks Amanda for reading. 

I think we might have to rename Twitter -  to - Whereas username says: blahblahwoofwoof

For example:

Whereas JudysNotebook says:

I just ate the goldfish as sushi. So fresh. Ha Ha!

24 days ago

Yep, it's a go. I love the word WHEREAS!

New and Improved

Inspired by Alicia's blog (once again) I decided to put a splash of color around here. The biggest problem I had was with the background color. I first started with the palest of green, but then it looked too much like hers. And I'm not a copycat! :)   

So I tried pale yellow. Okay but too pale. The next step was to step up the yellow, and whoa, where are my sunglasses! Pale pink, ahh, not right. So I tried pale orange, and that worked, except I kept hearing my brother described his old Mazda truck (which was that same color) as "baby shit orange." So I went back to the ivory (pale yellow) background.

  

Anyway, I tried to download a fancy template first of all, and there was a big "photobucket has been removed" error sign that I couldn't remove. So I ditched that and just decided to work with Blogger and the colors and fonts. 

  

What pleases me the most is that I figured out how to download and size my own photo for the banner! Hurray!

  

And I'm participating in the Flowers Pool on Flickr. It is really accessible to anyone. Come join the fun and post posies growing in your neck of the woods.

In June Comes

This children's book is called Around The Year by Tasha Tudor and was published in 1957. My brother was clearing out my father's attic and thought that I might like to have it. I remember looking at this book before I could even read. The illustrations are just so charming.