THIS N THAT

Do you like the picture above? In front of our little apartment I have, on either side of the walkway, a plumbago plant. These plants are not really suitable for using as a decorative bush, because they just grow every which way. Actually, where one sees them the most is along the freeway where they spread very easily and cover up the fences that divide freeway from commercial and residential areas. But the plumbagos I have are a fairly new variety called "Cape Royal" and are, as you can see, of a most glorious color. I wanted to use a photo of them in full bloom as a desktop on the computer, and it took a little finagling to accomplish it, but what you see is an actual photo of my desktop screen, with the images cropped out! I had to mix the colors for the desktop to match the plumbago lavender, which took more finagling. But I'm sure happy with the result. My plumbagos are now cut back to their scraggly selves, so with this desktop I'll bridge that gap until late next summer when they do this again!

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I just finished knitting a red and pink stripped stocking cap, which turned out awfully cute but to my surprise a little bit Christmasy elf-like. It doesn't matter, because the stocking caps I knit will be taken soon to a home for abused women and children in Riverside. The kiddies, who often arrive quite suddenly, often don't come with suitcases full of their clothes, so these will be available for them to wear on winter mornings. Here's a photo of a couple that will be going there too.



And thinking of Christmas reminds me of the first Christmas we spent in Loma Linda, which was shortly after we retired. The senior apartments we moved into faced a narrow but well-travelled road that led to both the big Loma Linda University Medical complex and the Loma Linda VA Hospital. Our apartment was on the second floor and the balcony overlooked the intersection of Barton Road and Oakwood. Early one morning in December I began seeing city employees shutting down one side of Barton Road; then police cars arrived at the intersection to block any traffic. I stepped out on the balcony to better see what was going on. I heard a monumentally-loud motor noise coming closer and closer. Shortly into view came more big Harley Motorcycles than I have ever seen in my life, hundreds of them. The pace was as slow as the hogs could move, giving everyone a chance to see what was going on. Each rider was dressed as Santa and both sides of the motorcycle had huge bags full of wrapped and unwrapped presents. They were on their way to deliver toys to the Children's Hospital at Loma Linda. Believe me, it was a real tear-jerker. It also just about vibrated us right off the balcony.


Except for watching that event, we weren't very happy with the location of our apartment in the complex. It had been the only one available when we moved in. Later we found the same floorplan in a different location available and we relocated to it. I can't say as I missed the noise from Barton Road. What we heard in the new location was the sound of Koi swimming in the apartment's fish-pond!

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I saw a funny definition the other day of "Floor" and it said, "Floor (n) - a place to set genealogy files." I laughed when I read it because it is so true.

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And finally, some years back, Salon.com, an online magazine, had a piece in it that made me laugh. Patrick Smith was the writer:

I noticed the letters KLM are sequential in the alphabet. I was mulling this over until a friend reminded me that one of the first signs of insanity is looking for hidden meaning where there isn't any. The spelled-out letters of KLM - Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij -- do, however, possess a strangely onomatopoeic quality, you can't deny that. It's the sound a 747 might make scraping down the runway after a belly landing.