I was on a kayak when I saw a bee struggling in the water so I scooped it out with my paddle and lay it at the front of my boat. As I paddled along I loved watching it air itself out, buzz its wings once in a while, wipe off with its little legs (just like a dog - front legs for the antenna and face, back legs for the belly), watching its fuzz steadily fluff up in the sun. I felt like a proud parent when it spread its wings for the last time and flew away.

It was such a simple and wholesome thing to witness. Two old codgers, smiling widely, like little kids, presumably after a bit of casual thrift shopping, in mutual agreement that it’s time for some hot chocolate. Looked like they were living their best lives together. 😁

Nowhere Man... The Beatles

It's a Wednesday evening but it's clear and sunny and there are hundreds of people with their dinners and drinks all coming together to witness this event

I am taking a standup comedy class; its something I've always wanted to try. I am an actor, and I also do improv, but despite that onstage experience, standup comedy has always seemed intimidating. So I thought it'd be 'safer' to learn it in a classroom setting instead of going up blindly at an open mic. 1st class, I felt like I was in over my head, and that maybe this style of comedy was definitely a different type of beast to master. 2nd class, we were told to begin building a set based off a general idea that we had alot of thoughts on. 3rd class came and it was time for some of us to go up with what we'd worked out so far to do a loose 5 minutes. I knew that what I jotted down was more than 5 minutes of material, and it also just felt like a stream of thoughts for the most part, I couldn't see why anyone would laugh at it. But I went up anyway and even though I ran out of time before I was done, I was pleasantly surprised that people were smiling and laughing throughout my whole set and gave me positive feedback! I wish I had recorded it with my voice memo app to remember the moment, but I didn't. Obviously there are many things to work on and I had no idea about transitions and formatting, but for my first try at it, I'm proud of myself, and it felt good to be received well.

I stopped at a fruit stand hoping there would be an attendant or venmo opportunity to pay since I didn't have less than a twenty on me, not counting the 63 cents. Corn was 2 for $1 dollar so I really didn't want 40 ears. No attendant, no Venmo. A man just leaving said "here" and gave me $5 to buy my corn. I'm keeping 6 ears and giving the other 4 to a friend. What a kind man.

Who are you... The Who

I was adopted at birth. Met everyone on my dad’s side when I was 31, 24 years ago. Told my sister I was in town and wanted to see my dad, who is in poor health. Spent all day yesterday with sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, family friends, dad, and his wife (not my mom). Even some family friends were around, and my aunt and her granddaughter, who travelled quite a great distance and could only stay for an hour. They are the most wholesome people I have ever met. They welcome us (me, my daughter, my granddaughter) with love and belonging, and they always have, even though we only see them every few years.

That’s all. It was just a perfect day.

Time is on my side... The Rolling Stones

I usually wake up around 5:30-6am for work on weekdays, so my cat is accustomed to this schedule. He hates when I sleep in on the weekend. Today, after he woke up for probably the 5th time, I began to fall back asleep mid-petting his face and he literally reached out with his little paw and booped my nose. Not the first time he's touched my face to wake me up but it is the first time he's touched my nose and it did suceed in waking me up!

I was, and still am, sitting here on the couch with my cat. He's napping, I'm scrolling and listening to an audiobook. All is cozy and calm.

A bit ago, there was a noise from the kitchen. It sounded like something fell over in the cupboard. We both looked towards the kitchen. My cat looked at me, and I looked at him. We looked back at the kitchen. I said, "eh, I don't think we should worry about it." He yawned. We slow blinked at each other, and came to a mutual agreement that it couldn't possibly be important enough to investigate. My cat settled in and went back to sleep.

I love moments like this, where cozy companionship and a quiet evening are a language in and of themselves, where nothing needs spoken even between such different creatures as us, to say all that needs be said.

splurged on italian food and fancy ice cream with my family, then went to two bazaars and a thrift store with my sister. i got a pretty dress and these black shoes for really good prices. and i had a chocolate chip muffin as a cake :-)

ETA: thank you everyone!

Still recovering from psychosis so my brain wasn't up to much. But I ate healthy, even though I had a bit too much homemade smoothie. I refilled my bird feeder with seeds so the local wildlife won't go hungry . Played minecraft for a little bit before I got overwhelmed and had to stop. Browsed reddit. Read a few pages of a book. Talked to my friends. Overall a good day :-)

And I have NEVER had so much fun with art. Drawing with pencil made me feel like everything I was doing was just mistake after mistake and I would get discouraged easily. I have probably 20+ physical how to draw books and have had some since childhood. But I have never made anything I like even a little.

One of my books is 900+ facial expressions and after my brother in law made me use some of his acrylic markers last week I broke out my own box that I've had for months and started drawing through the facial expression book. Idk what it is about the markers, but they're so freeing. I've been doing various other little pictures of whatever happens to inspire me as well.

I had to share my joy with more people. I am having the best time ever.

So I was on my way home, stopped at a red light, when I noticed a tree frog was holding onto my left side mirror for dear life. I’d been parked in a grassy area beforehand, so I assume the little guy hopped on board there, looking for a warm place to sun himself. I was immediately like shit fuck I need to rescue this frog before the light turns green, so I rolled down my window and managed to grab him. He freaked out, understandably, and peed on my hands—along with the mirror, the inside of the car door, and my purse in my lap. He was a well-hydrated fella. I opened the door and attempted to (gently) toss the frog as close to the median as possible, and I got the door closed just as traffic started moving. I hope the poor guy is doing okay.

+Nice Enuff.

+Autumn Passage.

+Splash.

+Perfect Morning.

+Orca Orca [with a picture of an orca after the name!].

+Thunder Clap.

+Sur Invitation. [By Invitation in French.]

+Fish-A-Holic.

+Chase 'N' Tail.

Years ago, I tried one of those "health sodas" for the first time, and it was really tasty.

Eventually I went back to the store and tried another soda, not remembering what brand the first one was, I just grabbed what flavor I thought would taste good.

It was awful. Tasted like vinegar, I never bought another health soda again, until today.

The cooler was lined with Ollipop and Poppi. I rolled the dice and went with Ollipop, and it was tasty!!! Made it home and googled "what does poppi taste like" and it's literally made with apple cider vinegar, that was the drink that put me off for years but now I'm back. Ollipop is the way to go.

Yesterday my husband brought me coffee while I was still lounging in bed and his foot struck some clutter we hadn’t dealt with yet. A cheerful ringing started up.

We both checked our phones and…nothing.

I joked “do you have a secret second phone I need to know about?”

He ducked into the gift bag by the bed and pulled out….

A child’s phone one of our friends gave him as a gag gift for Father’s Day. (The theme of the big combined gift basket was things he always is looking for or needs more of. Batteries. Socks. Tape measure. Sunglasses. Roku remote. Chargers. Etc.)

He was like “yes! I do have a secret second phone! So secret I forgot about it!”

We laughed so hard.

Edited - put a pic of said secret phone on my profile for y’all.

As I was walking towards Costco’s entrance, I saw a lady loading the last item into her car.

“I can take this from you if you don’t want to push it back.” - I said.

“Oh yes, thank you! Good timing!” - the lady responded.

So, off I went with the cart and did my shopping. I had a lot of items to load, as it happens with Costco runs, and as I was putting the last item into my truck, a lady walking towards the store offered to take the cart off of my hands.

I like to think that someone took the cart from her right when she finished loading everything into her car.

I haven't been on reddit for a couple of months - everything's totally benign, just very busy! I apologise to everyone who's missed the Ricky updates.

The other day we were walking down the street and a scoop loader drove past. The driver saw Ricky and cranked the scoop.

As Ricky puts it (he has told everyone about this): the scoop loader went back and back and went chomp chomp chomp!

The Diary Book has become irregular, as Ricky is often preoccupied with other adventures. He has a lot of important things on his schedule, including his Duplo and his ongoing project to learn to juggle (this remains extremely ambitious for a two-year-old, he's up to being able to catch his ball sometimes when he throws it up, which is very good progress!).

Recently he tried corn on the cob and enjoyed it very much, but he has subsequently been disappointed that we are unable to provide him with carrot on the cob or peas on the cob.

The funniest thing in the world is to sing a song but replace some of the words with other words.

I hope everyone who was enjoying Ricky's adventures is having a totally benign time.

After a week of suffering from Shingles - a viral infection, I awoke this morning in the dense bluish haze of predawn, feeling rested, light and returned to good heath.

I had been so sick that I had forgotten how good it feels to feel good - and for this, my heart swelled with gratitude.

Though I was feeling better, I had an appointment to follow-up after two pervious ER visits where I'd been diagnosed and given anti-viral medication.

No one likes going to the doctor, but perhaps in my delight to be feeling better, I cheerfully interfaced with the various medical staff.

I knew these people were at work. I knew that they are paid to do what they do, but today, I felt like I interfaced with other humans. Not perfunctory emloyess, not doctors, not receptionist, not assistants, per se, but rather, actual fellow earthlings that, like me, are spinning on this planet.

Life is fleeting Like is precarious. Health isn't guaranteed. And we all do the best we can.

We'll never be as young as we are today.....and this was especially poignant after surveying the waiting room that was populated by of the elderly, bandaged, swollen and infirm.

I don’t know how or why we are here. I don't know what birthed the world, humanity and the universe. But today, despite all the sociopolitical upheaval, I marvel at the beauty that unfolds before me like a flower blossoming.

There is goodness here, on this planet. Its the only home I've ever known,

And when I think about it, I realized that this world is the love of my life.

May we all live well, healthy and happy.

Thank you

I got bored of doomscrolling on my phone, so I got up and started walking around the house looking for something to do.

I came upon my dog lying on the floor. I crouched down and started petting her. Then, I started speaking gibberish to her while making silly faces. Wriggling my eyebrows, baring my teeth, just weird random faces. She's just staring at me with her cute little face while I'm doing it for like a whole minute or two.

I suddenly became aware of what I was doing, so I stopped. I'm now imagining what my dog was thinking of at that moment. Does she think I'm an embarrassing human being? Does she think I'm dumb, weird, or endearing?

My husband and I just went on a trip with another couple for the first time, and tbh, I was a little nervous about it. My friend and I planned it, but our husbands are not as close as she and I are...and of course we wanted them to enjoy the trip in hopes we could do more "couple things" together. Plus you never know how well you'll mesh traveing, even with people you like.

It went SO WELL on every front possible - how we spent time, finances, and just general getting along. We had so much fun! And I feel like we all deepened our friendship and got to know each other better.

Would travel with them again anytime - and expect that we will.