...have Chico stay.

Lucy's cousin, Chico, is staying with us while my sister is on a trip. It's a good thing these two get along well. They are both big, energetic dogs. They play a lot. I toss them outside when the playing gets a little wild for me.


Lucy and Chico follow each other around everywhere. If I spot one of them around the corner, I'm certain to find the other one not far away.


Even though Chico is having fun, I think he misses his mom...just look at those big, brown eyes!

...feel the heat.

So, I'm learning that the "marine layer" causes a lot of cloudy days along the coast here. It hasn't gotten too hot this summer. However, the one week that did...go ahead and guess! Yep. Our air conditioner went out. I drew the blinds to keep out the sun, opened the doors and windows, and ran major appliances as little as possible. As I sat on the couch trying to stay cool, Lucy wouldn't be bothered by the heat. She found the one scrap of sunlight indoors to sun bathe in!


Just so you don't worry; they came over an fixed the air conditioning for us. Today we are even back to the gray skies. I'm not complaining about the cooler temperatures anymore! On the other hand, I bet Lucy misses the sun.

...share the recipe.

Wow! You responded fast. Lots of you responded on Facebook. This blog feeds to my Facebook page, so all should get the goods. Here's the recipe for the bread:


Strawberry Bread

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
4 cups of cut strawberries when in season (2, 10oz. packages of frozen strawberries in the off season)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flower two bread pans. Mix dry ingredients and add remaining. Stir. Do not beat. Pour evenly into two prepared bread pans. Bake for 50 minutes. The toothpick should come out clean unless you hit a strawberry!

For Strawberry Banana Bread

Mash one or two ripe bananas. Adjust the amount of strawberries so that the total fruit is still about 4 cups for fresh (or thawed) fruit.


Have fun baking the berry bread.

...go fruity.

We had some yummy strawberries to make into strawberry bread. We also had some bananas that were near the banana bread stage. What to do? We made strawberry, banana bread. It saw so very yummy! Here's a picture of star shaped 'berry bread. 'Let me know if you want the recipe.

...hang out in my backyard.

The new background image is from a hydrangea bush in my backyard.







Another backyard shot shows a young hummingbird on the feeder. Several hummingbirds come to the feeder daily. I have to change the bottle every week or so to keep up. This one still has a little of the fluffy, baby feathers left.

...switch sides.

I saw the movie "Eclipse" this morning with a friend. I'm not going to write a review. I know there might be those out there that haven't seen it yet, so no spoilers. I will say this: I've switched sides. As far as the books go, I am "Team Edward." However, as far as the movies go, I am "Team Jacob!" I prefer Taylor Lautner's portrayal of Jacob Black over my mind's own creation. Maybe it's due to direction or acting coaching, but this kid's shown a lot of improvement since "Twilight."

One last thing (okay, maybe a bit of a spoiler). This may sound strange, but if you're still reading after I mentioned Eclipse... I really enjoyed the special effect for when the vamps get torn apart. I think it went along well with the whole "cold ones" storyline.

I want to see this movie again! :)