not so thin lizzy. (I wonder how long he'd been there.)

This is a San Francisco Alligator Lizard
(elgaria coerulea coerulea).
One of his relatives was in our house
yesterday.

It took a while to get him out.

The project involved trying to
corner the guy with a multitude of
pillows and making him go into
a paper bag. (Failure.)

Then followed a multistep approach:
Letting him sit
in the closet for a while,
all escape routes sealed with tape.
Then removal of pretty much
all my clothes to find him.

And then an intricate game
with a clipboard and an
upside down plastic bowl.
(Success.)

Reptiles freak me out.
(I said it.)

grocery store happiness

My ticket out of the doghouse.
Those late night Safeway runs
are really helpful around here.
And when I was there
I finally got it,
the equivalent to
Jordgubbs O'Boy!
Just look at that pink!
And guess what?
The stuff tastes
exactly the same!

It also tastes exactly
the same as the content
of a tiny and completely
overpriced bottle of
Starbucks Strawberry
Frappuccino.
Go figure.
Starbucks sells kids'
stuff to grown-up prices.

that same view of the lake again

Heat wave is gone.
Overcast today.

the voice of the city

from overheardinnewyork.com:

In Porn, the Same Blondes Can Play Swedish or Swiss Characters. Hence the Mix-Up.

Girl: Isn't your dad Swiss?
Guy: No, he's Swedish.
Girl: Oh, that's right: people are Swedish, things are Swiss. Well, actually, they're interchangeable.

--Sprint Store, 8th St & 6th Ave

Overheard by: Thunder

anna

I like this photo because to me it looks like
the girl is a part of her surroundings.

final word

The smallest size of this strawberry and cream drink is 420 calories. Dan says there are products at Safeway that you mix with milk to make your own strawberry flavored drink. I am getting some of that tomorrow. I am sure that too will taste exactly like the artificial drink I remember from the summer when I was 6. To a fraction of the cost, and a fraction of the calories.

the bridge/el puente

Dan's paper is out with its first
on-line edition. Click here.

mlk

So I asked my students to tell each other something interesting that they had learned while working on their final papers. And one girl said that she never knew before that her grandpa actually had heard Dr. King speak. Her grandfather had been singing at the event, and gotten to see MLK up close. And the thing he remembered was that Dr. King had been nervous. But, my student's grandpa had said, once he started speaking he wasn't nervous.

So what do we learn? Not to be so afraid of public speaking, perhaps.

just look at those wheels

There is a Seinfeld episode
where someone refuses to give up
a perfect parking spot and therefore
is unable to use his car.
I am thinking it must be George
but I am not sure.

I felt that way today.
My parallell parking was so pretty
it was a shame to ruin it
by going home.

your average tuesday

I did laundry.
There is a war.

life gives you lemons

Here they are, fresh off the tree.
Sugar, water, and lemon peel.
Boil, and let sit for a while.
Squeeze the lemons,
and squeeze the pulp.
Combine sugary mixture
and lemon juice.
Strain again.

Even if you don't like
ice (like me), add a few
cubes. Drink. Mmmm!
(I don't know why the bougainvillea died,
but it did.)

Thank you to Kathy for lemons and inspiration,
and thank you to Åsa for the pretty orange bowl.

and he got the hat, too

How many guys does it take to hold a hose?

bridges and connections

The Bay Bridge at night, photoshopped.

And, there is another Bridge coming...
Just wait.

tennessee williams

There was a cloud over East San Jose today.

Didn't seem to affect the heat wave, though.
Hotter than ever.

I took a shower and the cold water
was so hot I almost burned myself.

that was one glorious summer

If you care,
but I don't think anyone will,
except for my brother:
Starbucks has come up
with this thing that
tastes exactly like
O'Boy Jordgubb.

please rise for the national anthem

It was a lovely evening.
It was really warm, really late.
43 ooo people or so came
to see the San Francisco Giants
beat the San Diego Padres.

Roughly 34 ooo wore
something orange.

Roughly 35 ooo had
garlic fries.

And yes I recognize
a ground rule double
when I see one.

heat

It's a million degrees here.

I watered the concrete.
I even watered the plants.

I accidentically watered Dan's pants.
And some pillows.

I put up the umbrella
and watered it too.

Everything smells really nice now.

they ARE good

At IKEA I also got
the traditional bag of jelly rats.

They are gone before
I exit the parking garage.

I had saved one that would have
his picture taken,
but somehow he got eaten
before that could happen.

He was red.

May he rest in peace
in the tummy
of my sweetheart.

try with a little cold milk. mmmm.

Had anyone at any point before Tuesday of last week told me there would come a day when I would actually buy this stuff for myself I would have laughed.

But Tuesday came, and I was at IKEA. And I got this sudden craving.

It's a soup made from rose hips. It's poor people's food, I think. I think grounding rose hips into a powder, sweeten, and boil a soup from the mixture is the only way to make them edible. So that's what they did when they had a lot of them growing right there, for free.

I have since learned that rose hips are full of good stuff, and that health food stores are full of them.

Nostalgia and trendiness all in one.

all girls love ribbons

I wrapped a rose for Mike and Nicole
who got married on the 8th.

that was an inspired moment

I helped matchmake this couple,
and now they got married!
That's a pretty dress!

The bride's sister and I set them up.
And it worked out,
even though she had never met the groom,
and I had never met the bride.
So, obviously, it was meant to be.

The wedding was beautiful,
the toasts were funny and sincere,
and everybody cried.

you're in desperate need of chanel

The Devil Wears Prada is fluff,
but it's pretty and entertaining fluff.
Meryl Streep is great.
The shoes are great.

mmm that does sound good

Kathy's friend Dieter says the soccer world cup final on Sunday will be a mac n' cheese game.

Dieter is German. I think anyone who comes up with a pun of that caliber in his second language should get a medal too.

And yeah if you haven't followed the games Italy and France will play that final match. Pasta and camembert. Get it?

day of independence

Fireworks in the cul-de-sac.

fat makes everything taste good

And for a truly American celebration
of the 4th of July I made a huge batch
of tzatziki for everybody's barbecue.

I think I was friends with a Greek girl
once who taught me how to make it.

Trick is to drain the liquid out of the yoghurt,
and then replace that liquid with olive oil.

we're not in seattle, but still

Celebrated my own day,
July 3rd,
with pancakes, bacon, butter,
and maple syrup for dinner.

(Somehow I have been able
to work it so that I have
my own day,
just like how
in one glorious episode,
Frasier Crane got his own
Frasier Crane Day
on Frasier.)

someone's wedding day

The church had a beautiful
window with beautiful
redwoods outside.
Food and wine was great.
Bride and groom
making their rounds.

just kids

This is a great film about kids
in Calcutta's red light disctrict,
and a woman who teaches them
about photography. Through
the Kids with Cameras project
she raises money for their education.