sunscreen

Michelle puts sunscreen on Banjo's nose before she goes out with her little doggy pack everyday. Seriously, i think its a bit much. I think she's embarrassed.

oh god...

I quit my job!

ghost

That's our ghost. Yep, the house came with a ghost. I'm not really surprised. The house was built in the 1920's. So, it figures somewhere along the line a spirit might get stuck in the rafters and linger in Berkeley for a few hundred years while they sort things out in the afterlife. I met her the other night. Michelle was sound a sleep and i saw an outline of an older woman with a little hat sitting on her chest giggling up a storm. I couldn't believe my eyes!! I kept trying to open them wider and wider to make sure i was really seeing what i THOUGHT i was seeing! I looked at the alarm clock to see what time it was and suddenly all kinds of the most vibrant colored plants started growing all around it. It looked like a restored Disney film. I half expected the vines to start singing a ballad to me. Our garden is doing exceptionally well in the backyard. I mean, maybe TOO well. It makes sense that a spirit would be lending a hand. I don't really mind knowing that she's around. It doesn't scare me. After all, she makes a yummy salad.

age

I think there's a certain age you reach when you just don't care anymore if people see you picking your nose in public.

I think I've reached it.

sunflower girl

Guess how many sunflowers Michelle planted in the backyard.

Go on guess!

Nope, more!

MORE!

SHE PLANTED 43 SUNFLOWERS IN THE BACKYARD!

yoga

Lately I've been taking "casual carpool" to work. Its a handy dandy way to get to the city from across the bay. The deal is... drivers don't want to pay the bridge toll and the carpool lane is free. Alas, most drivers dont have enough passengers to fill the car. Pedestrians don't want to pay for the train but dont want to drive either. aaaahhh... A perfect storm. Drivers need passengers and passengers need drivers. A true win-win for everyone involved. So cars line up at a designated area and pick up passengers. Nobody talks. You just sit there and look out the window and pretend you don't know the others are there. The car radio MUST be tuned to public radio. You ride for about 15 minutes and then TAH-DAH there you are in the city. For FREE. Awesome system.

Well, the other day i got in a car that only had two seats. A little sports car type thing. Not new and fancy tho.. kinda old and taped together. I could smell that new age hippie smell of too many years burning incense. I think it had permeated her skin as well as the worn leather seats. We said good morning to one another and then she took off like a rocket. Zig-zagging her way thru traffic.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in a weird sort of purrrr.
"But I'm late."
"Oh that's fine." I turned and gazed out the window. I was trying to keep with the rules and limit my conversation. But it was no use. I got a talker driver.
"Whats up with the weather?" she asked.
"I think its going to clear up." I said, hopefully.
"I think it's going to be beautiful today."
"Ahhhh...yer a dreamer. Just like my ex-husband." she purred.
"in any case, I'm late to jail." she said.
"Jail?" i asked.
"Yes, jail.

silence.

zig, zag.

silence.

I couldn't help myself. I had to ask.
"So... you work at a jail?" I whimpered.
"Yes," she said thru a clenched, toothy grin. "I teach yoga to inmates."

silence.

And then the ride ended. And she sped off to jail.

if only i could be a fly on the wall in THAT yoga studio.

same

I stepped into the elevator yesterday and some dude had the same shirt on as me.