Tomorrow is the first day of summer and the perfect day for a new contest.

Guess how many apples are on my tree and win a $100 Visa gift card to spend on Summer Fun!

Here are some clues & rules:

1. It’s a 5-year old dwarf apple tree and stands about 6 feet tall.

2. The tree is so heavy with apples I had to tie the branches up so they don’t break.

3. One guess per person. Closest guess over or under wins.

4. Winner will be announced Friday.

Good luck!

I cried when I heard this but I’m still not sure if it was from sadness or joy. Someone told me they were at the cemetery today and heard violin music nearby so they went to see where it was coming from. They saw a young woman, sitting on a stool at a family plot, playing the violin for her father.

“Grab your camera! Quick!” Denis yelled from the back door and told me to hurry. “Not another snake,” I said. “I think we should move.” Well it was the cutest young deer and it was in the back yard – not up on the hill way behind our house – in the yard! Next to the plum tree full of ripe plums. Denis had just been out picking plums and left the gate open that separates our yard from the wild wild west up there… the coyotes, bobcats, and other unwelcome varmits… but we’ve never had a deer actually in the yard. Deer eat flowers. They eat plums. They eat everything. But this one was so cute! Look at those ears. Look at that face. We were locked in a staring contest as I walked towards him, determined to defend my plums, to let him know this was not an all-you-can-eat buffet. “You’re so cute,” I said. “Now get out!” Tough love hurts.

I can’t even describe the difference between homemade and store-bought tortillas. Can we compare a Rolex to a Timex?

A BMW to a skateboard?

Anthony Weiner to a cocktail frank?

I don’t think so.

Here’s my recipe for the best homemade tortillas you’ve ever had.
They are so worth the effort. Try them this weekend!

Click here to watch the video.

We always want to get something we can use for our birthday.

Now this, I can use. It’ll be my new credit card. I can use it to buy things, like….

A new hip, a walker, a motorized scooter, one of those chairs that pushes you up to stand…. and some teeth.

Finally, a gift I can use! 🙂

We decided to skip the patio and have our tea indoors today. And maybe forever.

Click the image above to watch the video

We went to a concert at the Greek Theater in Hollywood last weekend that featured Sierra, War, and Tower of Power (remember “So Very Hard To Go” and “What is Hip?”) Tower of Power rocked the outdoor arena. (I hope the surrounding neighbors were fans!) It was a four hour, loud concert – outside – and around 9 p.m. it got cold! I wore three layers and was still freezing. Oh… my new pet peeve: people who stand up at a concert when everyone else is sitting. About twenty people kept getting up to entertain the rest of us with their own personal choreography. One guy, who made five trips to bring more beer (which they served in giant cups big enough to bathe a small child), danced as thought he was alone at home listening to headphones, oblivious to the other 5,000 of us forced to watch in disbelief. His moves were a bad combination of country line dancing without the line and the hokey pokey. He may not remember it but all of us do.

Remembering my dad and all others who serve on this Memorial Day.

Yesterday, I bought a carton of ladybugs at the nursery. They’re supposed to be good for the garden and they were on sale so I decided to try it. The package said it contained 1,500 ladybugs. The top was vented so they could breathe and I could see some movement inside. You’re supposed to release them in the evening when they’re less likely to fly away. Oh right…they have wings… they can fly. But out of 1,500, if half flew away, I’d be in ladybug heaven. So last night, I slowly opened the carton to let them go, afraid they’d all make a run for it. But no. They were in one sticky mass in the bottom of the carton, not moving much, resembling a giant meatball. So I shook the carton and spread them around my garden (mostly in lumps) and then night fell.

This morning, I went out with my camera expecting to spend the whole day taking ladybug pictures as they filled the air, flying from flower to flower in my magical garden. How would I decide which ones to shoot?  It was an easy decision – I found two. What happened? Where did they go?  1,498 ladybugs gone! How do I know the one on the daisy was from the box? Maybe he flew in from next door. Hey, isn’t he missing some spots?  Never buy ladybugs on sale. They must have been seconds.