1/24/21

Repeat After Me

The weather was cooler yesterday, but no more rain. The sky looked threatening toward late afternoon, but then the storm clouds passed over without a drop. Fine with us. I know you folks in Southern California got some rain, and that has to be a good thing. We got off to a slow start. We were both tired in the morning for some reason, and so we ended up taking morning naps. It was nearly noon by the time I was dressed and ready to head out on my photography challenge walk.

Before that, though, we got Smitty out for a walk. I'm reposting this image from a couple of days ago. In the bottom right-hand corner, you'll see the rosemary bush I've spoken of before. Well, it seems there's a bunny living inside there, and Smitty knows it.


He pawed at the bush and sent the bunny high-tailing it into the desert. Smitty nearly broke his own neck leaping against his leash. We actually think he'd be fine out without a leash, since we both believe he'd just run back to the trailer if he got loose. Still, chasing a bunny could take him into unfamiliar territory, and I'd hate for him to get lost. Anyway...that was so exciting, he too needed a nap after his walk.

When I was finally presentable to the world, I used my Olympus DSLR with a macro lens to take the pictures for my challenge topic: Repeat After Me, which meant repeating patterns. So here we go...

This is the back "upholstery" on our lawn chairs.


Our Astroturf doormat...


Some "diamond plate" on the side of an RV.


These are vents on a high voltage electrical enclosure.


Man hole cover...


Palm frond...


This is the grate over a drain near the car wash.


Carwash vacuum hoses...


Stacked pallets near the winery...


Pine cone...


Flower pot near the office...


Doormat near the office. I see a rail fence quilt block there.


Trunk of a palm tree...


This is the pattern on some decorative dragonfly wings of a garden ornament...


Cactus thorns...


This is a seed pod from one of the deciduous trees...


Speed bump...


One of the rows of cabins available for rent...


Porch railing...


Decorative lattice...


This is the inside of one of the headlights on Mike's truck.


Tile blacksplash in our kitchen...


Decorative "glass" insert on our pantry door...


Pattern on our bedspread.


Our shower head...


Most importantly, patterns on Smitty's tail.


Sadie has been such a good traveler this trip. She's resigned herself to being only an indoor kitty these days. If you're relatively new to reading, you should know that Sadie goes wild off her leash. She gets into full panic mode. We nearly lost her on a previous trip. And please don't recommend this or that harness. Believe me...we've tried them all, including the full body straight-jacket-type vests. She gets out of every harness we've tried in seconds. She's so quick, we can't even get hands on her until she's gone and running away. So...no more chances. She's indoors when we're traveling.


As long as I'm linking to old blog posts, I'm including this post showing the RV. A few have asked to see the interior. I wrote this post a few days after Mike arrived home from South Carolina with it in tow. The images of the RV are in the bottom half of the post, so scroll down to see it. The thing I like most about this RV is the kitchen set-up. Last night, I posted Mike on the far side of the island to help me make Enchiladas Suizas. This is one of Mike's favorite dishes. 
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They aren't hard to make, but they do require spreading out in the kitchen and using a lot of pans. I once tried this in our old RV. The old RV had almost no usable counter space, and I said, never again. But now, with this new set-up, I figured Mike could get in on the act, and so I set him up on the opposite side of the island with some chicken and some cheese while I fried the tortillas on my side. We used paper places to soak up the excess oil. Then he filled and rolled the enchiladas. When they came out of the oven, they looked like this.


I should say that I previously roasted the tomatillos and pureed them for the sauce. I measured out 3/4 cup portions and then froze them. This was several years ago, and I still have one packet of the tomatillo puree left. Having the puree ahead of time makes quick work of the sauce. When we served them up, we topped them with some chopped red onion, sour cream, and homemade salsa verde. They can also be topped with fresh cilantro, but I hated to buy a bunch of cilantro to only use such a small amount.


Okay so this morning, we found lots of cat toys around. We always put them away during the evening, and then Sadie drags them out and plays with them at night. She gets several toys out, and we can hear her "talking" to them while she plays. This morning, she was still holding tight to her little floppy duck toy.


So, there's not much on today's agenda. I believe we'll look at doing some hiking tomorrow. Today we'll stick close to the RV. I haven't done any slow-stitching for a couple of days, and so I'd like to try to get back to it, thumb permitting. I've been rubbing an anti-inflammatory gel on it, and Mike suggested it might be doing more harm than good. It's possible. It seems the skin where there was a cut after my accident is tender and sore. It's possible the gel is keeping the skin irritated, and so I'm going to lay off of it for a day or two. It feels pretty good this morning, even with this typing. Thumb is relaxed. Fingers are crossed it will feel better.

9 comments:

Barbara said...

Laughter is a sunbeam of the soul. ~ Thomas Mann

Katie said...

Your photo challenges are fun to see. I had to giggle, though, at the cabins. It seems they bought two colors of paint and decided that random amounts of each, mixed together, for each exterior would be fun! Maybe that IS what they did, but the idea alone makes me giggle. As for Sadie and a leash/harness, I hear you! My Gabby decided to eat some sewing thread Wednesday night or Thursday morning (first time ever in 45 years of having cats) and ended up having emergency surgery Friday morning. (Remember, she is also a tortie with a short tail and formerly feral!) She was allowed to come home this morning and shed her cone of shame in minutes and then escaped her quarantine bedroom next. In the 30 minutes we left her alone to get a new litterbox and recommend litter. Friends are giving advice about cones and shirts and whatnot, bit they have obviously never had a mildly tamed feral cat for a pet before! (I say mildly because, as I'm sure you know, that tendency will never truly be gone and it takes only slight provocation to revert back.) Currently I am in the quarantine bedroom, reading, while she chills out under the bed...I can hear if she starts licking and then we'll figure out plan...F?!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

now I know I'm going to be noticing patterns everywhere (thank you for that). I am, however, enjoying your photo challenges and what you come up with. I know my photography skills are woefully lacking so I should learn from you!

Jean Etheridge said...

I thoroughly enjoyed your photos. I am doing a weekly smartphone challenge, and I realize that I can only aspire to your photography skills! Thank you for all of your inspiration

piecefulwendy said...

It's amazing how many repeat patterns you can find when you look for them - you have captured some great photos! I can just visualize Smitty straining that leash to try to get after that bunny. I'm glad the harness works for him, though. Even if he'd likely come back, I'd hate for you to lose him. Hope your thumb continues to heal so that you can stitch more freely.

Nancy in IN said...

I love traveling with you. We haven't traveled in a year except to our cabin--about 45 minutes away. Hope we can travel to VA to see our kids after vaccines, tax season-hubby is a CPA-, and hubby's back surgery. I get to sew a lot with the stay-at-home season that we are in.
Stay safe
Nancy

Darlene S said...

I'm glad Sadie is ok with being an inside cat while you are traveling. Much safer and she has the purrfect view from inside, so I don't think she is missing that much. And a bunny in the bushes next to your RV is definitely better entertainment than any tv show. Your enchiladas have me drooling. I can almost smell them. Yummy. Love all your photos too. Have fun and thank you for sending much needed rain to So. Cal. Our plants are so happy.

kc said...

Boy, if you're a cabin enter, don't cone home snockered, or you just might enter the wrong cabin ! Not that that ever happened to me, but, gotta be honest, we were parked near a similar coach once, at NAS Mayport,vand I was stone cold sober, and STILL tried to enter the wrong one! Thank goodness for a dog who pulled me away! Shortly after that, we put a huuuuge paper flamingo in the windshields, and I was a happy camper who didn't get lost again.

Glad to see Mike keeping up with the cooking, who knew that would be such a benefit of a bad fall!? He looks like he kind of enjoys it. :)

Your pics are lovely, my faves are the shower head, the cactus and the tail, not necessarily in that order.

Kate said...

Very nice "repeat after me" photos. It's amazing what you can find when you really look.