and a little bark.
 

a tree across the street. worthy of having its shaky picture taken at sundown.
 

just like the neighbor's palm tree and our backyard. roses on the side, and a cozy golden girls sunset.
 

but, creeping around the neighborhood dressed up as a shrub to take photos of magic moments wasn't all i did.
i also -after both my hubby and i scraped our legs at the sharp edge of the bed several times- smoothed the edge of our bed. i bought a pocket plane for the occasion. however. once, at home, i remembered the un-handy, big, paint-splattered plane i bought at the drive-in flea market in san luis obispo with brad months ago for five dollars. that's right. that's what i call it, the un-handy, big, paint-splattered plane i bought at the drive-in flea market in san luis obispo with brad months ago for five dollars. in short: tubppibatdfmislowbmaffd. i will refer to it as 'tubppi' from here on.
even though tubppi is missing one handle, and i had to work a little harder at maneuvering him, her, it, not that i know how to correctly maneuver a plane to begin with [thank god there's usually a pilot on the flight], my enthusiasm and excitement at using something i had bought for its looks made up for it.
and it worked!
 

above you see tubppi and the smoothed edge. i painted the bed black after, so i am very glad of having taken photos of the board's side. isn't it pret-tyy?
 

please pay no attention to the chipped corner. it's not tubppi's fault.

one of the photos i found on my camera is of a top i sewed:
 

'twas taken a few months ago. even though lovely, the top is now with the salvation army. or possibly already with a new owneress. the brown part at the top wasn't as stretchy as i thought, or as elastic, or too elastic, so i frequently had to pull it back up when wearing it. adding a strap or two wasn't an option, since it's a strapless top. now someone else's strapless top. i don't have to keep everything i make since i create to learn, too. and there's a photo. what else do i want?
nothing.
i like answering rhetorical questions.
never shall i forget the time i first encountered a rhetorical question. and how clueless i was.
'twas a family reunion. i must have been ten or younger. i would like to flatter myself by telling you that the fine nuances of language, such as rhetorical questions, were part of my conversation skills from age four on, but let's try to stay closer to reality here. i might also have been twelve.
all i remember is that i was sitting at a table, next to my dad. in a room in this big house in lamprecht, with dozens of people present. in comes aunt therese, my great-aunt, and asks into our direction,
"wouldn't christine rather sit with the other children?"
"no, thank you. i like sitting here."
as she left the room, my dad said, "that was a rhetorical question."
ever the advocate for children, my dad didn't even suggest i leave my spot at the adult table. he always took me places with him and never dropped me off at a children's table, or sent me to bed alone because i was a child and "supposed to be in bed." instead, i remember that i once fell asleep at a table in a restaurant, with my arms on the table and my head in my arms. it made me feel safe to always be with my dad.

how do i segue from rhetorical questions to my visit with brad and denise? i don't know.
and that wasn't one.
i spent a lovely weekend in san luis obispo, about three weeks ago. one morning, we went to have breakfast at the madonna inn. something neither of us had done before, despite all having lived there for years. it looks like a casino inside. fantasy world. exceptionally fancy red velvet damask wallpaper.
when we left, we took a photo. were this the year 1989, we would have taken a photo and left.
but, 'tis the year 2009, so of course, we used a digital camera. and of course, we had to look at the photo after we took it. of course, we found things wrong with it. three people in the picture, three opinions on what didn't look right. let me take you on this little journey i shall call "three faces, five photos":
 

"nah."



"no."



"nnnno."
 

"getting there."
 

"this is it!"
 

if you are now asking yourself the rhetorical question, why would she post a photo of herself with a double chin, for all the world to see?, then worry not, i will answer this rhetorical question for you.
it's because to me, two chins are nothing. no one has said it to my face, but i have heard the phrase "more chins than the chinese phone book."
 

or is this what they call a turtle neck?
a turkey neck?
excuse me!
i'm a vegetarian!