Klunkerz Rulez

Me and my baby stepped out this afternoon to go see our friend Billy's installation in the Newport Beach Film Festival's documentary category. Klunkers takes place in Marin County, Billy's old stompin' grounds, and the birth place of the mountain bike phenom.

But first up was a stop at a favorite Dim Sum restaurant of Will's (Sea Food Paradise) for some of their signature mayonnaise encrusted shrimp, along with other delectables.And yes that is a chicken foot in my sweetie's paws. (He's an adventurous eater).

Now, with some people you get a good sense of what kind of person they are real quick. And with Billy, my first impression was that this is a real down to earth guy with a real enthusiasm for life, and that his passions run deep. He's a straight up guy with open arms. And that enthusiasm and passion shines through in the movie. It really captured the spirit of the time and what it was like to be young when you've got the mountains as your backyard. It made me think of when I was growing up and we moved to Northern California's Shasta County. There, Lake Shasta was my backyard. We knew our way around the back country trails and the cool streams and swimmin' holes and coves along the lakes. Good times. Good movie.

Rome in a Day

Can Rome be done in a day. I say yes, yes it can. On a Saturday in May we've opted to go off on our own rather then do a group tour of Rome.

I've been plotting out our course with the help of Rick Steve's Rome 2007. We'll start our walking tour (or Vespas if we can swing it in the allotted time) from the Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Then a cab ride to Capitol Hill, the Colosseum and the Forum then over the Tiber river to Trasteveri and back to Piazza Navona where we'll meet up with our group for a private tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.

And today I put on my new strapy sandals and I tried on all of my formal options for the Black and White Ball on board ship. I can't believe it's only three weeks away. And I can't believe we'll be in Venice. I'm so excited. We've seen the sun rise on the Indian Ocean and the shores of Zanzibar, and now from the canals of Venice we'll enter the Adriatic Sea and be off on our Riviera adventure.

Another journey to far away places where we can bask in the cultures of other lands and experience different ways of life. To live a life fully. Me and my sweetie pie.

Blessed are the Animals

Buster, our Russian tortoise, is the honorary blessee for all of our animals. She takes the drenching year after year on their behalf. This year she donned a pretty sombrero trimmed in orange and two spring flowers. As always she was a big hit.

More photos here on Flickr
Will posted a little video here on You-Tube

And blessed are they all, so dear to our hearts and loved as our family.

This Day in April

I was born this day in April 1959, in Redding California, in the United States of America.

Busy Birds

While playing with Ranger in the backyard yesterday, I heard a rustling from behind me. I looked around and finally saw a sparrow in the paper lantern hanging from the corner of the roof. I watched as two small sparrows alternately fluttered around inside the paper orb then pop out of the top and fly off. Beneath the paper lantern I saw a little piece of fluff, and my first thought was that they were building a nest inside the lantern. Tricky place to nest with the hole at the bottom and its sloping sides. But they seem to have deemed this unlikely vessel as their own and this morning they are busy at it again and more little pieces of fluff and twig and palm frond fibers are settling in the bottom of the lantern.