Sad news - Happy news

The sad part....................

In early June we were very saddened by the death of one of our three cats, Fuzz. In 1997 we had rescued Fuzz and her two half-siblings (from the feral mother cats next litter), Mister and his sister Missy. Feline asthma finally took it's toll on beautiful Fuzz and we could no longer control the asthma attacks with medication or rescue inhalers. She will never be forgotten.

And then, last week Fuzz's half-brother, our big, lovable, goofy Mister cat died. Fuzz and Mister were best buddies and we suspect he was deeply stressed. His behavior changed and he just stopped eating - which caused other internal issues and we suddenly lost him too. So very sad. We miss them both very much.

After almost 12 years, the house feels quite strange, we are not yet accustomed to having just one cat around - our shy, afraid of her own shadow, sometimes mischevious, Missy. Of course she is very much loved.

The happy news................

Tuesday was a great day! We celebrated Mike's birthday with an unexpected visit with his daughter Tristan (who was really supposed to be in London now, but that's a long story).

After the birthday brunch, Mike and I went to the Ventura County Fair. For the first time, I had entered three photos in the fair's Photography contest. There were over 2500 entries this year so it took some time to even locate the ones I had submitted!! We could hardly believe it when we found that the one I entered in the "Photo thru a Frame" division had won the 3rd place ribbon for that category - whooo-hoooo!!!!

I had (surely more by luck than skill) taken a photo of a hummingbird bathing in water drops on a plumeria leaf, and the bird was "framed" by the leaves. It is kind of an amusing photo - I guess the judges thought so too.....

A friend pointed out that I can now claim to be "An award-winning photographer". Yeah!!!!

From my photo bank, because I was lazy...

I won't show you what I had for dinner tonight, though Mike has a special talent for creating great meals (he likes to eat but I don't like to cook) but I will share some photos (because I like to take photos) from a couple of trips, one to the Guadalupe sand dunes and one in early June to Cambria. Enjoy!

Surprise.....

Jim and Heather, currently in La Paz on their catamaran "Meerkat", discovered I had linked their blog....Heather's posts are so fun to read, she can make an account of what she had for dinner quite interesting! :-)

Check out their blog when you get a chance!

Mid-week meanderings

Lunched with friends Lucille and Janet today, after which they returned to work and I returned to playing, since I am retired you know! Camera gear in hand, I went to Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks. A couple of shots from today....

(Mike was busy with designing his HAM radio antenna setup).

Rufus hummingbird

Another day's end, a new day tomorrow.

This feisty little Rufus hummingbird perched on a plumeria leaf long enough this evening to allow me to get a few photos.