Off to a party with this:

Patriotic Trifle

It's full of booze.

My pal, Marianne, is staging "Club Joe" tonight.  If you're in the NoHo area at 7:00 P.M., come on down and be entertained with singing, dancing, laughs and spirits.

I'll be there at the box office to take your hard-earned cash (ONLY $10!  WHAT a bargain!).

Where:

Moonshadow Nighclub

10437 Burbank Blvd

North Hollywood, CA

Club Joe

Joe and Steve

The paint on the mini garden chairs was dry, so I took them outside.

Chair planters

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I had some paint left over, so the outbuilding got it.

Leftover paint

Hoping the landlady doesn't mind.

The zillion-seed extravaganza is going nuts:

Zillion-seed extravaganza

I don't have a clue what's growing here, but I'm loving the wild, random look.

From the back yard:

Zillion-seed extravaganza

Have a good Saturday.

This is when I still adored him.

R.I.P. Michael

Breaking News

Farrah Fawcett Photo by: Jason Merritt / FilmMagic

Farrah Fawcett, who skyrocketed to fame as one of a trio of impossibly glamorous private eyes on TV's Charlie's Angels, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 62.

Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST on Thursday at St. John's Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif. She was with longtime partner Ryan O'Neal, friend Alana Stewart, friend and hairdresser Mela Murphy and her doctor Lawrence Piro. She had recently returned to St. John's for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago.

"She's gone. She now belongs to the ages," O'Neal tells PEOPLE, also confirming that she received the last rites of the Catholic Church. "She's now with he mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart. I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night. I told her how very much I loved her. She's in a better place now."

Added O'Neal: "She was with her team when she passed ... Her eyes were open, but she didn't say anything. But you could see in her eyes that she recognized us."

Though O'Neal recently said that he and Fawcett had planned to wed, they did not tie the knot. "There just wasn't time, and Farrah wasn't in any condition to do it," says O'Neal.

Friends and family plan to honor Fawcett with a funeral service at a Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles in the next few days.

Farrah Fawcett's 1976 poster Photo by: Everett Collection

About a million years ago, when I was in high school, my English class was chosen as this focus group to test this new speed-reading program. 

We were placed in a room with this screen that would show text of a story.  We were given instructions.  And more instructions.  And we were told to read silently what was on the screen.  The instructor watched our eye movements carefully as we read and notes were taken; pointers were given.  It lasted a week.  We were tested every day on what we'd read.  Skim-reading, I later learned, was what we were being taught.  It was successful for many of us kids in there; comprehension of the material without pausing to read every. single. word.

It has come in very handy in reading for pleasure, without diminishing the author's intent of nuance and effect.

What I've read this weekend:

The Miracle at Speedy Motors.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive:  I've now read all the books in the series so far.

And

And

I never got out of my pj's the entire weekend.

It had been there for two weeks.  In my bedroom.

The vacuum.

Prior to my vacation, I cleaned the whole house.  I like to come home to tidy.  I stopped at my bedroom, though, thinking that I'd finish up after I got unpacked at my return; I'll finish vacuuming and put the machine away.

Did.  Not.  Happen.

The Sears tank stayed on the floor in the middle of my bedroom awaiting the finish of the housecleaning that was never completed.  It was sort of just there. 

I started to just ignore it.  I'd step over the hose on my way in and out of the room in these days after my return.  No big.  I'd get to it, this vacuuming thing.....sometime.

Comes this last Sunday night, I get up out of bed in the darkness to visit the loo....

(you're ahead of me on this, aren't you, reader)

and when I come back into my room, I step on the vacuum hose I should have remembered was there.

Yep.

I went down.

On one hand.

140 lbs of old dame. 

One one hand. 

Craa-aack.

I felt and heard stuff happening from my wrist up to my elbow.  I saw stars.

Christ.

Today:

This is an injured wrist

and the other side:

This is an injured arm

It keeps getting more of a technicolor hue as time passes.  I can write with this hand, but I can't open a door.  I can't use a screwdriver, but I can scratch my nose.  It's difficult to take care of business after "the business" in the bathroom.  Even simpler:  have you ever tried to brush your teeth with your left if you're a righty? 

A challenge.

I work for a doctor.  I think she's appalled.

You can still get you some Zen.

Last year, it was the 1000-seed extravaganza.

Thanks to SusanMac, the zillion-seed extravaganza '09 is under way:

100 lb Pumpkin Vine

Can you believe that with those zillion seeds, I went out and spent money on ten 100-lb pumpkin seeds?  Duh.

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I recognise zinnias.

Even the stump place gots seeds.  I think I see fennel.

Mother's Day Herb Garden

Lavendar, chamomile and lemon balm.

HPIM1918

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This cereus bloom will probably open Wednesday night.  I might set my alarm.  The neighbors are used to it now.

And I cleaned and groomed my favorite patio corner:

May favorite corner

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Closeup of my favorite garden colors for more than ten years

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Have a good Sunday.

Edited to add an update:

  She bloomed!!!!

Three different streets.  On my way home from work.

Getting home after work just might be a challenge.