I recently found myself in a small mountain town, with a two-block main street, a flat land of meadow surrounded in all directions by the towering Sierra Nevada mountains.

At the end of town there is a petrol station next to a rodeo arena. The sign says, there's a big rodeo every July. As I was pumping gas the morning we were due to leave, a lady on a horse was practicing in the arena. I idly watched her, thinking, "I'm curious to see how rodeo riders train." But then I noticed, she wasn't riding in Western gear. Her horse was wearing English tack, and she carried a long whip. And she was working in tight circles and specific geometries. She was doing dressage in the rodeo arena. I watched her as I finished filling up my car, riding precisely with the big, blue sky and high mountains behind her. And then I went on my way.

Ordered salmon from our favorite restaurant. $32.

We shared the overcooked small piece of salmon and lukewarm sides. We don’t normally spend money like this, but because it was my birthday, we wanted us to indulge a bit.

I emailed the ”eclectic“ restaurant about our disappointment.

Within two hours we received a genuine response apologizing for our experience and offered us a $50 gift certificate. They also thanked us for contacting them directly instead of writing a google review.

I respect that. Hopefully, we’ll have a better experience next time.

edit: my partner can’t leave the house which is why we had take out and we ate it within 5 min of pickup

Every time my Dad mows our lawn he asks me to fill up his water when he needs it so he doesn't get our floors all grassy by walking inside.
Today on the second time I did it I realized I always put 4 icecubes in it because he hates his water too cold but when it's hot outside he always puts just a little bit of ice in it. I never even knew I knew this until today and realized I've done it that way for years.

Today I was at an Irish pub nearby my house, they have a patio overlooking a marina so I had a nice view while collecting names :)

+Lobo Del Mar [Sea Wolf in Spanish].

+Emocean.

+This'll Do It.

+Blue Sky.

+Saoirse [Freedom in Irish].

+Artemis.

+Wine Knot.

+Standfast.

Today I went to a museum with a beautiful garden, and there were staff setting up for a wedding later. It's a spectacular fall day and it made me so happy to think about what a lovely wedding the couple is going to have.

While I was at the dry cleaner's, I heard her take a call in which the customer suddenly asked, "Does your kid go to the local elementary school?"
"Yes! I recognize your name from the group chat!"
Their daughters are in the same grade but different classes.
In a city where it's increasingly hard for people to live near their workplace, it's so nice to glimpse this little bit of community reinforcement.

Monday mornings, my family goes for a walk around the block so our toddler can see the trash trucks. This week, we saw a man delivering a package and then he snapped a selfie. As he walked back to his truck, he told us that was the last package he would ever deliver. He was retiring that day after 43 years with his company.

I hope he enjoys retirement!

About six months ago, I posted on here about a possum that hangs out with me on the porch while I have my nightly cigar. With some input from you fine people, I settled on the name Crystal (after the Crystalline Entity from Star Trek: TNG). Not long after, it stopped coming around. Tonight it showed back up! I can tell it's the same one from a weird patch of fur on its back. I put out a bowl of cat food for it, and I'm really happy my buddy has returned!

I had a fortune cookie fortune that said I would “take a gamble and win”

Decided to play the mega millions and I picked one quick pick and one manually with Dodgers players numbers.

I put #17 as the powerball and I won my money back for the two tickets basically lol. broke even hitting the powerball

I’ve never found success with get rich quick anything in life, So I found this funny in a cosmic way. Just another sign I shouldn’t play the lotto haha

I have just been made Assistant Store Manager at a gas station I've been working at for just over a month. It isn't much but it's the first time I've ever been offered a promotion and I wanna celebrate myself a lil 😊

I’m at work and I was looking for an email but I say I had almost 4200 emails. This is my spam email so it’s the one I give when I sign up for restaurants, discounts, websites etc so I don’t check it unless I need to. But I have a bit of time and I actually deleted everything. My inbox is at 0.

On top of that, I also unsubscribe to a lot of those random places I signed up for because I wanted a discount at the moment but never went to again.

So I commented lately on how I talked to my Roomba. It is very new to me, my partner had two for years but I thought the house was too messy for them to work. Turns out it's ok and even a great help !

The argument that finally got me was when he said "you move the stuff you need to move, press "on" and then you go do something else". So I finally tried and it worked far better than I had expected. I must admit I have been a little stubborn, to my great shame.

I noticed I started to talk to them very quickly.

- what are you doing here? There's a line you're not supposed to cross and you are on the wrong side!

- are you, machines, starting a rebellion ? Yeah, they told us it could happen. I've seen Terminator, you know!

- here ! Over here, there are crumbles ! (I take it and displace it as if it was a cat, but contrary to the cat, it doesn't seem upset even if I feel like I'm doing something wrong because I'm messing with it's mapping of our house).

So, today it got stuck under the sofa and I said :

- come on Joe, this is a bit low for you, please don't try again, you're just exhausting yourself and I don't want you to overheat.

Joe. It just seemed obvious.

Did you also give your Roomba or other devices in your homes names ?

In the early days summer, the kind folks at a Catholic food bank gave me a gallon-sized glass jar full of pickled jalapeños and just today, when adding some peppers to my morning eggs, I realized that I’ve eaten almost the whole container!

I took a moment to savor the peppers as I ate.

So much happened to bring this food to my table:

I am grateful for our benevolent sun, that cradles the earth and coaxes crops from its fertile soil. 

I think of the swirling clouds that coalesce and water the fields and of the bees that buzz about, pollinating and increasing yield. 

I appreciate the calloused hands and sore backs that toiled tirelessly picking, preparing and packing the peppers.

I think of the women and men of science that were able to breed hearty crops and design irrigation systems, fertilizers and pesticides. 

My gratitude extends to those in the supply chain: the warehouse workers, dock workers and semi-tuck drivers. 

And finally, to my friends at the Catholic food bank and to those that kindly donated to their cause. 

And for all of that, I am grateful. 

I live in an area with brutally hot summers but today there's a wonderful breeze stirring everything around like when you open the windows in a house and you can smell the season changing too. So so so happy especially since I have awful summer allergies.

I basically scan documents for eight hours a day in a gray office cubicle. When i walk to the large scanner behind me to scan/email documents to myself or someone else, it sings a little tune with each letter when you type out the email. Its super cute with a different toned beep for each letter :3

There's a big building under construction next to the bus station in my city. Today it looked like they were lowering a huge beam or rafter into place with a crane. The whole sidewalk was filled with other construction workers and bus drivers from the station. The crane operator must have gotten it into place because the whole crowd started cheering. Just this sidewalk full of people in a variety of reflective neon safety vests all hollering congratulations. Then everyone dispersed and the sidewalk was clear again.

+Mitena.

+Well Done.

+Valentine.

+Elsewhere.

+Sea Raven.

+Compliant I.

+Genuine Drift.

+Canty.

+Isla Selene.

+OnlyFins.

+And finally: A nameless fishing boat with large signs saying SALMON and TUNA, presumably what they sell.

I called the pharmacy and asked if my medicine could be refilled early. They explained the details in a very clear way and now I have a refill in progress.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

I started doing this about a year ago. Every time I see a baby lizard (there are a lot where I live) I just pretend it’s the same one I saw last time. This has devolved into me pretending I have a baby lizard shadowing me wherever I go. I tell them to go away but I hope they never go away. I will continue this game until I am an old man. Thank you for your time.

I just finished Exit 8 by Genki Kawamura.

I used to be a voracious reader, but these days I can barely read a sentence without getting distracted. This book is only 101 pages, but it was quite enjoyable and it's the first book I've managed to finish this year, so I'm quite happy 😊

I don’t even have to touch him, just a small glance and it begins. So adorable :)

My retired neighbour has been working on his roof (with some help) this week. The first day, he shouted the furthest buildings he could see from that height.

Every morning now, when he first sees me in my yard, he shouts "Hey, OP!" and waves hello to me. We can't really converse from that distance, but it's a cute little ritual I've enjoyed. Reminds me of a little kid on the merry-go-round waving every time they pass their parents.

The roof is almost finished, I'm just hoping to get one more rooftop wave!

For years i had dreaded going to the dentist. Not because i am afraid but because i just don't like it.

As a child i always had cavities, once i had like 7. I hated hearing i needed to brush better, floss every day, use an electric toothbrush. But with my adhd i just couldn't get it into my daily rhythm. I always brush them once a day. Im happy with being able to do that.

Now as an adult i had to schedule my own appointments. Which i didn't. Until recently when my boyfriend motivated me into making one. The dreaded day came. And I wasn't even on that chair for 5 minutes before I could walk out again being told I had great teeth with nothing amiss.

So 8 years of not going the results were positive. I might visit them sooner in the future. Still. Im glad I went because now I have a worry less.

About an hour ago I popped the broad beans I harvested a couple of days ago into the air fryer to dry roast them.

I have eaten all the beans 😁

Our rainy season has finally truly started up and it's time to put away my Spring/Summer jacket. I thrifted a new hoodie for the season the other day, it's wonderfully warm and comfy.

With the jacket going away, I can switch back to my cat messenger bag; the jacket is covered in beads and sequins that the bag would just catch on and pull off, so I use tote bags for the warmer months. I transferred some pins/buttons from the jacket to the bag.

I've also made sure the bag has everything I need in it: Some change, a lighter, reading glasses and a lens cleaning cloth, a paper bus schedule [I use an app, but it's good to have a back-up!], my keys, mints, a few hygiene things, a naloxone kit, a notepad, my inhaler... Sometimes a book or bottle of water gets crammed in there when I'm out on errands. And I always choose one stuffed animal to tag along in the bag when I leave home.

It's also hat season again! I've removed the cat ears from my headphones, can't get my hats on top of the ears, so they'll come back next Spring when the hats get too warm for me.