How is your day Today? Chat about your plans and achievements 2026....

[Pepper]

Woke up after three AM with severe pain in my left foot. I’ll pay for it later, waking up so early. I love waking up so quiet.

Looking forward to seeing my son and grandson. I hope DIL comes over later. We usually have dinner together on Mother’s Day Eve.

It’s supposed to rain most of the day.

My son is experiencing hard times. I can’t discuss the problem. I can only say it breaks my heart to see him suffer a painful experience. All I can do to help is not to burden him with my problems. He might be a bit jumpy with me today. Must be cool and not take bait. I love him so much. He’s been expressing himself to me in texts. I appreciate the sharing but his disappointment is so hard to witness.

Grandson plays baseball with his team this morning and they will come after his game. They will both be famished by the time they get here.

 

[hearlady]

Good morning and Happy Friday, May 8th!

The full family is coming this evening for an early Mother's Day gathering. I love seeing the kids and GK families individually, but having everyone here at the same time is truly special.

Am still trying to work out what to serve beyond veggie and fruit platters. Among us there are a few omnivores, two vegans, two plant-based and two keto eaters. It's no simple trick to feed this group.

I've thought on my next family lunch to have Chef's salad with serve yourself toppings to please every eater.

 

[againstthegrain]

@againstthegrain I'm not a snow capped mountain fan, but those pictures are beautiful. I wouldn't mind being at that lake right now. Your bike is too!

Thank you.

 

[againstthegrain]

Up way too early, have a class today that starts at 9am and it's only a 150 mile drive. It's a 2 travel cup day!

@Pepper - and all you other Mothers - Happy Mother's Day! Wishing you all the best.

 

[hollydolly]

Good afternoon peeps of SF...

another sunny warm day here..... been working in the garden for the last hour...nothing planned for today just see how the rest of the day goes.. We in the UK have mothers day in March... but to all those who celebrate it today.....

 

[packleader]

New Zealand is 19 hours ahead of California, meaning it's already Mother's Day over there.
So, it's not too early wishing all mothers, "Happy Mother's Day," with some orchids and a balloon.



And a few more flowers for you: Jacaranda on the left, and Crepe Myrtle on the right.



Magnolia on the left and Canna flowers on the right.

.

 

[moviequeen1]

Morning all, on early walk at 6:50 temp was 52, a bit cloudy though the sun was trying to peak out of clouds.I crossed at signal light at end of Gates entrance driveway,then strolled down the street to the end where local co op is located{am a member},need couple of items. As I was walking back saw a couple of rabbits,birds were chirping. This was my long walk of the day round trip took me 25 min
I don't have any real plans,ck the lunch/dinner menu.I hope to take another walk either mid morning or afternoon, read my book
Everybody have a great day

 

[hawkdon]

Good morning everone!!! Bright and sunny day out, clear skies and 45deg
little bit cloudy, will get into mid 80s later on.,...Another broken nite of sleep
but so what, everyone has those at times...no definite plans and that is
okay too!! BBL, cause I need a bite or two for the tummy....catch u later!!

 

[hearlady]

Good morning everone!!! Bright and sunny day out, clear skies and 45deg
little bit cloudy, will get into mid 80s later on.,...Another broken nite of sleep
but so what, everyone has those at times...no definite plans and that is
okay too!! BBL, cause I need a bite or two for the tummy....catch u later!!

The more I learn not to stress about my sleep the better it is.

 

[Rae]

Good morning to everyone. It is 72 degrees with a high in the 80's. We had rain yesterday but not what was forecast. However, it will help some with the amount we received.

We will be going out for lunch and then watch some DVD shows.

Have a good day, everyone.

 

[StarSong]

I've thought on my next family lunch to have Chef's salad with serve yourself toppings to please every eater.

My go-to meals for company, family included, are always buffet style: salad bar, taco bar, baked potato bar, pasta bar, build your panini bar, etc. But that wasn't going to work this time... I should have mentioned that this needed to be a grab-and-go, easy to eat while standing, kinda meal. You'll understand better tomorrow. (Stay tuned.)

I landed on pulling together an elaborate fruit platter (mandarin orange sections, Bing cherries, seedless grapes, strawberries, blackberries & blueberries), plus a big veggie platter. Also pita chips, tortilla chips, fresh salsa with mango, tzatziki dip and a batch of hummus I whipped up that morning.

Seemed to be more than enough. Nobody left hungry, all had a good time, and it was a lovely visit.

 

[David777]

Late yesterday afternoon, Friday 5/8/2026, returned from a 4-day successful road trip to North Coast areas. Yesterday, drove 385 miles home via famed scenic Highway 1 along the coast. Could have stayed there through Sunday, however weather changed to very windy with common Northwestlies. Much image post processing to occupy me in the coming week. Began long drive trip Tuesday morning at short notice overnight from my Monday decision, as had to leave quickly in order to be there Wednesday morning when weather was optimal overcast and calm for forest understory work. Thus a lot of quick gear logistics Tuesday from dawn. Some Pixel 10 Pro photos:

My wonderful campsite in the rain forest at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Wednesday night:

Amazing world of lush vegetation:

Redwood sorrel ground cover below redwoods at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Will be driving to downtown after mid day for some live music from a punk rock band.

 

[hearlady]

Late yesterday afternoon, Friday 5/8/2026, returned from a 4-day successful road trip to North Coast areas. Yesterday, drove 385 miles home via famed scenic Highway 1 along the coast. Could have stayed there through Sunday, however weather changed to very windy with common Northwestlies. My wonderful campsite in the rain forest at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Wednesday night:

https://i.postimg.cc/L5280v4G/AL-PXL-8295y.jpg

Amazing world of lush vegetation:
https://i.postimg.cc/htP7G4B0/AL-PXL-2307y.jpg

Redwood sorrel ground cover below redwoods at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
https://i.postimg.cc/qRdJzQK6/AL-PXL-5687y.jpg

Will be driving to downtown after mid day for some live music from a punk rock band.

Beautiful! So green!

 

[OneEyedDiva]

Up way too early, have a class today that starts at 9am and it's only a 150 mile drive. It's a 2 travel cup day!

@Pepper - and all you other Mothers - Happy Mother's Day! Wishing you all the best.

Thank you and safe travels always. How often do you have to make that trip for class?!

 

[KSav]

We in the UK have mothers day in March... but to all those who celebrate it today.....

I didn't realize that, @hollydolly Hope you and the other UK moms here had a good one.

I also hadn't realized that Australia's Father's Day is in the autumn (well, the States' autumn—their spring), not in June. Their Mother's Day is the same date as the one in the States, so I assumed Father's Day was, too. One of the first years that my Australian pen pal and I were writing, I wished him a happy Father's Day in June. He was too gracious to point out my error. I figured it out later and corrected myself.

I'm still in a panic with respect to my work. I have a bit of a financial cushion, but not as much as I should.

My younger daughter and I are going to dinner tomorrow for Mother's Day, which is nice. She's a nurse and has been working nights but recently switched to days. Even before the estrangement with my son I preferred to not celebrate Mother's Day because my ex always made me feel unworthy of it. But I'm excited to see her and catch up.

Today is a lovely sunny day, and I'll be going for a walk outdoors soon. I finally cleaned out my refrigerator earlier today. I'd been putting that off for nearly 3 years (!).

I hope everyone has been well. I'm off to try to catch up on everything I missed while I was offline. It hasn't even been that long, but I feel totally out of touch!

 

[Sliverfox]

Sunny morning here!

Think it rained most of the night,,lawn looks very wet.

Yesterday morning I dug some dirt back,, scattered some old seeds.
Am eager to get the seeds that I bought into the dirt.

Hubby asked where I wanted to eat today.
Told him I think most of the places will be very busy,,,lets stay home.

Am hoping that local grocery has rotisserie chicken,, will get one.
Call that good.

Happy Mother's Day.... hope its full of surprises.

 

[againstthegrain]

Thank you and safe travels always. How often do you have to make that trip for class?!

It was a one time class to get an Idaho Enhanced Concealed Carry permit which reciprocates with about 40 states. It's a form of legal protection in that traveling with weapons into other states none of which has the same laws as the other 49 states.

The ride was fun - elk, deer, and antelope were spotted as well as a dozen hawks, mostly red tails and northern harriers.

 

[David777]

Three more rain forest images. This is along the Prairie Creek Trail. Wednesday was foggy, overcast, sometimes drizzling, all day. Perfect for diffuse light forest photography, allowing work on subjects like this a6700 with my 30mm lens, 2 frame vertical stitch blend, herein downsized for web while 6000 by 5400 pixels at 100%. I had to drive nearly 400 miles at short notice to arrive for the uncommon perfect photography light day. In sunny conditions, much like with fall leaf subjects, photography is impossibly contrasty for any digital sensors.

For any of you folks living in warm places, Redwood National Park is the perfect place to vacation in pleasant cool conditions.
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

(right Mouse select "Open Image in New Tab then + )

And this Pixel 10 Pro shot of a trail with bigleaf maples and redwoods in distance. The Pixel 10 Pro takes excellent sub 4k sized images with significantly better dynamic range at 14 stops, than my a6700 due to its unique DCG, Dual Gain Conversion, that processes cell simultaneously at two analog levels. The Sony and other ILCs will blow out the sky areas if exposure is for these understories. Most of my work in these forests were with the Pixel that cranks out near optimum results with minimal hand held effort.

This a6700 image of a bigleaf maple tree base with multiple trunks into the ground with all manner of plants growing atop forest matter atop its branches, 4100 by 6150 pixels at 100%.

 

[StarSong]

My go-to meals for company, family included, are always buffet style: salad bar, taco bar, baked potato bar, pasta bar, build your panini bar, etc. But that wasn't going to work this time... I should have mentioned that this needed to be a grab-and-go, easy to eat while standing, kinda meal. You'll understand better tomorrow. (Stay tuned.)

Follow up on this post. The kids, grands & DH pulled it together to paint their annual Mother's Day sign. Tell me it's not the best MD card, ever! It's painted on fabric, hung across our two car garage door, and will stay there until late May/beginning of June.

This is their 36th MD sign. DH started it with them when our twins were 2 years old. From then forward they missed only two years - both for for very good reasons.

Each kid & GK paints something meaningful to them, me and the previous year.

 

[Jules]

@StarSong, that’s beautiful and incredibly thoughtful. Best of all, you can fold it up and keep it forever.

 

[Babs2u]

A former neighbor brought flowers and a current neighbor brought a flowering plant. They are so kind to me since I lost my son 5 1/2 years ago. I am fortunate to have such good people in my life.

 

[hollydolly]

Evening all... it's just after 8pm..still sunny but quite breezy..

This afternoon we went to the food fest that on this weekend...it has food stalls from just about every country

they had singers, and entertainers.. and some rides for the children, packed out... it was hard to find somewhere to park

 

[againstthegrain]

We had our daughter and the Lab bird dog, Aspen overnight. Mother and daughter had a great time together while I was busy w my class yesterday. Today we started off w sourdough pancakes, maple syrup, eggs and bacon, cards and presents. They went for a little flower/bird hike w the dog while I went for a ride.

I didn't want Mother's Day to be forever remembered for tragedy so I rode conservatively. Traffic was heavier today headed 'narth which will kinda distract a rider in the twisties.

These are the Boulder Mountains.

 

[David777]

Below is a 1200 by 1200 pixel crop at 100% pixels from near the center of my third image above with its full size of 4100 by 6150 pixels. Shows the amount of actual detail due to focus stack blending from 10 shots at F5.0. Aperture Priority mode, single 17>40mm zoom lens shot zoomed at 20.9mm with shutter speed auto adjusted to 1/30/second to generate a -0.3 Exposure Compensation Level.

(right Mouse select "Open Image in New Tab" then + )

 

[againstthegrain]

For any of you folks living in warm places, Redwood National Park is the perfect place to vacation in pleasant cool conditions.
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

I'll be touring/riding the Lost Coast BDR in October based out of Petrolia, hopefully we can make it to RNP which is about 100 miles north of Petrolia. My last visit was May 1980 after graduating college.