Benicia, California. On Main Street, looking toward the Carquinez Strait. One of the views that explain why I love living here. I often say that I won't leave here unless it's in a pine box. Look at that delish Benicia breeze bending the palm fronds. That breeze allows many of us to live here without A/C in our homes, which works out great....except when there's a heat wave, like right now! At the moment I would adore A/C but, in a few days, when the weather cools, I will again enjoy being able to live closer to the seasons. And greener, 'cuz we can use less electricity.
This photo looks out on the entrance to the Benicia Marina. We always include the marina on our walks or bike rides downtown. Mike loves boats and water, and I love water and seabirds, and we get treated to all three here. Many times we've watched boats coming in or out of this waterway. We brought the Mirage here, from her berth in Alameda, a couple of times. Now we no longer own her, and her new owners berth her in Richmond. It's weird, not owning a sailboat anymore, even for me. Mike is the one who has always been the avid sailor. But I miss her, too.
Something else I love about my little town. The architecture of the old buildings. This one is on the corner of 1st and West J. I mean, you just don't see windows like this on anything being built today. If I could afford to, I'd have a little office in one of these old buildings, for my little digital scrapbooker-for-hire business. What a boost to creativity. My favorite quilt shop, the Patchwork Cat, is housed in one of the old industrial buildings near the docks. Old, scarred-up wooden floors, high ceilings with exposed pipes, windows overlooking the Carquinez Strait - what could be more inspiring?What inspires you?
Or, the length of a half-sleeping cat. Jack finds the coolest spot in the house, the kitchen floor, for his afternoon nap. 
Outside in the cat's garden Scout, who spends much of her waking hours hunting small rodents and reptiles, has her eyes and thoughts on something high in the tree.
Ah hah! A small rodent it is. This squirrel was up very high in the branches where he obviously felt safe enough to just settle down and wait out the threat. He doesn't realize that we have wrapped the trunk of this tree with sheet metal.
Scout couldn't have climbed it if she'd wanted to. It also helps discourage raccoons from coming into the garden and then through the cat door into our house where they eat every speck of cat food they can find and track water and mud all through the kitchen and dining room.
Of course, that doesn't keep Jack from climbing the arbor! This is about as high as he can go, though, before he is stopped by mesh nailed on the top crosspieces. He's always searching for a way out of the garden so he can go off on one of "Jack's Big Adventures" outside the confines of the Purr...fect Cat Fencing.
In spite of their instincts to hunt and roam, Scout and Jack do manage to content themselves with a quieter (and safer!) life in their small corner of the world.
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