It’s summer now

Summer is my LEAST favorite season and now it is officially here. It’s hot and steamy in Saint Louis, as usually happens in summer here. Until October, we’ll be trying to stay cool and dry, wearing a minimum amount of clothes, not turning on the oven, and listening to the whirling of our air conditioner. Ah, summer in a humid city.

The Mississippi seems to have stopped rising. It’s supposed to crest soon. The flooding here has been much less severe than in Iowa and northern Missouri. 

3 things to be happy about this week:

• I LOVE the heart rate monitor that my friend Jan gave me – she wasn’t using it anymore, so she gave it to me. Lucky me!
• Friday night my sister Mary Jo came downtown and spent the night at our place, in preparation for the Komen Race for the Cure. Mary Jo met her teammates at 6:30 a.m., but John and I just showed up for the start of the race at 9 a.m. It was nice to see all these folks gathered for the race right here in my neighborhood.
• I finished watching Season 4 of “The Wire”.  I was slow to warm up to that show, but I absolutely loved Season 5 when it was broadcast this year. I was sad when it ended - I went to Netflix and requested all the past seasons. I like watching the season on Netflix – none of that pesky waiting for 7 days for the next episode. 

3 good things to anticipate this coming week:

• Our PC is in a death spiral.  John is taking it for repairs. I’m crossing my fingers that it will be restored to health very quickly.
• Richard Simmons has re-released “Sweating to the Oldies” on DVD.  I ordered it and it might arrive this week. I’m already smiling, just thinking about it.
• Thursday night John and I have tickets to the play “High Fidelity”.  We enjoyed the movie with John Cusak, so I’m very eager to see a stage production of the story.

–Nan

OK, OK, so I missed a week

I didn’t post last week, because I was on a wonderful vacation to New Mexico. To be specific, last Sunday night I was at a winery in Albuquerque with my younger sister, sampling New Mexican wines and champagnes. Who knew there were New Mexican champagnes? They were tasty too. Then John joined us, we had a swell dinner, and walked to Old Town Albuquerque in search of fun. We didn’t find much fun in Old Town last Sunday night. But still, I was on vacation.

3 GREAT things about this past week:

• I was on vacation, in wonderful New Mexico
• our new-ish tomato plants didn’t die while we were on vacation
• I came back to Saint Louis and had a 2-day work week

3 things to look forward to this week:

• I have a new book by Chris Bohjalian to start – “Skeletons at the Feast”
• John and I are going to walk in the Komen Race for the Cure next Saturday
• Friday is pay day (but then again, every Friday is pay day)

–Nan 

A Wedding, a Terminator, and an Earthship

He looks noble, doesn’t he?  He looks like he’s thinking, “I am the ruler of all I survey!”  Actually, he’s thinking, “How do I get down from here again?”

The totality of our vacation photos, the good ones anyway, are posted.

- Poppa

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation (So Far)

Everybody got new hats for the wedding.

 

Dressed for the wedding.

 

Dylan and Nica tie the knot.

 

The “rings” are infinity symbols.

 

Dylan and Nica’s back yard as the sun sets.

 

At the Earthship Monday afternoon; the front yard.

 

Nan at the front door.

 

This is the only spot the cell phone works.

 

The closest neighbors.

 

The greenhouse, edible as well as ornamental (the plants, that is).

 

This is what I’m looking at over the computer as I write this post.

More later…

- Poppa

Now it’s June

Dang, May went by in a blur!

What’s good about this past week:

• short week at work
• haircut on Saturday
• new kickboxing DVD – it is SO MUCH FUN to box – who knew I’d like it so much
• fun shopping for wedding gifts for Dylan and Nica

Good things about next week:

• short week at work
• going to New Mexico on Thursday
• being with Leah, Erin, and Benjy in New Mexico for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning

–Nan