I brought my camera card in after only a couple of days and it had over 100 clips on it. I assumed it was going to be waving sunflowers in the wind but instead, this mama and two little ones hung out in the yard a couple of times.
More of these funny guys to come.
Bob bought some yummy bread that was delicious but also covered with sesame seeds and those seeds got into every little crevice in our kitchen. I’m still finding sesame seeds.
But also: I would get that bread again in a hot second.
We have to add peanut butter pretzels to the ever growing list of things that I like that don’t like me.
I love them so much but they don’t sit quite right — not really indigestion. It’s like even if I carefully count them out and eat say, 5, my body feels like I ate half a bag and I feel bad for the rest of the day.
I think this is the last bag.
Other foods that I like that don’t like me: scallops (oof, the indigestion) and most of the time sparkling and white wines give me a gruesome headache.
And in even more tragic news: I gave up on the project of forever. This is a writing project very near and dear to my heart that I have picked up and set aside a number of times over the years.
I tried many, many things. I used it as a project for a class. I added characters. I tried splitting it into shorter interconnected stories. I can’t figure out how to make it work. I realized that it was making me hate writing.
It’s always funny to read articles (listen to podcasts, whatever) that talk about writer’s block. It’s not a block. I can write forever. But a story isn’t just typing. The parts need to fit together. And it seems weird since you’re making it all up — figure out a way to fit it together.
But I can’t. So. It’s put away and I’m working on some short stories for fun and in the fall I plan to write another romance.
Kathy took this one. Hello, Tommy Shaw!
Last week I went to a concert: REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Loverboy aka High School Jukebox.
It was super fun — great afternoon/evening not too hot with clear skies. We saw the space station pass overhead.
Hearing all those songs — some I haven’t even thought of in years.
Huge barn filled with people my age: having a blast.
Me and two other guys wearing a mask. hehe.
All the bands sounded terrific and gave great performances. Tommy Shaw is the true immortal and looks exactly the same.
Rockin’ the Paradise.
I kept joking that when I was young, I would have spent so much time getting ready for a concert and picking my outfit and puffing up my hair and taking 15 minutes to apply eye make-up.
This time I was like: pants with pockets! I’m ready to go.
This is the chaos that is the garden at the moment. I enjoy letting it do its own thing. The sunflowers are huge. Pumpkin vines going everywhere. Bush beans unimpressive. Slug eating the greens. Tomatoes looking good with little green ones on the vines.
The other morning Bob and I headed out for a walk and there was a big old turd in my flower bed.
I am accustomed to finding turds in my yard and in my flower beds but this one was right by the front door.
I’ve never seen one quite like this.
I finally remembered I wanted to grab it — like with a plastic bag and get rid of it but when I went out there it was gone.
I went and asked Bob if he’d gotten rid of it, even though I knew that was preposterous and indeed, he had not.
So what happened to the turd?
We think maybe someone saw their dog do it and felt bad and came back for it which also seems preposterous but these are the times we live in.
Here’s No Tail, headed off to bed after a long night of searching for worms.
Bob and I went to see Kraftwerk on Friday. Bob mentioned he got tickets several times and he could invite someone else if I didn’t want to go but also it would be really cool. I finally said I would go and he was so excited because it was going to be really cool.
He was right.
Here’s the wiki on Kraftwerk. It’s an electronic band that formed in 1970 in Dusseldorf. They were way ahead of their time.
One of the original founders is still in the band. He’s 75! It’s hard to describe. The music is very Berlin-disco-rhythm-be-boop. But also an immersive 3-D visual show sort of like being trapped in a video game. And also these 4 guys lined up in front of their techno stations pressing buttons and sliders. Also during one part of the show: robots.
It was a great show. I’m so glad I went.
We haven’t been out together like that in who knows how long — we had dinner and walked around downtown.
I spend so much time downtown but so rarely on a Friday evening. It was … interesting. A little wild west down there.
A hilarious clip of a unhappy customer.
Bob went to a different grocery store that didn’t have my regular yogurt.
I’m going to interrupt my own story for a second to absorb that idea that I am writing a post about yogurt.
When I used to get back from visiting my parents, I marveled at how much time we spent every morning talking about yogurt. Dad’s yogurt. Mom’s yogurt. This yogurt. That yogurt.
Why is there so much talk about yogurt?
And here we are.
Bob bought the store brand plain non-fat Greek yogurt. I can’t figure out why I hate this yogurt so much. It has no taste. It’s like a non-food. It’s not really bad. It’s just like nothing. Every morning I drag my feet when it comes time to make my breakfast. I only have one scoop left. Let’s never buy it again.
Since we’re here, my favorite yogurt is Nancy’s plain, low fat, purple packaging. I don’t like the sweet yogurt.
I also don’t really like Greek yogurt at all but it has more protein and my doctor is after me about eating protein throughout the day. So I occasionally will eat a 2% Greek but my favorite is Nancy’s.
This is a hardboiled egg disaster. I wish I would have had some of my googly eyes handy.
We’re having a family visit this weekend.
I started to make cookies on Thursday and I added in an egg and it looked just a teeny bit off and smelled just a teeny bit off. Not bad but not right. I went back and forth a few times but elders were going to be eating these cookies, there was no room for error so I threw the dough away.
It always hurts to throw out something like that.
And. I remembered my lesson from 7th grade Home Ec — break the eggs into a little bowl before you add to the mix in case you get egg shells in there or the egg is not good. OOPS! You were right, Mrs. Wheeler.
I did a do over on Friday.
My friends in Chicago are donut people. This is not the only collection of donuts from the visit.
My grocery store trip was also eventful.
As I was going in I saw a guy with at least a pallet of bottled water. He saw me noticing and ran over to ask if I needed concrete work.
Inside, there was a person who seemed to be having a mental health crisis. I finally went to ask a manager if there was something we could do and I was informed that they are a person with a disability, they are a regular customer, and they are fine. Which is great, I am happy to be educated but the person explaining this to me was a total witch about it.
How am I supposed to know?
Later I watched a person fill their pockets with drinks and snacks and walk out of the store.
Then I got into an argument with my regular checker about whether my tribal ID was okay to check ID. They require ID on all alcohol purchases now. Fine – I understand why they have to do that, but also a tribal ID is a legal form of identification. The checker told me they’ve never even heard of a tribal ID. I wanted to punch them in the face and tell them to learn something about the first people where they live.
Space is freaking awesome.
Happy Fourth of July and Dad’s 92nd birthday! Hopefully I will insert more photos later.
When I was young, like middle school, I really, really wanted long fingernails.
I have no idea why this was so important to me.
Like, I thought I could be more popular and pretty. For real.
But instead, I was a nail biter and my nails were always weak and the minute they grew a tiny bit they were bendy and would break. Plus the way my nails grow, the nail bed is low on my fingertips so the free edge has a long way to go to even reach the ends of my fingers.
Now I hate if my fingernails are even the tiniest bit long. I cut them the second there’s enough free edge to grab.
And they seem like they grow faster than ever. Do they grow faster as you age? Or is it more like how different time goes by now, like when I see a photo of myself and think it’s from a year or two ago and really it’s like 10 years old?
Finger nails are no longer a priority.
Just hint of the unfathomable destruction from the Slater Fire (2020) from our view driving over Greyback Road. There are no words. I was stunned and the further we drove, the worse it got. There are spots where as far as you can see, there are just sticks — the remains of the trees are just sticks. You can’t even believe it’s real. There were moments when it looked like bad CGI. So heartbreaking.
The weekend after we went to Chicago we went to Orleans for a family wedding. On this trip I also took few photos and fewer notes.
(photo by Aileen Wilder, amateur Photoshop by me, hehe)
The wedding was beautiful and fun and a wonderful celebration but also very rainy with mud. It was great to be with family and so fun to see all the kids having such a great time together.
(photo by Bob Hughes)
The canopy was rigged at the last minute using a covering for a greenhouse — but it was magnificent.
Back at the house, the dogs in a rare moment, at rest. Photo and amateur Photoshop by me.
We went to Chicago to visit friends. Well, I went to see friends. Bob went to have adventures.
The trip went as well as you could want. The travel went smoothly. Our lodging had plenty of space and a great location. We all had a great time catching up.
If you were going to complain, it would be about the first morning when it was cold and raining sideways but that was over quick.
I didn’t keep track of any funny stories and took hardly any photos.
One of the highlights was the Chicago Architecture Foundation Center River Cruise where you cruise around and the guide tells you all about the buildings in the downtown skyline. Super interesting. One and a half hours and you know how there’s always that one person who can’t resist talking the whole time? Not on this tour. Everyone rapt.
We also went to a Cubs game. I am not a huge baseball fan but I wanted to see Wrigley Field and it turned out to be fun. Since I spend so much time at soccer matches it was interesting to see how the rituals of a different sport played out.
That was the trip.
I am still trying to get the yard under control. Every spring I mildly panic because the work seems so overwhelming and it is particularly crazy this year due to all the rain. I finally managed to out in the berry patch to get it cleaned up and look what I found!
Lots more coming in soon. This is my favorite when we go from a few berries in a bowl to more than we can eat.
Also while I was out there one of my earbuds fell into the berries. I had to crank some loud music to the highest setting and then crawl around on my hands and knees with my face in the dirt and brambles in my hair.
I found it!
