And now July is here in full force. We had a heat advisories for most of the week and no rain until Friday evening and Saturday morning. I just dumped 3/4 of an inch out of my rain gauge. I told Steve that it was so nice to finish a day without worrying about what needed to be watered. And, temperatures are perfect this evening. Elise is here to celebrate her birthday - which is today - and she is currently at Six Flags with Southerlands and this weather is a true gift. We went to the Cardinals game last night against the Phillies and, as we were traveling to the stadium on the metro, we could see black clouds and lightening over downtown area. Sprinkles started to fall as we exited the train and walked to the entrance. Happily, the sky waited to open and dump until we were inside the stadium. It rained hard for about thirty minutes and delayed the game an hour but it brought cooler temperatures. Sadly, the Cardinals couldn't do anything and they lost 2-0.
This morning, we joined Elise at the temple. She will stay again tonight and Beckie will come over for her birthday dinner (a day late) tomorrow evening.
The Independence Day celebrations last weekend with fireworks being shot off all around us (illegally, by the way) was very rough on Sally. And Linus fed off her nervousness so getting them outside to go potty was a challenge. I couldn't get her in to see a vet for doggie tranquilizers soon enough so poor Sally suffered. At least she doesn't destroy things like Trissy did! Because we knew the dogs would be scared, because it was going to be horribly hot, and because Steve has a tradition of watching all three Lord of the Rings (extended version) on the 4th of July, we went nowhere and just hunkered down in the cool and gorged ourselves on Hobbits and One Ring and Elves and Dwarves. I worked on sewing and some craft painting while we watched. We did venture out mid-day to Culvers since their flavor of the day was raspberry cheesecake and we grilled pork steaks and invited Sam Carpintero over to eat dinner with us. Fireworks blasted all around us until eleven at night.
Tuesday morning, Steve finished watching Return of the King - we just couldn't stay away past the lighting of the beacons the night before. I couldn't join him as I had to take the Element to the body shop to have the tailpipe repaired since the part finally arrived (we had our rear-ending back in April!). I was prepared to stay the two hours while it was being worked on but the time hardly started when the serviceman came to me and informed me that our tailpipe at some point in the past had been welded and this new part was going to have to be welded on! They don't do that kind of welding and I had to reschedule the repair. So, I went home, did my planned work there and watched most of Return of the King that night while Steve was at a church meeting. I still couldn't finish it and had to do that Wednesday evening.
Grocery shopping was done over two days - Steve went to Walmart Wednesday morning with Fred while I was with Mary Bell at Happy Hookers. I went to Aldi Thursday morning while Steve was at his internal medicine doctor appointment.
I started three new virtual string students Thursday afternoon. They are a family in New River, Arizona, who know the Lucas family (I have taught Erik Lucas since we were there on our mission). The 17 year old daughter plays violin and wants to do more fiddle music. The 15 year old son plays bass and is quite talented. I will mostly coach him since he plays at my level right now. The 14 year old daughter has played cello for a year and is very motivated to move forward. They are all three home-schooled so scheduling an hour and a half block of time shouldn't be too difficult.
Friday morning I heated up the oven and did all my gluten-free baking at one time (just like the pioneers used to do). I baked a yellow cake for Elise's birthday, a white cake just because I had some egg whites to use up, and a double batch of pumpkin muffins for my breakfasts. I had spent my gardening time earlier that morning shoveling and hauling mulch to the front yard and between that activity and standing in the kitchen, I was quite exhausted by lunchtime...so much so that I worried I would not have enough energy to go to pottery. Happily, I woke up feeling rejuvenated so I went but, when I got there, I wore myself out even further by throwing 5 pounds of clay to make a plant pot. Centering a large lump of clay is quite the workout! I think that is why I had a hard time staying awake at the ballgame that evening.
I will close with photos of the garden. You can see that the corn is in tassel and I have some ears forming. The zinnias are blooming. The pumpkin and gourd patch are producing. There are volunteer sunflowers growing by the bird feeder and the asparagus patch with yellow squash and zucchini plants in the background that are already bearing. The green beans are covered with blossoms and the tomatoes are loaded with green fruit. My newly planted crepe myrtle seems to be thriving as is my white hydrangea and elephant ear. And my potted flowers have not been dug into by the squirrels this year (thanks to the chicken wire I placed around the rims) so they are doing well.
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