snaps on Saturday

Crappy camera phone shot at the end of the day, once realizing I didn't take a pic of anything else. Sheesh!

That is Teeny pestering poor Riley to death right before bedtime. She does it every night.
Mi fiesta en la noche!

testing...testing..,.

Let's see if this sticks, shall we??

Freshly planted Dahlias...

poolside, NewDiggs

Now to hit publish and then visit my own blog to see if it's working!

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Very nice day today. A few friends over at TheNewDiggs for mimosas, pan au chocolate, coffee, etc....

Lots of chit chat, lots of knitting, then a litttle "nacho bar" for lunch (really good chips from the mexican market, and various toppings).

One of the nicest things I've heard in awhile was when Kimberly came in and said, "Every time I come here, the place just makes me so happy!"

:-) yay :-)

not exactly how i prefer to spend independence day

Seven hours spent driving in 103F degree valley heat to bring MyFavoriteKid to his friend's grandparents farm.

Almost five hours spent doing a deep cleaning the house I don't even live in full time (TheNewDiggs), which hasn't been cleaned in weeks because I'm having a hard time finding a way to stay there with no accessible bathroom.... right?  And all that construction dust? Lordy!

One missed invitation to join potential new friends at a fireworks watching party because I wasn't advised there was even an invitation until 8:30 (dusk).

Maybe twelve seconds of fireworks which I saw from the car as I drove between the two houses. 

An hour or so trying to calm the dogs down (going hysterical over fireworks).

Another good hour trying to roll the garbage can down the steep driveway on crutches (resulting in tipping it over and dumping all of its contents into the street), at YeOldeHouse, because I forgot to make sure it was done when help might have been available earlier in the day, and by this point, I was alone.

And then a good chunk of time building a "dog house" (not literally, and not for the dogs, if you catch my drift).

~ ~ ~


For some reason it's been a number of years since I have spent the 4th of July actually celebrating.  I miss the barbeques and the hanging for the day with friends or family and the ice cold beer and the laughter. I miss watching a real fireworks show and perhaps lighting a few sparklers.

For some reason, it's important to me.
There aren't too many holidays I'm into, but the 4th is one of them, as is Halloween, as are birthdays.

The only real 4th of July-ish thing I did today was to hear the Declaration of Independence read on NPR by a mixed bag of folks while on the seven hour drive. It was very very cool, I have to admit...definitely a "reason for the season" sort of thing....but it was not enough for me to have felt like I had enjoyed a national holiday.

Note to self:
Next year. A proper celebration!!

when all else fails, time for bullets

Blogger/blogspot is having issues with uploading photos. I thought it was user error (as it usually is), but it aint.  And I have photo heavy posts holding up the train over here. 

Meanwhile, so I dont shoot Blogger, here's the bullets:

* One post in the wings is about the synchronized swimming national competition I went to while killing time in Riverside. Freakin' awesome.

* The other photo heavy post in waiting (so heavy it might need to be multiple posts) is the trip I took to Big Bear on one of the Riverside days while MyFavoriteKid had a 13 hour camp day.  Going to Big Bear was not just a little day trip, no.  Why? I grew up there! Toootal trip down memory lane. Lots o' pics of old haunts.

* Bathroom remodel is going sloooow.  Our crew is amazing, but they are all guys with kids, and all are working short days due to childcare or are taking summer trips.  This is gonna take foreverrrr. And it's going to be lovely :-)

* MyFK lectured me today about not knowing how to handle stress, and perhaps he could teach me how to breathe through things. (hmm)

* I didn't realize until today that it was Day 5 of Le Tour de France. I never miss it. How did I miss it?!!

* I am knitting a bit again, hands are hurting less.

* But I lost one of my Signature Needle Arts dpn's (for the non-knitter, that translates into: ~kachink!!~)

* The peaches on my tree went from super firm to super soft over the few days we were gone and the temps were in the hundreds.  I have to get busy canning!

* MyFK was supposed to go up to his friend's grandparent's farm on Tuesday, but there was a call for early season high school drumline rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday. Damn, they are starting early, and damn this means I have to drive him up to the farm (3 hours each way) tomorrow, on the fourth of July holiday. Gah.

* I am out of bullets now, I think.

* Good, right?

 

all is ok

Problem with blogger and publishing photo heavy posts. Might need to divide all the pics from my trip into chunks.
Here. Ok. Working on a fix!