July Celebrations

 

Now that it's mid July, I finally have a few flowers to pick in my garden. I'm celebrating July flowers. 

Friday, July 12th, was a very special day for a dear friend. We helped Dede clebrate her 97th birthday at breakfast with the regulars, a few additional women who had also taught with her, and one of her sons, here for the occasion from Oregon. 

When Dede arrived with her son Dale, she was very much surprised to see old friends, birthday balloons, and cake. 

Tom, Teresa, Kelly, Lela, Jan in the mirror, Linda, Dale, and Dede

Dede loved it all, and then we sent her on for more celebrating, first for lunch at her senior residence, and then to dinner with more family. Dede is a wonder. 

Now I am looking forward to more birthdays, my 80th on the 17th, my sister Laurie's on the 20th, my brother Don's on the 21st, and Tom's brother Dave's also on the 17th. 

We'll celebrate Don and Dave from a distance but Laurie and I will meet up for lunch on the 18th. There is a bit of a pageant scheduled for me. There will be reports later. 

Happy July, everyone. 

Wilting

 About 3:00 this afternoon I decided I needed to get up out of my chair and experience outside. I have been avoiding outside because it's hot, and I don't do heat well, and because I am still recovering from some nasty insect bites that both hurt and itch and have for days. Bugs find me delicious, I guess. 

I put on my mosquito shirt and walked around a bit.

It was 93. The dahlias were sagging.

The glass flowers don't wilt.

The daylilies looked OK. 

I changed the water in the crow's bird bath. We have had a resident pair of crows for years now. They have adopted this memorial birdbath as their own. It's a memorial to my late sister Ilene. She would approve. 

Someone in the neighborhood feeds them bread and they come here to dunk it. It leaves a mess.

So far today I have had a Zoom meet up, gone to the grocery store for a few fresh things, read blogs, and played solitare on my lap top while I watched  a European Championship Semifinal soccer game between Spain and France. Lunch and paper reading took me up to the move to my chair where I finally figured out the bluetooth on the new receiver we bought July 1st for our TV and sound system. Now I can play my iTunes on my phone through my sound system. I'll use that most at Christmas time, since I have a great little bluetooth speaker for easier  connecting. 

Now it's time to return to my chair and work my Wordle. I almost hope it's a hard one that takes me more time. I need to stay occupied while is stay indoors. 

It's Hot and We Are Fixin' To Slow Down

 The box fans are in the windows upstairs for sleeping. The air conditioning, which really only works downstairs, is set for 75. We're heading for 93 today and tomorrow, just a bit higher than yesterday.

I'm not really whining, many have it so much worse, but we aren't used to this kind of heat very frequently and we wilt. 

I went to a hot soccer match at the stadium last night. This is the third one I've been to now in a few weeks and we have won all three. Things are looking up for the Sounders. I'm not looking to be a good luck charm though, because going to the matches is hard work for me, and even though we do not sit in the sun and the light rail and the stadium club are air conditioned, it is still hot in the seats and in the coming and going. It was beautiful at nearly 10:00 though as we were waiting for the elevator to take us down and out of the stadium. Elevators and handicap parking help. 

We slept in this morning but then I remembered that I wanted to get the roses and the day lilies deadheaded before the sun got to that part of the garden. After learning about the Hemerocallis Gall Midge I checked my daylily blooms and I do have some infested buds. They have to be picked off and destroyed. Others seem OK.

So my little bit of gardening got done before a late breakfast. Now Tom is out in the heat of mid day working on a watering problem. Uffduh.

Our resident hummingbirds are happy that the Crocosmia Lucifer are blooming. 

Moving around in the garden you can be sure that I sought shade. 

DJan posted about seeking serenity so I checked out the deck, where Buddha resides.

Patience - with yourself and others. Truth - please, in all things. Breathe easily, just because. 

Peace be with you. May serenity be yours.

It Was A Grand Old Fourth

 

We ate brunch with friends and watched a parade. No Gus this year, see the previous post, but lots of cool cars.

We found Jill and the girls on the parade route and watched with them. Then we came home and rested. Later we drove south to Jan's house on Henderson Bay near Gig Harbor. It was a beautiful day, full of mountain majesty. 

The bay was calm and the sky was blue.

The family was gathered: Isaac with Shayla, Irene, Jill, Nebraska summer grandaughter Allie, and Jake. 

We ate lots of good food. Some of us, the younger ones, went kyaking. Some of us, the olders, sat a lot. 

It was great to have our three generations all together. 

We watched the sun go down.

We had spraklers just for me. 

Jake lit the fire and the kids lit off Jill's fireworks.

All around the bay the neighbors and visitors were putting on a show, a big show!

Tom got some great photos.

We got home after midnight and the celebrating around us lasted well into the night. I think it was finally quiet enough to go to sleep about 2:00. The next morning, going to breakfast, the air was still full of smoke. The 4th was celebrated with a bang, all over. 

It was a grand old 4th. 

Gus the Bus Lives On

When I looked back on my Facebook memories yesterday there was post after post, year after year, of Gus the Bus attracting cheers and peace signs in the Normandy Park 4th of July Parade. 

 Last year was Gus's swan song, as Jill and Jake, his current owners, put him up for sale.

Gus joined our family in 1979 when SIL Jan bought him as a two year old.He supplied her with many fun trips into the wilderness and often served as back up transportation too. When she finally outgrew him - when you get older you want something a bit more comfortable - she turned him over to my kids, her neice and nephew Jill and Jake. Over the next chapter of Gus's life he went on more camping trips into the wilderness. As he aged he became a bit more shaky and harder to get up and down the hills. Finally he became a pain to drive and many of his parts didn't work too well. 

But Gus is an icon of his era and Jill and Jake were sure that someone would want him. Eventually they found a buyer who offered then $3000. They took it and said goodbye to Gus. 

As this year's parade approached, there was both relief and remorse at not having the parade fun anymore, but on the morning of the 4th Jill got a text from a man in Nashville, Tenn. Gus was there!

The new owner sent photos. Gus was reborn!

There he was in St Louis, on the road to Nashville, looking pretty spiffy for an old guy.

All of us who knew and loved Gus and his people are celebrating. Sometimes old things just need new parts, and a good cleaning, and probably a bunch of cash. 

4th of July Pie

 

It's almost Independence Day again already. We'd better celebrate it while we still have it.

I made pie. For our family 4th of July celebration dinner at SIL Jan's house.

It's tripple berry pie. Jill wanted cherry. Don't you know you have to have cherry pie for the 4th of July?  But I didn't want to make a special trip to go buy pie cherries. I had berries. So she's making her own. Good. Jake likes berry pie. We'll all be happy. 

I also made Macaroni salad. And I picked a mixed bouquet from my garden now that I actually have some flowers. 

Tomorrow we'll go to a parade and and eat brunch. We'll come home and rest. Then we'll go to Jan's and eat some more and watch neighborhood fireworks on Henderson Bay. 

We'll celebrate our freedom, because we can.

Happy 4th of July!