Calm Before the Storm Edition

I'm utterly alone, but not for long: Mr. Q and Li'l E are heading back from the family camping trip today. (I haven't heard a word from them in forty-eight hours! This is the longest I've gone without any contact with my kiddo! I appreciate the break, but I'm getting a little separation anxiety here.) It's also the (fairly busy) calm before the storm around here, in that we're into the second-last week before our Busiest School Year Ever begins!

And so I'm going to enjoy the quiet while I can. (I'm also going to volunteer for hosting here as much as possible before the frantic busy schedule begins! And I suspect that it's for the best for me to volunteer, with Sue on vacation, Kathy approaching medical stuff, Miranda recovering, esperanza dealing with the baboos...)

How are things in your neck of the woods?

Smithsonian week! Come celebrate all the weird and lovely things!

This is actually true:  After years of congressional haggling over what to do with money left to the United States -- and investments went bad, on the part of the government -- on August 10, 1846, the (otherwise undistinguished) President Polk signed legislation creating the Smithsonian Institution.  Well, that worked out, finally, and so might our current problems.

What's new?

So. Many. Apples. Edition

Here is your Queen of West Procrastination, reporting to you from Apple Processing Central. We had the good fortune to acquire ALL the apples off of my in-laws' tree last week, and it has been taking up a lot of our time now. We have a crate of them stored in the cold storage room, bags and bags of frozen apples, and right now I'm canning a quick batch of crab apple butter (from the crab apples that we ALSO acquired last week) before we go out for supper. Every visitor to our home has been sent home with a complimentary bucket of apples. And still: so. many. left!

Anyone want some apple butter?

Dog Days of Summer Edition

What does that mean, actually? I know it refers to the hottest days of the summer, but what does that have to do with dogs?

Well, National Geographic comes to my rescue again. Here's what they have to say:

"It turns out, the dog days refer to the dog star, Sirius, and its position in the heavens. To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred around the day when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun, in late July. They referred to these days as the hottest time of the year, a period that could bring fever, or even catastrophe."

So there you have it. We're in the dog days - keep those whines coming.

Step away from the news edition

I guess we're about halfway through summer, and maybe it's time for me to go find some things to do -- in service of my project for the week, avoiding the news.

The last couple weeks have been so awful, in so many ways.  I do not have high hopes for this week, either. 

Albatross-related activities have kept me chained to the desk for so long that I hardly remember what it's like to just go someplace for the view, go to see a movie, go run those errands that have been on perpetual hold.

What's on your agenda?

Back to "Normal" Whining

I've decided we're finished moving in. Boxes are unpacked; cars are in the garage; things have mostly found a place. And, most importantly: I'm sick of it.

So let's enjoy (or make it through in some form or fashion) the rest of the summer.

Pixies, what are your whines? Anything going on for fun?

Any big plans for the 4th?

Maybe our local fair; not sure.  They have music, rides, craft sales, lots of food, giant flags around the field, a whole street for visual artists, etc.