Hello all!Hope you had a great Independence Day weekend. Mine started with going to watch the annual parade that travels through my home town along part of Route 66. There were lots of vehicles to enjoy, antique and otherwise, along with horses and bicycles and floats and all those hopeful candidates campaigning for our votes.
I wimped out, though, and left early - wasn't enjoying the heat and I've mostly seen it all before, every year for the last 30 years or so.
I went home, cooled off, blocked my Forest Canopy Shawl, and took a nap.
Sam and family invited me to go watch the 'booms' with the grand-boys, but I just couldn't bear the thought of the traffic. On the Fourth, it takes an hour or more - each way - to drive less than two miles to the park, then there is the walk from the parking lot into the Festival area. So again I wimped out, opting to enjoy the sound of the 'booms' in the air-conditioned comfort of my home.
Saturday morning the kids and I met for breakfast and had a good time in spite of the slightly odd service. They wouldn't let us have a high chair at the end of our booth - the waitress said because someone might trip on it. It was a little close, but we managed. The rest of the crew had places to go and/or naps to take, so I went up the the LYS to knit and visit until Sarah called. She and I went and got our toes done! Funny how a quickly a pedicure can change from a luxury to a necessity!
Later I went to a movie at Penn Square. A few years ago I would never have thought to go to a movie alone, but there are advantages to going my own way. I saw Hancock, the superhero movie starring Will Smith. I wouldn't recommend it for family entertainment, because of bad language and one especially unusual bit of violence, but it was a lot of fun and - dare I say? - somewhat heartwarming. I still want to see WALL-E and Get Smart and maybe even the American Girl movie.
Today - Sunday - I slept in much later than I intended, then decided I had been a lazy slug for long enough and unclogged my slow tub drain. Yes, again. I suppose it needs some regular maintenance if I want to avoid this nasty annual snake job.
Then I got out my big old screwdriver and my rubber mallet and set at defrosting the old refrigerator that sits in my utility room. The freezer part was completely iced in, so between sessions of chipping ice and leaving it to melt (I took a few breaks for knitting and reading and TV watching) I finally got the freezer door open and took the food out. It went much faster after that.
I seem to be falling back into my old habit of reading daily. This week I listened to Nevada Barr's Winter Study on CD (in my car) , read Robert Crais' L.A. Requiem and Jennifer Chiaverini's Quilter's Apprentice. Last week I read Brendan DuBois' Resurrection Day, a disturbing story set in 1971, depicting what our country might have been like if the Cuban Missile Crisis had escalated into nuclear war.
I also started Absolute Power by David Baldacci, but when I figured out why I kept thinking about Clint Eastwood I gave it up. Decided I'll try to find a Baldacci book that wasn't a movie that I have seen.
Next up on my eclectic selections are Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled by Dorothy Gilman and Twilight, another dark story by Brendan DuBois. I'm not sure I will read Twilight right away; I love DuBois' Lewis Cole series, and he is a very good writer, but I'm not sure I can stomach two such dark stories so close together - his writing makes them seem almost real.
I have a reserve in for William G. Tapply's One-Way Ticket - he's another of my many favorites.
And so to bed, for tomorrow is another work day. 'Night, all!
