How I spent my summer
by chuckofish
Can it be true? Are we really in the last week of August, the home stretch of summer? Say it ain’t so! Well, I can really relate to Sally, can’t you?
I read some good books (but no Tolstoy) and, although I watched no game shows, I watched a lot of old movies.
I went to quite a few estate sales.
We finished our kitchen “update,” but did not make much progress in our basement clean-up. (This project moves to the fall list.)
We went to one baseball game.
We barbecued quite a few times and watched the wee babes get bigger.
We enjoyed visits from two nephews, one niece, one BFF, two darling daughters, and DN.
I voted in the primary.
I took 5 days of vacation and got out of town, but the rest of the time, I was working! Contrary to popular belief, we do not slow down in the summer.
Pretty lame maybe, but pretty great too, if you ask me.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. (Philippians 4:1)
are heading back to Indiana this morning and it is back to the salt mine pour moi. I hope it is a quiet day!
However you want to spend the 4th of July, I’ll take my cue from those three American flyers in the German prisoner of war camp (surrounded by British officers) in The Great Escape (1962)…waving the flag, playing loud music and sipping some moonshine. (“WOW!”)
We hope this is a “big year” for him, at least in the birding sense. Come see a Pied-billed grebe or a Marbled godwit sometime! We have them in Missouri, you know. After all, we live on the Mississippi flyway.
Today we toast John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) on his birthday. Copley was was an American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was famous for his portraits, but the above painting–Watson and the Shark (1778)–traumatized me as a child. It is still scary!
I also saw George M! with Joel Grey at the Muny Opera back in 1970 when it was touring.
I wonder if kids today have ever heard of George M. Cohan or heard any of his songs. I grew up with them. “Over there! Over there!/Send the word, send the word over there/That the Yanks are coming/ The Yanks are coming…” I guess Americans lost their enthusiasm for that sentiment somewhere in the 1960s. Oh well.
June was Leslie Howard and July is Steve McQueen. Have I been a good girl or what? Set your DVRs for Thursdays! By the way, the OM and I watched The Towering Inferno (1974) the other night–possibly one of the worst movies ever–but it was worth the 165-minute investment of time to see Steve McQueen…
…and Paul Newman.
The horrible 1970s sets and costumes were amusing as well. Egad, 1974 was the pits.
Today is also the start of the Dog Days of summer according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. 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.
The boy deserves a party, but he has to work all weekend at his store, so we will not be able to get together as I had hoped for a belated Father’s Day celebration. 
Sigh. Well, we’ll bring him some Chik-fil-A for lunch as a treat.
Daughter #1 is coming home for the weekend for a little R&R (and to see the wee babes). Plus, my oldest BFF is in town so we are getting together this afternoon for Episcopal souffle and a good old gab-fest.
I have never been to this local landmark, which like the cemetery is in a most disreputable and run-down part of town, and I was really looking forward to it. When we got there, however, there was a line of people waiting outside (under the awning) in the rain! We decided to pass and moved on to our favorite Cafe Osage in the CWE. The drive there was like something out of Escape from New York (1981)…
…but we got there and had a lovely lunch.
dual personalities 