Friday Afternoon Lunch Date

Happy 4th of July! Not quite yet (it's the 30th of June), but you may recall how crazy Huntington Beach can get on the weekend of the 4th. Dad and I thought lunch at the beach after a stroll on the pier would be nice...
There's Duke's and Chimayo's behind dad. We'd thought about eating hamburgers at Ruby's, but Chimayo's was my first choice.

Even on a Friday afternoon the sunseekers were out. We did have a couple from Germany ask us if we'd take there picture with this scene in the background. Ken congratulated their country for winning the World Cup in soccer.
We walked to the end of the pier, but there was a wait even at Ruby's and we were holding reservations at Chimayos. The sea air felt so good!
The ubiquitous seagull!
Lunch salad...
Dad had the clam chowder
Fish and Chips!
Getting ready for N.S.!
My lucious lunch!
Our favorite HB Restaurants! We've agreed we need to do this more often! And wait until he's retired next year!

Good Company/Good Food!

I love getting together with friends! I'll have pictures at a later time (they're on Judee's camera) of the Kappa group at The Clubhouse in SC Plaza. Jane kinda ran with the conversation, but it was a good time to let her talk and we could eat our meal! I don't know how many times she said, "Oh! and I have one more story!" Anyway, had a great seared ahi dinner and we shared creme brulee for dessert. That was last Wednesday night. Thursday I met Karen and her best friend, Colleen, for lunch at the R&D Cafe in Fashion Island. I have a favorite Asian salad I always get there. I don't think it's slimming...full of crunchie nuts and soba noodles. A "must try" for anyone dining there! It's awesome! Just like I always get that salad, Karen always has the French Dip. Colleen says she sticks with the Reuben Sandwich. I thought about going shopping afterward since I was already there, but decided against it and headed back home. I didn't forget my camera this time!

Gordon's Pet Bird

(...and we know how quickly they can become pets if you have the right food in your hand!)

We got a sweet email from Eenie (who took the picture) and again I could only wish we had birds like this in the back yard! Isn't it a beauty. I wonder who's going to take care of the little pet when they leave for the winter! They're due to arrive in Mahone Bay the same day I get in, so we'll have a month of good visits before we have to leave again.

Heather's Art Updates

Just wanted to share a few pictures of my first shadowbox that I made. This is from one of the cool boxes Tina found at the thrift store for me. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome if I do say so myself! Also, I told mom I sold another piece on etsy today. Check out my store www.biggirlart.etsy.com Tina and I are heading up to Wisconsin this weekend to stay at the Whitefish Bay Farm B&B. We'll be sure to take photos to post upon our return. xoxoxoxo!

Heather and Tina at Chicago Pride 2006

It didn't rain on our parade!

The sound of raindrops on the window a/c unit this morning...not a good indication of how the weather might be for the 37th annual Pride Parade here in Chicago. The parade started at noon at Belmont and Halsted. Around 11:40, we decided to get ready and head on out...the rain seemed to be letting up. We hopped on the El and exited at Belmont, heading east through a sea of people. Our goal was to get over to Broadway near Caribou Coffee. There were barricades at Halsted and Belmont so we headed north figuring we'd cross when we could. At this point the rain was gone, the humidity and sun were kickin' and we soon found ourselves wedged amongst way too many people on the sidewalk! At Roscoe, we cut over and briskly strolled through the alleys. We hit a dead end just past Addison and cut through a parking lot. We managed to cross Halsted and cut through the neighborhood over to Broadway where we finally settled at Broadway and Addison. It wasn't too crowded and I just text messaged friends saying we'd find them later. We settled in to watch the parade which was filled with the usual crazy costumes (or lack thereof!) colors, music, and freebies galore! At 3:15, the "Naked juice/smoothie" float passed by, handing out free bottled smoothies. Thank goodness because we realized we had not ingested a single ounce of liquid or food at all today! After the Parade we went in search of real food...this was a challenge as everything was so packed with people! We walked down the middle of Broadway almost to Diversey when we decided to head on over to the Duke of Pearth and have fish and chips and our first (and only) beer of the day. We enjoyed the lull from the cacophony of crowds while we ate out on the patio. From there we headed back to the El and made our way home. It was a very different Pride for me in that I consumed minimal alcohol and walked for what felt like miles! Tina and I are both quite exhausted this evening!!! I hope the little collages of images come through ok...and I hope you all have been enjoying your own festivities in Brazil! xoxoxoxo

Pink and Pikake

Sweet little Pink! She's "the family" cat and no one else's! The doorbell rings and she can't scale the stairs fast enough to dive under the bed. When we have to be away and leave her in the care of Heidi, we've heard she might not show up to eat for a couple of days. On the other hand, we've heard of "Pink Sightings" late at night when there's always a little dry food waiting for her! She's not cuddly, but around "Mom and Dad", she goes where we go! Dad says I spoil her. I say she wouldn't be so wild if he'd tried to hold her when I was away while she was an infant with her siblings and wild mother in the back yard! Nonetheless, she's a sweetie, and yes, I spoil her. We know you love her, too, Ash. Here's a Pink Sighting for you!

I'm Taking a Poll

This handsome man proposed last night that he should shave his moustache! Would any of us know him without it after all these years? Isn't it a part of his personality? Doesn't it add a touch of distinction? He just laughs at me, but I think I might fall into depression if he did that! To shave it off, realize his mistake and have to grow it back would be like a divorce and a remarriage. The thread of continuity would be gone. Let's get some comments here in support of keeping the moustache! Let's keep this handsome man handsome and distinguished!

Bored & Unclear of the Concept

I'm on my second cup of coffee this afternoon and I should be jumping around but I'm saving all my energy for my 5PM walk. It was good to hear from Ash though I'm distressed to hear that this leg of the travel took so long! As I write, they're well past being up 36 hours and they're not to their next destination yet. They'll hardly see Salvadore this time through, but I hope Ilhaus is worth the time and effort! I hope they'll have the energy to participate in all the drumming I think they're planning to have there! The family network is tight and in place as I called H-E as soon as I hung up with Ash. I was able to fill her in on all the travel disasters. It was a nice chance to talk as she said there had been no one in the store for the entire morning! Of course everything changed as we talked and several people came in! Dad was out for the lunch hour, so I had a half sandwich and a coffee and went upstairs to watch a little television. Actually, I was scanning through the stations looking for anything in the way of a movie or show that we might want to watch and hadn't seen. It's summer and there's nothing. To stave off boredom, I'm going to tivo Million Dollar Baby and Cinderella Man. Neither Dad nor I is interested in boxing, so if we like these, they've got to be good! They certainly got their share of rave reviews! Oprah, Dr Phil and Inside Edition are all on summer reruns, and I've seen all of them I was interested in, so what's left is a lot of Law & Order! That done, I came to the computer, but no one has written today...boo hoo. Then I thought about writing something here, but I didn't have a picture, and I think that makes them more fun (in this case, "funny")...so I took the picture of myself. The "Unclear" part is that I didn't know to put it on wide angle. Actually, I did the second shot, but the image was SO scary, it could only be deleted! Dad made the second coffee of the afternoon, but he was too busy to sit down and visit, so this is my whining blog. If I could trade places with Ash and John, I'd sit up and watch their bags and they could take a nap! Hopefully, by the time they can sit down and read this, they'll have had a little sleep and will be feeling better. Love to all!

In case you forgot what all our crazy kitties looked like, here they are! can't you just tell how eager they were to pose for the camera?! And that's Hobbie's new friend...Malibu Barbie. He's using those big ol' thumbs of his to grab her by the hair! (As for the Barbie, there's an abundance in our home right now...Tina's working on a project...don't ask! :-)




Tina says she knows when I like something she's found at the the thrift store because I play with it and...maybe even share with my family on a blog. Perhaps no one but mom will even care, but Tina found these super cool boxes today. They are wooden, quite rustic looking, about 5 inches tall and probably 2 inches deep. They have glass fronts and little "shelves" (which could probably be removed) on the inside. the interior is accessed by unscrewing the back covers. They are just waiting to be used in some very cool project! And the best part....60 cents/each!

Art, kitties, thrift store finds...in whatever order they may upload!

Thought I'd start by posting a couple of details that I've added to my daily canvas since you guys have left. There have been several days where the thoughts of the two of you definately influence what I place on the canvas. Thanks for the inspiration! (And I know you're not going to Bulgaria...are you?...but I liked the image on the stamp of the 2 girls...like sisters.)

Girls Night Out in F.V.

Pictures and stories about both of you girls was shared over dinner this evening! After all the evenings I've looked through the albums of grandbabies everyone else brings (and I've enjoyed them!), it was nice to have some pictures and stories of my own! Helen wasn't aware the big trip was underway. She shared stories of when Rob and Mary Beth spent three months traveling through Europe. Like Ash and John, they sent a lot of email and shared the trip as they went along. Judee didn't have a lot of news though she said she might visit me in N.S. maybe next summer! THAT certainly would be fun! Shirley didn't have any news that I hadn't already heard when we were all at dinner last weekend. She did want the site information about The Red Balloon! Another customer for you, Heather! They were all interested in knowing about what Blogging is...

You can see we had a delicious dinner, and I got to take home the leftovers! I'm on my own for dinner tomorrow, so they'll be welcome, reheated!

Everyone sends love.

So NOT June Cleaver

There it was, Father's Day, and dad had been in the yard picking berries, gathering fresh oranges for juice, and had eggs and English Muffins set out, ready to fix breakfast! This man is a keeper! (37 years and onward!)
I even wanted a picture of Pink waiting for her breakfast and I couldn't get down on the floor, so he got that picture for me, too! I'm still pretty good at feeding the cats!

Father's Day

It's easy to celebrate Father's Day when the kids are little and they climb into bed with Dad before he was ready to get up. It's a different when the girls reach their 30s and live away from home. It was so nice for Dad to hear from Ashley calling from Cusco Saturday evening. We'll pretend the top picture covers that call, too, but since I haven't learned to arrange the pictures the way I want, he's actually talking with Heather after he opened his gifts. Her timing was just perfect!
How perfect that Ashley combined her photography and art ability to make Dad a card. He was touched by the personal, and non-Hallmark, sentiments.
We know Heather's got a room full of art supplies...even tape that matches the paper! The best surprise was inside!
The pictures are a little out of order...Dad liked the framed picture of the girls (see top photo). We removed a couple of the very old and dated ones from his desktop and put the new one there.
Shutterfly makes up the most amazing layouts for photo books. Heather got very creative and made one just for dad of his girls. This is so much better in many ways than a lot of snapshots sitting around!

Here's where I'd add the pictures of Dad fixing breakfast for the two of us, but I think they'd come up top and I don't want to start over. I could start a new blog piece entitled "So Not June Clever"... We had a lovely breakfast together...fresh squeezed (from the yard) orange juice, soft boiled eggs and English muffins. He even had a bowl of boysenberries from the yard. I have pictures of all these things...I'm having fun with the camera again.

Aahhh...Andersonville...

Winding down my workday and sipping a margarita from Angel's. Jen, our business owner not only supports this...she funds this! She says she'd be a complete hypocrite if she told us we couldn't drink on the clock. Fine by me! It's only when our day is winding down and the store is quiet that she encourages us to go to the back door of Angel's to get a cocktail to go. As I wrote yesterday, I forgot to post my "disconcerting vision." As I strolled to work yesterday morning, I saw a grown man wearing very short, short-alls. And as I sat here zoning out and staring across the street, I saw a gentleman wearing what some might consider underwear...and nothing else! Don't you just miss the city?! You may have the beautiful Andean mountains and llamas in the street...but do you have grown men dressed like children?! I bet not. Hope your day has been beautiful and peaceful. xoxoxoxo

I want to visit Cusco!!!

Hi Ash & John,

You should get compensation from the Cusco Chamber of Commerce. I'm ready to visit!!!!! Amaru Hostel looks great. I was telling Mom I think of Hostels as being rather austere, but Amaru looks very nice with private bath and breakfast and I can not believe the rates. I pay more than that for the Motel 6 in Gila Bend, AZ and we almost never see Lamas in the street in Gila Bend---Gila monsters yes, Lamas no.

I love your descriptions of the surrounds and the photos on the Cusco website are wonderful. Mom and I are getting in shape for when we visit.

Keep the emails and updates coming.

Love you,

Dad

Connecting all over Chicagoland!

After a long and slow-ish day at work, Tina met me and we strolled to the new Sprint store in the neighborhood...and as you can see we opened our own Sprint store in our home! Actually we just upgraded our phones. Mine has an Mp3 player in it. Maybe I don't need an ipod after all! I'm sure there are way more features on it than I can even begin to fathom using...but I had $150 credit towards the phone for being a long time customer and whatnot so I figured...hey, I'll get all the bells and whistles. And it's bluetooth compatible...yeah right, like I'm gonna walk around with a blue glowing earpiece! (Sorry, dad!) So, Tina and I have been spending the evening playing with our new phones, trying to figure it all out. We had delicious grilled chicken for dinner...and I thought of the poor little grunting guniea pigs the whole time! Love you both!!!

Guinea Pigs and Sacred Cows

You write of Guinea pigs on sticks for sale in the streets of Cusco! I'm shocked as I remember my little guinea pig pets when I was 8 y/o. I shared that with the doctor today and we had an interesting conversation. He said the people of India are (likely) horrified that we would eat beef, and yet it's a staple in most American diets. "That big juicy hamburger?", I responded? Of course the conversation deteriorated to discussion of countries that eat dogs, cats and horses, not to mention rabbits...poor Buns and Flopsy! I chuckled as he suggested that Cambodians perhaps turned to eating dogs to send a message to the Chinese that love them as pets! Who knows about the latter, but I found the suggestion funny. Session over, we ran an errand and headed to Brugers where I had turkey on a bagel! Who's to say who's right or wrong!

Ashely & John's location in Peru

For anyone who is interested, this is where John and Ashley are staying-http://cusco.net/amaru/

Also, here is a link to the town of cusco-http://www.cuscoperu.com/

Some Ideas Come to You While Out on a Stroll

All this walking must be doing some good! Over several phone calls today, H-E and I discussed blogging, she thinking I should begin one. For the life of me I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to communicate with the world! But the discussion continued until this late afternoon, when, walking with Dad, we discussed that this might be a nice way for the family to stay in touch with you two (and we with one another!) while you're away. I only wish we'd thought of this prior to your departure so that you might have begun a blog about your travels! We do, however, like receiving the email and think they'll make a nice journal when they're printed out.

Over time, we may add some pictures for you so you don't forget us! We'll have little trips of our own along the way that we can share with you! We hope you think this is fun. I spent the day reading a number of blogs, some in foreign languages! It's an interesting technological world these days, and I've just jumped in with both feet!