Today is empty! I was out and about at 8:00 am, delivering a kitty-poo-poo to the vet and then to Home Depot to get some odds and ends.g
By the time I got home, Mary’s beans were ready to go. These beans are special as they came right from our backyard last year. Mary and I shelled them from several bean plants, so the beans are a good mix.
It’s a lot of work, but very satisfying to dine on your own food!
I ate my beans as my father taught me, warm on a nice piece of bread. To make matters better, Mary brought out orange jello complete with mandarin orange slices inside. YUMMY!!
After breakfast, Mary went into a movie that was not quite my cup of tea, so I mossied into the office and set up a small program that will randomly select a “Good Morning” image from a set of 400 that I have collected. Now I have to put a small piece of code on every daily diary entry, and voilà, a random image pops up!
It was warm outside, so we stayed inside after 10:30 am. Before that, we did some minor gardening activities.
Inside, we did some work with Mary going upstairs and straightening up the storage closet with my assistance. Miss Grace wanted to go into the closet, but we shooed her away!
GO, get’um girl!
We worked until about 3:00 pm and then got ready for tonight’s dinner with the Liles, celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary!
Joe, Amy, and Alex popped in around 5:30 pm, and we visited for a bit before embarking on the long and arduous 1.5-mile journey up the mountain to the Orange County Mining Company.
Joe drove the van, which made it easy for everyone to fit comfortably and, more importantly, gave the van a rare opportunity to get out of the house and see what the rest of the world has been up to. It seemed to appreciate the change of scenery, although it declined to comment.
After being seated, I pointed the camera toward Amy and got the “Amy Look”! That is one order less severe than the “Mom Look!”
Amy
Joe was Joe, always fun to be with and always a story to tell!! We talked about the past, and those things that NEVER REALLY HAPPENED were sure a lot of fun!!!
Alex was with us this evening, always a joy to be around. Charlie is still at work at the summer camp but will return Sunday evening. We tried to get Alex to order a tomahawk steak again, but he decided on something smaller, a baby elephant.
Alex
Alex did go for the Mud Slide dessert and polished it off with ease. Mary and I shared the Mud Slide, but alas, we could not finish it off.
The Mud Slide could bury a small car with ease!
We enjoyed being with each other (and talking about Colleen, Robin, and Michele). They put us at the back of the restaurant when they saw us come in. Next time we will disguise Joe so we can get better seats!
The whole fam damily!
Time to dress up!
We dined and looked out the window, seeing the Sun slowly set in the west. Palos Verdes is in the distance, and on a clear day, one can see downtown Los Angeles.
The Mining Company has a great spot on the hill!!
The kids headed home after a short visit, claiming they had chores to do to get ready for tomorrow — which sounded suspiciously responsible. Amy still has some extra work to do getting her classroom ready for the first day of school on Monday, because apparently classroomsdon’tt magically organize themselves over the summer. Rude.
92 degrees, the world’s best sleeping pill!!!
May and I, however, chose a more advanced strategy: we went VFR direct to the pool and spent a couple of hours floating around like highly qualified aquatic retirees. At one point, I caught myself yawning mid-float, which seemed like a clear signal from my body that I had reached peak relaxation and should proceed immediately to bed before I accidentally fell asleep and became a pool noodle.
