Well Bummer

Probably like most of you our town didn't have a 4th of July parade last year. Earlier this year they said they would cancel it for this summer too, so we were so excited when a couple of months ago they announced it was on again!

Saturday night we took our chairs down to stake out our spots on the parade route. Do you do that too? Chuck picked an area under some trees so we wouldn't be in the heat and then we sat in them until 6:00. The rule is - if you leave chairs out before 6pm the city will remove them and you have to pick them up another day. So most people begin setting them up around 5:00 and then we all sit around and talk for an hour. We parked and sat in our car until about 5:30, then set up our chairs. By 6:00 the streets are completely lined with hundreds of chairs! We love a parade! 😊

Our church only held one service and we headed down right after that. It was so good to see it again! There was one truck (like an F150) with a young family sitting in the back with a large magnetic sign that read, "No agenda. The kids just wanted to be in a parade." Now that's a small town parade!

There were classic cars, horses, drill teams...

Beth's favorite was of course the Star Wars characters. Although in one picture she's yelling at them, "You're my sisers favorite!!" (Because they were Diana's favorite... when she was 8.) 😊 But you can tell by the smile on her face that she loves them!

 

Sunday night we decided to go watch the fireworks, something we haven't done in years. Chairs, blankets, jackets, and we headed to the roof of the library. There's a great view of the fireworks and you beat some of the traffic out of town.

Our little town by the water ~

We got there at 8:00. Fireworks started at 10:00. There were about 200-300 of us up on that roof and I was so excited to see them live this year! Then 10:00 came and went. Then 10:15. We figured they were singing the National Anthem, maybe the mayor was thanking all the people who made the day happen... the fireworks happen down at the ball field and we don't hear anything up on the roof. We'd been talking about how long we were willing to stay since Chuck had to get up to go to work the next morning. Finally about 10:40 we left. As we're pulling out of the library parking lot, the fireworks started. The streets were packed with cars, large groups of people out on the sidewalks watching them, there was no place for us to pull over. So disappointed!

I do have today off though and am thankful we got to see the parade.

What did you do over the weekend?

Do you usually go to a parade? Watch fireworks?

Cool

Seattle has hit record temps the last few days. We haven't wanted to move a muscle, let alone do anything so we come home and we sit. We drink a ton of ice water and we have 2, 3, 4 fans blowing on us.

I saw a statistic recently that said the Pacific Northwest is the least air-conditioned area in the country. Something like 60% do not have air conditioning. We're one of them.

Our average temps this time of year are in the low 70's but for the last few days they've been close to 100. Then today:

 

Everywhere you go people are talking about ways to stay cool, asking if you slept the night before. Stores are out of fans, ice, portable air conditioners... this area is not equipped to handle these extreme temperatures! Our church - and many others - plus libraries, schools, etc. have become Cooling Centers, inviting the community to come in out of the heat. We had people in and out from 10am to 10pm today. We fed them lunch and dinner, had board games, drinks, movies...

This was our reader board when I left work this evening:

I don't think it was quite that high but when we got home at 7:15 our fireplace thermostat read 89 degrees! Inside our house! We opened windows and turned on the fans. I just checked it again and right now, at 11:15pm it is 87. I believe it, it is so hot in here.
 

I kept texting Beth throughout the day, making sure she was okay. Her place (our daylight basement) always stays so cool in the summer because she's partially underground. We talked about dinner and then I asked how she was doing...

Stay cool my friends!! 😎

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together!

In my last post I said the rabbits were hoping and to be honest I don't know if they were. I DO know they were hopping. 😊

Okay, on to my post...

We've spent the last two weeks planning for this surprise! I posted recently that Sharaya graduated with a degree in Education, but because the school was in Arizona she decided not to walk with her class.

So...

We secretly went on-line and bought her cap and gown, plus the sash, tassel, the whole thing! Then we checked with Diana to see if she had time to fly out here and she was able to get tickets for Father's Day weekend.

It was so hard keeping it a secret because Sharaya and Diana are so close, they text constantly. And we didn't want to tell Beth because she's not that great at keeping secrets like this. I couldn't write flight information or anything on my wall calendar in case Sharaya came over. We watched Allie last Wednesday night and she loves to hang out in the den so I had to move the cap and gown into our closet... I was so afraid we were going to spill the beans!

The night Diana's flying in, I decide to tell Beth. THEN, Sharaya asks if she can take Beth shopping so she could buy something for Chuck for Father's Day. Yikes! I ran downstairs and told Beth she couldn't say ANYTHING about Diana coming! Chuck suggested I tell her things she could talk about (great idea!) and as soon as Sharaya dropped her back off at home she texted me, "I didn't say anything Mothera!"

Course, we left for the airport before they got back so I texted them both to say we were... uh... going to watch the sunset. Which we did, we stopped so I could get a picture for our alibi. 😊 I posted them about the time we arrived at the airport

By now I'm a basket case. I am so excited to see Diana and we still had the actual surprise the next day!

We told Sharaya we had gotten her a little graduation gift and could we meet for brunch on Saturday? The 4 of us get to the restaurant but they wouldn't seat us until the entire party was there! So we were standing outside when Sharaya walked up. She seemed to stare at Diana for about 3-4 seconds. Then her eyes lit up, "Oh hi!!" 

It. Was. Awesome!

We gave her a few gifts and took some graduation photos. We're just so proud of her. What a huge accomplishment. And, I'm so glad everything worked out! No one spilled the beans and Sharaya was completely surprised!

 

Around The Yard

When we were in Denver, oh it must have been about 10 years ago now there were wild rabbits everywhere. I thought it was the most unusual thing to see these things just hanging around buildings, hoping down sidewalks... you didn't see that kind of thing here!  

A couple years ago when we got some snow I noticed these prints that looked like rabbits but "Couldn't be, we don't have them around here." Now, every spring they appear.

I pulled into the driveway the other day to see one eating some clover. He (she?) just sat there while I took some pictures, happily munching away. They sure are cute!

My roses are blooming. Along with the foxglove, and blackberry bushes! Can't wait to have blackberry cobbler this summer!

Do you have fruit that grows wild where you live?

Is there a favorite dish you like to have in the summer?

An Unexpected Adventure

 A couple weekends ago we drove up to Anacortes, about 90 minutes from us to go to a memorial for a friend we hadn't seen in years. There were a lot of old friends there, it's always good to see everyone but so sad that it has to be under those circumstances.

While we were there a friend told us about the Washington Park Loop. It's a 2 mile road that goes along the waterfront and it was just a few miles from where we were. There's camping and picnic tables and then this single lane, one-way road.

 

Then there'd be a small parking spot nestled between the trees and bushes just big enough for one car. I got out on one of them and after stepping over a fallen tree and walking down a tiny dirt path I came across this huge overlook!

The wind was just howling but the views were so pretty! I was out there so long that by the time I got back to the car my ears were sore! Have you ever had that, where the wind makes your ears so cold, that they almost hurt on the inside?

Back in the car and we continue driving. I couldn't get over how pretty the scenery was.

 

Then we pull up to another open area and of course I hop out, phone in hand. I walked across some flat rocky areas to another incredible view.

 

I'm so glad our friends recommended this place. On our way out, we spotted two deer! It's a little hard to see them in the tall grass but as we pulled away one of them lifted it's head and looked right at us. "See ya next time!"

Grandparents, It Hit Me Like a Wave, and a Purposeful Re-creation?

We were texting Diana the other day about wedding plans and she said something about riding with Peter's grandparents and right there in the middle of our office area, I began to cry. The grief came over me like a giant wave as I realized - again - that my girls no longer have grandparents.

My dad died in 2019 and Chuck's mom, the last of their grandparents, just died in February. 

It hit me hard and I let the tears flow.

I've had this picture hanging in the living room for many years. It's one of those iconic photos that are a part of your family. It's my dad at around 3 years old, sitting on the hood of their car.

I've seen this next picture a hundred times but never really thought about it. A few months ago I came across it again and it hit me! Was my dad purposefully re-creating his photo? This is me around 2 years old, sitting on the hood of our car.

All these years and I never made the connection!

I've re-created photos:

Me and my sisters

Our girls

Sharaya getting ready to ride on my dads motorcycle

Allison standing next to my dads motorcycle

And my girls have re-created photos - many photos! Here's one:

But to think my dad did it way back in the early 1960's, just makes me miss him even more.

Do you have a family photo that means a lot to you?

Have you ever re-created a picture?

Hard Work, Perseverence and Blood, Sweat & Tears

Sharaya's spent the last few years as a single mom, working full time and getting her teaching degree. It hasn't been easy and she's taken breaks to go to Denver to help Chuck's sister recover from surgery, to San Diego when my dad died... but when she gets home she gets right back to it. Well, she sent us these pictures the other day:

Her diploma!! She got a Bachelor of Arts in Education Studies. And graduated Magna Cum Laude! What an accomplishment! She's worked hard and we're so proud of her!

I have school pictures around here somewhere but for now here's her Kindergarten picture:

Relaxing, QR Codes, and It Was Inevitable

Not too much going on around here lately. I worked all weekend and had Monday off. Chuck and I did some yard work in the morning and then relaxed the rest of the day.

At work our Facility Director is on vacation plus 3 of the custodians were out of town this weekend. And wouldn't you know it, the elevator quit working. I went in on Saturday to call the tech, thankfully he got there pretty fast. The 1st floor coffee machine has been leaking so they decided to take it out to be repaired. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. These machines are pretty old and it's hard to find parts.

The pastors did a panel-type meeting so I set up all the stools for them, there were 14! And they wanted to be on the lower platform. I got them all on there but they sure were cozy! Next time I may try our big chairs and put them on the main platform.

I learned you can return your Amazon packages at Kohls so I gathered up my 4 or 5 items and walked up to the clerk. She asked me for the QR code, "I'm sorry, the what?" Yep, I'm that person! So she took the time to explain that I had to go on-line to get the code and then bring it back and show the code on my phone... ahh, okay. I turned around - with all my packages still in my arms - to see a long line of people waiting. Sigh. It sucks to get old.

After Prayer Meeting tonight I fixed myself some tea and sat out in the backyard until it got dark. There were so many different types of birds, I couldn't count all the different bird calls I heard! It was like being in an estuary!

 We live in a suburb, a beautiful location with forest areas all around. I love having a yard where we can sit and enjoy nature.

Where's your favorite place to relax?

Have you ever returned Amazon packages at Kohls?

What did you do over the Memorial Day weekend?