August Miscellany

August has been a month of visitors!!!!  I've been so busy seeing people that time is flying by.  As mentioned previously, Diane & the kids were up from Maryland.  Then my dear friend Mary flew out from Idaho, so Marsha & I picked her up at the airport.  Then Russell, Marsha, Mary & her mom Frannie and another SHS friend, Lynn, & I had lunch at Taverna that week.  The following week my friend Karen came down from Maine and we met up in Plymouth.  Then my stepson & his girlfriend drove out from Ohio, and another Deadhead friend of mine, Lianne, was down on the Cape for a week so we got together too!

My mom also had visitors for a couple of weeks:  Her friend Grace, who she met in First Grade in the early 30s, and their friend Betty with whom they worked in NYC in the 40s.  Left to right:  Betty, mom, Grace's daughter Maureen and Grace.

So pleasantly surprised to see this brand of cherries at the local Stop & Shop.  Eastern Washington has the best apples, cherries, onions.

One day I came back from my errands and saw a large pawprint on my new chair!  Really?  REALLY?  2 beds, a couch and a crate, and Sagan sits in my new chair?!  So I started doing this when I leave the house for any extended period of time.

And when I come home, it looks like this.

Now he's just being brazen about it, sitting there when I'm home!  "Iz on yer chair, doin yer crafts!! Just keepin it warm for you mama!"

The Psychedelic Cupcake Factory was at it again!  This time Val & I used the new set of food dyes I just picked up.  We went with red, purple, black, blue and green.  

Black & red!!! OMG!

We did the cupcake whoopie pies again.  I love the patterns inside each one!

Good god I need sunglasses.

Yum.

'Oh HAI!  Whatcha doin'?'

Oh yeah, we finally decided that the time had come to say goodbye to an old friend.  Russell's poor old truck that has sat in the yard undriven for nearly two years now.  He used it a few times when we first moved in, when we were emptying out his storage unit.  Last time we were in it, the brakes went out as we entered the Buzzards Bay rotary.  Thankfully there was no traffic but it was a hairy ride home, that last mile or so.  To be honest, I was sad to see it go! But alas, it was time.  We didn't want to sink anymore money into it to fix it and it couldn't sit there & rust indefinitely, so it was carted off by a junk car buyer.

Beautiful first quarter moon....although I've always called this a half moon.

My 'little' love bug with his love bug toy.  He's starting to get grey on his muzzle.  I still refer to him as 'puppy' though.  It's so endearing when he's running around with this, or any stuffy, in his mouth!!!  

And I leave you with one more pic cause it's just so darn adorable.  My stepson Jeff, his fiancee' Casi and my sweet Bear, all smiles like the proud papa he is.

Russell was on the road but I took them to lunch the day before they left.

It occurred to me a few days ago that I've probably socialized & gone sightseeing more in the last 2-3 months than I did in all my years in Washington....or at least in the last 6 years I lived there.  It really is great to be back!