Summer's Coming

Hot weather is here (it got to 106 today) and our huge cactus 

(taller than the house!) is blooming.  

It blooms only in the deepest night, 

and it's sneaky about when it's going to burst forth; 

we've never seen the flower, sadly.

It blooms many many times throughout the summer;

maybe we'll finally get a chance to see the flower sometime soon!

I came home the other evening and this was the view
from the side of our house.
Can you see the sliver moon?




There he is!
The clouds were a beautiful peach color.

Greg did something WONDERFUL and kind yesterday!

On Friday I did some batch cooking.  The pots soaked over night.
While I was cleaning them Saturday, I noticed that one of our non-stick pots
was a little bit roughed up on the inside bottom.
I mentioned how much I love cooking with our RevereWare cook ware
that Greg bought when he lived in Albuquerque before we were married.
It's stainless steel and I find it very durable and easy to use.

Greg went to THREE different Goodwill stores yesterday on the
way home from church and found me a huge pot (8 quarts!) and a huge pan (12.5"!),
both RevereWare, both in fabulous shape.  I got presents
and I will be using them multiple times per week.
Hooray!
Aren't they pretty?

This one had LP written on the underside, but

I think I'll change it to CP (me) or GP (Greg).

 The cats are funny in the summer.  They don't particularly like
the air conditioning blowing on them from above,
And when it's warm, they stretch way way out.
Like they're liquid.

Most of the time, it's a comfortable temperature, so they are
average size and texture.

Claude chooses interesting platforms.

A laptop:

The dining room table
(pushing the weekly budgeting money on the floor!)

Allistair sometimes sits like a little gentleman:

And he always helps me do yoga and my ballet stretching:

Both Allistair and Juvy like to gather their favorite toys

when I'm not around.

Allistair picks Wanda, his whale,

and Juvy always chooses mousies. While I was in the shower, she

gathered TWO on the bed!

Ankle Update:

I am finally full-time in the smaller ankle brace and my ankle
is doing quite well (even after a busy Sunday in the classroom with lots
of walking and moving around).

The Podiatrist told me that the bone fracture is almost healed.
The lingering soreness is from two lateral tendons and the front ligaments,
all of which got damaged.
I need physical therapy to help decrease the remaining swelling,
increase range of motion, and build up strength.

Now that I know it's okay that it aches and shoots ouchies sometimes,
I've been doing almost everything I want to do (no hiking - too hot now - no running)
and I believe the soreness is GOOD.
Today I did a regular yoga routine without the brace
and I was surprised that I could not actually get all the way into some poses
(triangle) because my ankle can't get to that angle yet.
I'll keep practicing!


I haven't done much shopping lately, but I did snap up two pairs
of vintage earrings that have been on my Etsy list
because they recently went on sale!

I don't have tons of pairs of earrings because I can only wear
gold.  I'm not complaining because I love gold!
I have slowly assembled a lovely batch of earrings I love;
I consider myself a collector.

These are cute double dangle hoops.



And these are also dangle hoops, but they
hang from a little engraved leaf.  Very cute!

This pair came from a woman whose Dad owned a jewelry store in the 70s.
The store eventually shut down, but not all the jewelry was sold,
His daughter eventually was selling the unused, but new, stuff.
Isn't that a cool story?

I decided I wanted to update our guest bathroom with a bit more
CHEER ("cheerful" is my goal lately!)

My new shower curtain and bath mat!

Here is everything all assembled!

I moved this doily (made by my dear Grandma)

into this bathroom from the master bathroom

because it works better with the lighter colors.

I LOVE how it turned out with minimal effort!