success!

this is, i believe, the first zucchini plant i've ever had which was reluctant to grow. after giving it extra fertilizer, water and tlc... ta da... behold my success! and it looks like there will be more. that will depend a lot on how long summer stays around. some might think this a small and insignificant success, but ya gotta gather up those successes wherever you can and however small!

and the dragonfly photos could fall in that small success category, too.... it's the first orange-y red one i've ever seen and it took me 25 shots to finally get 3 that were acceptable. and the sweet thing kept flying away, then coming right back to assume another pose, like she knew i was having trouble getting the focus etc right, and was trying to help me out. they are magical, you know......

Meika

a month ago Meika had her 10th birthday! and it passed with no fanfare... so here and now i will acknowledge that she's 70 in dog years... so for a bit longer i will be older than she is! congratulations, Meika!! pretty soon you'll be older than dirt also! she really is a love of a dog! some "official" dog page that i looked at said that Siberian Huskies usually live to about 8 years... she's going strong, seems perfectly healthy and loves her 3 mile daily walk! spends the remainder of the day sacked out on her pillow, as she's done for years. happy birthday, Meika!

in the garden

the ladybugs may have flown away (home?), but there's a preying mantis prowling the garden! looks like she's headed for that tiny white worm on the leaf in front of her!

she casts a frightening shadow.... at least i'd be pretty scared if i were a bug!

the first bloomin' sunflower of the year.

the nursery lady said this is an amaranth. it looks like something from Dr. Seuss to me. it's too shiny and neon for my camera to capture well.

miscellaneous

posting to my calendar 2 upcoming shows on my favorite news programs: on monday the 23rd, Jon Stewart will have Rod Blogojevich as his special guest... now THAT will be worth watching! and on Sept. 8 and 9, Stephen Colbert says: The Colbert Report announces its celebration of our troops service and sacrifice, "Been There: Won That: The Return of the American-Do Troopscape" for September 8 and 9, featuring an audience made up of veterans and active military and guests Joe Biden, General Ray Odierno and more. Read more about it on the Indecision blog.

it's hard to believe the combat troops... the last of them... have been withdrawn from Iraq... today! which means the war is OVER. how much did you hear about this today? it is really an important event and day to celebrate! i only wish that all the troops were coming home now!!!

Robin left this morning to go back to TN... sure do wish she could get out of there and that's her fond wish also. eventually she'll make the move back to the PNW.

Kate and kids are in Australia for another week or so, then on to NZ. her photos and travel stories on her blog look like a fabulous adventure... and tweak my travel itch a bit. we won't be doing a big trip again til spring... easter in Crete again. bravo! i'm truly enjoying being home and not working on plans for being away. have even started diving into the storage room in the basement which we filled when we thought we'd sell the queendom and move north. i found several things i'd been wanting... the quilt that my great grandmother made for me when i was 2 yrs. old... it's really tattered and worn, but it is after all an antique at this point. not quite sure what to do with it, but might put it in a frame with the inscription she sewed on it showing prominently. it says "made for Sandra Lee by her great grandmother, Emma Miller, Dec. 13, '40"... sweet.

also found the report from the Genographic Project which found out from my DNA (swab from inside my cheek) that i'm part of Haplogroup K which migrated from Africa up into Europe along what is now the east side of the Black Sea and up into the Scandinavian area. it says "tests have revealed that Otzi, the 5,200 year old remains of a copper age man frozen in an alpine glacier, belongs to haplogroup K". so, i guess it would be hard for me to claim any Greek heritage.....humph.

the projects for the next week or so involve painting. i found a really sweet little chair at an "antique" store that i'm going to paint multi-colors.... stripes and dots and flowers and vines and stuff. chair goes in the guest bedroom

and i might also paint the old sewing machine table that's already in there. and there's an old school desk that might get the same sort of treatment. haven't been doing much spinning or knitting because of the shoulder pain. (and, no, Terry... they didn't squeeze the wrong part. as part of the efforts to get all bits of the mamms grammed, my arm had to be held as far behind my back as i could get it... that's when the hurt to the rotator cuff happened). i 'spose it's part of the "golden years" thing...

lunch again

since Robin arrived last week from TN i've had more lunches out than i'd had in the last 6 months! and i'm not complaining!! today we met Judy, Jen, Maggie and the kids at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, which is located in the hills of SW Portland, at their Hands On Cafe. they serve a limited selection (3 choices today) of lunches of really delicious food. i chose the mid-eastern meatballs... 3 huge meatballs covered with tzatziki, couscous w/lentils, greek salad, green salad, bread and loved every bit of it! it's really a lovely campus spread out among old trees and gentle hills.... and the art/sales gallery is well-worth the time to browse!

and on monday Robin and i had a double featured movie day... went to a matinee of "Eat, Pray, Love". what a sweet movie that was! and nary a male type person in the place. our lunch was a huge tub-o-popcorn (with LOTS of butter). was 100F that day, so we hustled on home, had dinner and watched "Alice In Wonderland" (sigh... Johnny Depp). truthfully, Robin watched the movie and i laid down on the sofa with my ice therapy on my shoulder (injured rotator cuff)

and promptly went to sleep. hard as it is to believe, the injury came when i had a mammogram in march. don't even try to imagine.....

family summer hummer

our pretty much annual family and friends summer hummer was special because Robin could be here from TN and Dinah could come from Seattle, though it wasn't a weekend date that worked out for everyone... but everwho could be here for the humming was here. the name of the event actually goes way way back to a celebration of the birth of our first baby llama, Bandit... and it was named "hummer" because llamas communicate with hums. over the years it has been a huge party of around 100 people feasting on spit-roasted lamb to smaller events of mainly just family. whatever the size, it's always been celebrated with great exuberance, good food, and wine!! top photo is Pop and long-time part of extended family, Sarah.

my beautiful, talented, intelligent and spirited Gr.nieces, Maisy and Jordan.

7yr. old Max and i were in the kitchen and he was kind of walking around in circles with a serious look on his face, and finally told me he was embarrassed and feeling really shy. when asked "why?", he pointed into the living room and said "I like that one"... my niece, his cousin... Amy who is 21 and seems to be a kid magnet! i gave him a piece of candy and told him to give it to her and say he wants to sit by her.... that's all he needed in the way of encouragement!! and he hunkered in beside her for quite awhile!

Keith, Jim and Dave. how sweet it was to see Dave looking so happy and carefree!!

Dinah getting busy in the kitchen!

Cheryl and her sweet dog... the white house has one just like this....

sweet

this fawn was in my yard this morning with her mom. she does seem to be a bit big to still have her spots...