Times Have Changed

I hadn't been to the little strip of shops in years, but just pulling into the parking lot and looking for an elusive spot brought back lots of memories of lots of time spent there. The first Thai restaurant in town used to be there, so was the Village Bistro, and Rays the Steak house. All of that is gone, each establishment turned over at least two or three times since I had last patronized the strip.

Today there was a very long line out the door of the new Greek place. (Who knew June 28 was dollar gyro day? A lot of folks, evidently.) And the coffee shop looked crowded, too, but we were there for Pho. My nephew has just returned from a month in Europe and he invited us to lunch. It was fun hearing about his travels and catching up, and the soup was delicious, quite possibly the best in town.

And when we were done? Riley picked up the check.

Old Friend

I got up without an alarm, made coffee, took the dogs for a walk, went to the garden, and then out to lunch and a movie.

Hi Summer! I do remember you!

Round Two Tomorrow

The rain has kept me from my garden these last weeks, but I haven't worried a bit-- with that rain and these warm days and all this summer light, I was confident that my little plants were thriving without me. And so I was excited to see their progress when I finally headed up to our plot early this morning to add a few more flowers and tomatoes and a couple of peanut plants.

But when I arrived I confess to being more than a little dismayed, for how I could I forget that the same ingredients that allowed my vegetables to double in size allowed their weedy brethren equal opportunity?

My plants?
Were fine.

The weeds?
Were better.

Two hours later?
It was a fair fight.

As Summer Does

Around here summer means movies and food experiments, and we kicked off our first full week of vacation by walking down to meet Josh for the new Star Wars film and then grabbing some ramen afterwards. The experimentation came in the form of the assortment of mug cake mixes we impulsively purchased on a quick stop at the grocery store after dinner. It was an iconic evening made even more so by all the fireflies blinking our way home. 

Portmanteau

I was feeling a bit restless this afternoon. "Let's do something!" I said, but I wasn't sure what that might be. After a while we decided to go over to National Harbor and walk around the shops and waterfront. And so we did.

When we first arrived it was sprinkling, so we strolled through the atrium of the Gaylord resort. When the rain blew over, we stepped out past the pool and down to the riverwalk. It was fun to people-watch as we went. Passing a small group of tourists leaning into an unusual-looking plant I overheard one of them say, "It smells pugnant! Just pugnant! Strong and stinky!"

I laughed at how appropriate his error was; it sounded like the plant's odor was repugnantly pungent.

Urban Hike

When it came time to take that cute little Beckett back from his puppysitting we decided to walk. His house is probably a mile as the crow flies, but with a wooded park and two school campuses between us, the crow's flight plan was not a possibility. So, we zigzagged on streets and paths and sidewalks and up and down hills and even cut across a few fields to find the most direct route to that distant neighborhood, braving mosquitoes and a dead rat or two. It wasn't quite as beautiful as the hikes we usually take, but it was good to be outside and going somewhere.

Nothin's Worrying Me

And on the second day of summer...

it rained!
and rained
and rained
and rained
and rained.

But who cares?