Saturday, In the Park....

.....I think it was the Fourth of July...."

Well, this year, the Fourth of July really IS on a Saturday and I'm already looking forward to it! I'm not sure why, but the Fourth has always been one of my favorite holidays. Hmmm....but Christmas is my first favorite...and then my birthday, LOL. And there's Easter, and New Year's Eve, and Thanksgiving.....well, I DO love holidays!

I have my menu pretty well set. Not that anything is really going on here. It's going to be at LEAST 108 (you can just bet if they're forecasting it to be that hot, it's going to be several degrees over that) that day, so obviously we won't be picnicing.

My friend Mel will be here with us with Max's little sissiepie, PieLinda (we call her that after the "flying Wallendas" b/c she has a tendency to leap from one piece of furniture to the arm of another, the little munchkin!), so it will just be the 3 humans and 3 dogs. I have a huge menu planned of course, LOL.

So, now I'm trying to figure out something fun to do during the day. Board games are OUT. I'm thinking maybe a flick at the theater, early. And I think I'm going to get the dogs a little swimming pool and see how they like it. I saw a really cute kids pool that has a blowup palm tree that you attach the hose to and it drips water into the pool. If I were a dog, I'd love that!

I wish they'd get that poor Michael Jackson buried already. I hate to sound callous, but don't you think when you focus on all the sadness and details of his life that it makes things seem so bleak? And the world is bleak enough right now!

And it seems like there's a rash of deaths in Hwood this last week or so...some untimely and others past their due date. Karl Malden was the latest (that I know of). I LOVED him in Streets of San Francisco! But gosh, he was 97! It just doesn't seem possible that so much time has passed and he could be that age!

I'm getting excited; speaking of SF. We're going! Taking a little trip home and I can't wait (but dread the period leading up to it....getting the cat and birds squared away before I leave (meaning CLEANING the cat's room which of course, is a disaster and stocking up on food for her and those damned birds. I swear, they'll never die. I had a dove who was so decrepit and psychotic and it must have been at least 12 years old...at LEAST. I can understand a parrot living that long, but a dove? And of course, I need to get hold of a pet sitter. I have one actually, I just need to call and give her the dates. Or at least, I hope she's still in the desert!
Only a week away from the heat of the desert, but it will be good for me and the dogs and Mel is coming with us, and she's never met my mom or a few of my friends, so it should be fun.

Anyway, it's a lovely day here albeit, hot. Yesterday it actually sprinkled a bit. Mel and I met at the new produce stand (store)....oh hallelujah! REAL produce at a decent price! Beautiful, huge heads of locally grown lettuces and pineapple that smelled so sweet. And heads of garlic that weren't microscopic or all squishy or weird shapes. You know when you want to roast garlic just to spread? And you don't want some stupid looking or misshapen head to put on a platter? I'm sorry; I like my roasted garlic to be nice and round so it looks nice when you present it. I Know.....weird. Anyway....

After we picked up a few things and scoped the entire store out (I'll be going back tomorrow to get what we need for the Fourth) we ducked over to the Elephant Bar for their Happy Hour (just luck) and had a few appetizers and a glass of wine. Which sufficed for dinner. It was a nice afternoon.

Which makes me think; do you ever make plans but they aren't exactly concrete with a friend. And then you kind of get involved in your day and are just winding down, ready to do what you normally do every evening and they call with your original plan that got delayed? That's the situation yesterday. I had called and said I'd be ready by 3 pm but I didn't hear back from her (my fault, somehow I missed her voicemail saying we'd meet between 3 and 3:30), so I was sort of just ready to get reading my latest book and when she called, I thought "Oh darn, I don't feel like getting all cleaned up to go out", but I decided since I'd told her I would, I should. So I did.

And then you have the BEST time? It's unusual for me to go out in the evening except on the weekend with dh, so I need to remember that having fun and not feeling so uber-responsible all the time is a GOOD thing!
Nightingale out.