But first:
For the fourth, we went down to Tyler's place. Everyone joined us except Katie and BoopityBoop, who were visiting friends out of state. The weather was hot and beautiful. Friends of Ty and Megan's also joined us; there was plenty of food, drink, fun, games and fireworks.
Jay and I rarely stay for fireworks at Ty's house. It's a ton of fun when we do but we're old and driving home at 11:00 after a long day in the sun isn't a great idea. Maybe next year, we'll pack a bag and spend the night. But maybe not. We're very fortunately located and by sitting on our own front hill, we have a pretty good view of the fireworks that go up three miles away in the suburb that butts up against Minneapolis's southwestern edge. If we walked three blocks to a highway overpass, I think we'd have a great view of both Edina and Richfield's fireworks.
Oh, there weren't any official fireworks in Mpls this year. Because it's stupidville.
In addition to the municipal fireworks displays we can see from our front yard, the park in front of us has been the favorite staging ground for neighborhood enthusiasts. We watched at least 4 different parties set off their own magnificent displays until around 11:oo pm. No worries about police interference because the existing remnant of a PD that we still have doesn't bother itself with any offense less than a shooting and even then, there really have to be multiple victims before the cops will risk themselves. I don't even blame them: Mpls has a disgraceful record of badly training our cops and then throwing them under the bus the second things go sideways. The head of our policeman's union was vilified for even suggesting that Derek Chauvin was innocent until proven guilty of the murder of G. Floyd. All this begs the question: Who would even want to be a cop in Minneapolis? The answer is: No one you'd feel comfortable giving a gun and a badge.
This is the result of 60 years of unbroken governance of the DFL*
After the fourth, I think I got some work done, including painting, sewing, gardening and even making a few rosaries between hanging out with #6. She's still not walking but is on the verge of taking those first unaided steps. She just had her 9 month check up and is in the 97% for both height and weight. She's big, strong, smart and gorgeous! I went for lunch with my Mom without her and all the old folks at the senior living place were disappointed not getting their baby fix for the week. #6 always acts like visiting royalty when I take her there because that's how the residents treat her.
The last seven days have been particularly active for a lazy old hermit like me. One day, I took #6 to visit my Mom, the next day my sister had a ladies night out, which was very fun! I think there were 7 of us, out on the deck under the twinkle lights, eating cheese and crackers, drinking wine, laughing and telling menopause jokes. We ARE menopause jokes.
Personally, I think menopause is proof that God Loves Women Most. So you get fat and your skin dries up? Totally worth it compared to all the crap you no longer have to think about. Of course, I got through it pretty easily, so I guess I'm lucky. As my doctor said at my last physical "You're just remarkably healthy."
So far, so good but even I know that can't last forever. After all, in May I had to get my first filling, ever. Yes. 63 years without a cavity. Had to set that clock back to 0.
Thursday evening, Jay and I went on a paddleboat ride on lake Minnetonka with a group of people who attend the early morning Mass at Basilica. Jay goes often, I tag along occasionally and since it's a small group, they've all become friends. It's a terrific group! The evening was perfect: Low 80s, slight breeze, a few clouds...absolutely perfect to watch the sunset on the lake! Everyone brought food and drinks. I brought a tub of chocolate chip cookies. I also brought a rosary for the gal who organized the outing and for the priest who is part of the group. He said "Oh, a rosary? I was hoping it was a Swifty Friendship bracelet!" (Taylor had taken downtown by storm the weekend before) I'll have to make him one of those. Afterwards, as we were getting into our cars and heading for home, clouds came over the horizon and poured rain on everything! Just what we needed!
Friday, we walked around the lake with some friends from out of town, then took them to lunch at Bunny's. It was hot, sunny and gorgeous and we had a great time. Then, in the early evening, Katie dropped BoopityBoop at my house so she and Josie could go to a music festival downtown. The girls and I were out in the back watering flowers when it thundered! We ran inside and the rains came down again! If we could have a solid week of that, it would be a very good thing. It didn't rain for too long. Jay brought the girls dinner from McDonalds, then I took them to the park to play on the merry-g0-round that still stands in the playground the city hasn't ruined yet. That's always been their favorite thing down there, so they don't even care that the entire other playground has been rendered unplayable.
Saturday morning, I attended the funeral of the mother of a gal who has been a friend since 3rd grade. I can't count high enough to say how many years ago that was. Her mom was a pilar of the parish and an absolutely lovely woman. As she had been a friend of my mom's, I picked Mom up and we went to the funeral together. I got to see a handful of the girls I've known since early childhood. We all laughed about how we've all turned into old grandmas. One gal, who is still insanely gorgeous, told me she was scheduled for both a hip and a knee replacement in the fall "Because I'm elderly!" We both laughed because as hard as it is to believe, we know it's true.
After the funeral luncheon, I dropped Mom at her place and headed home to bake yet another batch of cookies. I had three hours before heading to yet another party.
Three of my kids were hosting a family wide Parrot Head Party at Katie's house. All the invitees are fellow parrotheads and were to tex Zach their 3 favorite Buffett songs by Thursday so he could curate a playlist.
Back in the 80s, when my brother Joe became a naval aviator, he sent Buffett cassettes to the rest of us from Pensacola Florida, where he did his training. He infected the entire family, from Mom and Dad down to Zach, who was still in the womb, with Caribbean soul. By the time Joe got his wings, in June of '89, we were all Parrotheads. I remember a caravan of us driving the streets of Pensacola Beach, singing Volcano at the top of our lungs. Zach was born the following September and I think he already knew the lyrics to Cheeseburger in Paradise and Home Made Music.
So, yeah, when we get an invite that says "Buffett Party", we know how to dress.
In fact, at the ladies night party on Wednesday, I was wearing one of my new outfits. I'd bought the fuchsia pink pants, which have watercolor slashes of pink, peach, chartreuse green and aqua blue palm trees all over them, then made tops to go with them. I can do three or four different outfits based on those pants. Halfway through the evening, my niece asked if I was going to wear that outfit to the Buffett party and I said "No, I've got something even better!"
While I was learning to sew, I found a length of fabric I'd bought at least 20 years ago and never used. So, I used it as my practice dress before setting to work on the blue linen dress I wore to the Arboretum Gala. It took a while but eventually I got the practice dress tailored to be what I want. When I showed the fabric to Jay, he said it looked like drapes. He's right.
I was making rosaries last weekend and I came up with two that were so funky and colorful I decided to use the same combinations in necklaces to wear with this dress.
The Buffett party was a blast. Earlier in the day, the kids who hosted played in their own offshoot of the gold tournament formerly known as the Hubbell Open but which is now the John G. Hubbell Memorial Invitational. They call their tournament the Loppian. Because none of them golf so they're very bad at it. They play 9 holes at a public course here in town, have a blast and they designed it to be a very difficult tourney to win.
There was an award ceremony that included an original poem by Zach.
Lops Lament.
To those who lop
To those that dare
To those who fall
As gawkers stare
This be the tournament
For those like this
Who swing strong and true
But still they miss.
You need not be the best
Nor be the worst
For those who finish second
Come in First!
Having the lowest score is so...PGA. And it's way too easy to sandbag if all you have to do to win is hit the most strokes.
Genius!!
It was really hard to come up with my 3 favorite Buffett tunes. I gave Zach the first three that popped into my head: La Vie Dansant, One Particular Harbor and Sea of Heartbreak not so much because they're my three favorites but because I love them all and they popped into my head and I knew that the longer I thought about it, the harder it would be to choose three. All night long, songs kept popping up that made me go "OH! I love this one!"
Zach also put together a very fun Buffett trivia game that was not so much about Buffett as song lyrics. Sample questions: What instrument did Billy Voltaire play? What time is it somewhere? On what street is a woman going crazy? Who was onboard the plane with Jimmy when Jamaica made a mistaka?" and my favorite: What Religious leader shares a birthday with Jimmy?
I actual thought to myself; "Ghandi was born on Christmas?" as my niece, screamed "JESUS!" to win the point.
yeah, I can be really stupid.
I have yet another party to go to tonight. It will be very fun and I'm looking forward to it as I will get to see a lot of folks I haven't seen since Christmas. WE're having dinner down by the river...I'm not sure what I'll wear yet.
Before I run out of time, here are the pictures of the flowers I took today: