TToT – Beautiful Summer Days

July 26, 2014 Off By Lisa

This week just felt like summer.

We had a great lunch at an old favorite hot dog place early this week. While of course you can have a hot dog any time you feel so moved, there is something about this place that goes with summer. Maybe it’s because we always got their take-home doggie packs for summer cookouts at my Grandparents’ house. Anyway, while enjoying our hot dog lunch and a bit of a nostalgic stroll down Memory Lane, we got to witness people being human to one another. Kind, even. It was a great experience all around. Check out the story here for more on that.

We made more progress on our Great Clean and Purge Project. The final update is coming in the next few days along with a little bit about why this has been such a big deal for us. So for those who have been following along (or anyone who wants to know), check in Monday or Tuesday for that.

We went on a short hiking trip last weekend and got to see some wonderful things. It’s difficult to say which was the greater thing to see: our pretty close encounter with a pair of what we are pretty certain were golden eagles or butterflies that seemed to follow Kidzilla everywhere. In either case, we grabbed some great photos and memories along the way and it was a great trip. I’m glad (and I’m sure my family is thankful) that I managed to get over my less-than-positive mood about the whole thing at the outset and enjoy the day. Take a look…

Resized Bake Oven Knob

Resized Butterfly

20140719_115833

20140719_115833_CloseBird Crop

Can you see that bird in the photo above? It was so cool seeing him glide right past us. There were actually a couple of moments where those birds were even closer to us than what you see in the photos…but in those moments, all you can do is just kind of stare, open-mouthed, and wonder how it’s possible that you’re that close to something that amazing.

The Fab Hub is thankful (and perhaps gloating a bit) that he has managed to drop a couple of pounds again this week for a summer total of seventeen pounds. I am still stuck emphatically at twelve. I’ll just be thankful to have maintained that. And I really am thankful that he’s so excited about his loss and taking better care of himself.

Friday afternoon was perfect. I mean perfect – temps in the upper 70s, low humidity, plenty of brilliant sunshine. And so – because we could and why not – we took off for our regular and favorite hiking spot. Way worth the trip. The trails were very sparsely populated so we had the place nearly all to ourselves. We took a quick trip to the easy lookouts and were rewarded with a raptor sighting once again. This time, we got to watch a family of black vultures flying above the ridge across the valley in front of us. No photos this time – they were much too far away and we were busy spying on them through our binoculars. One did cross the valley and do a fly-by directly overhead. Fantastic. We poked around, checked out a few animal hollows in the trees, took tons of photos, and even grabbed a shot of a grasshopper who was also taking in the view.

20140725_172314

Close Grasshopper HM July 25 2014

After our visit to the mountain, we stopped at our CSA farm for the week’s fresh vegetable pickup. While there, we got to hit the self-pick gardens for green beans, cherry tomatoes, and fresh flowers. We brought home a rainbow this week!

20140725_213415[1] 20140725_213405[1] 20140726_155028[1]

After our long and lazy afternoon in the sun on Friday, we came home for long showers (always a great thing), got into our pajamas, ate some dinner, and set up the living room for a family movie night. We moved the chairs into a row and the Hub set up a screen so we could watch Rio. We sat with the lights off and the windows open, enjoying the evening air. I could hear (and smell) someone having a backyard party nearby. As the night grew deep, the sky turned black and I could see every star perfectly.

I’m calling that ten. And if it’s not, I’ll bribe the Guard Virgins with some farm fresh veggies. The Secret Book Rules/Book of Secret Rules suggests that they are happy to show leniency in such cases.

What have you been doing with your summer days? What moments of thankfulness have you enjoyed this week? Share ’em or link ’em!

Happy weekend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten Things of Thankful