Birthday, Lord Huron, and lots of veggies

 

Another year around the sun.

It's my birthday month!

Got this great new artwork for the bathroom.

🐸

It's called fashion. Look it up.

A little crocheted opossum in one of those tiny buckets you

can get from Lowe's. 

I got the little opossum from someone at the farmer's market.

Feral girl summer and all.

Another show done for the year.

A week at a local Presbyterian church for their musical

production of Tuck Everlasting.

Got to use the bass clarinet outside of a Clarinet Christmas setting.

And my second time performing this show.

Not a flawless show, but the music is pretty good with a decent message.

Live your life while you have one.

We don't live forever, nor should you want to.

Bird at a computer.

She's just itching to chew all of the keys off.

This building had a fire several years ago.

You can still see the soot marks beneath the windows.

Took the long July 4th weekend to watch a long movie.

Lawrence of Arabia

Really good movie, but it's almost three hours long,

so had to set aside the time to watch it.

it's summertime at Screaming Pines.

Sandals and sunglasses all over the place.

Made some tasty salad with pickled beets and goat cheese (or bleu cheese)

with a balsamic vinegar dressing.

Tried to replicate a salad I had a restaurant I really liked.

My version turned out pretty good.

Getting to the pool for noon lap swim most Saturdays and a lot of Sundays.

The outside swimming season is so short, I've been really trying to take advantage of it.

Took the afternoon off for my birthday.

Lunch at one of my favorite restaurants that I don't 

go to very often.

Followed by an ice cream cone from the ice cream shop down the street.

Goat cheese and cherry in a waffle cone. yum

Took my ice cream to the park and enjoyed the nice day.

If you can't wear sparkly sandals on your birthday, when can you wear them?

Alejandro modeling the pea pod backpack.

It was a birthday gift.

now that the house work is done, I can get back to the gym.

Training for upcoming races and my vacation.

The Ecuador itinerary has a 17KM hike listed.

Seventeen. Not seven. That's a long hike.

Need to get into shape for my vacay hike.

I also ordered an inexpensive set of trekking poles for this hike.

Hopefully to take some stress off of knees and back while 

walking around a volcano all day.

Laid out some fresh mulch.

the new flowers are settling in.

I think these are dahlias.

Bulbs I planted and then forgot about because I thought they

were duds. The didn't come up right away, but are popping up now.

Finally got the new phone situation worked out,

after three weeks of US Cellular/T-Mobile nonsense.

Had to order a new case, which arrived just as the old

one decided that it was time to explode. 

Another adventure in my habit of using things until they fall apart.

 A longtime favorite history author, Thomas Cahill.

I've had this book on the shelf for a lot of years, and have at last

gotten around to reading this one. I have a couple other of his

Hinges of History books left to get through.

I read his Medieval book earlier this year, and next I might tackle the Greek history book.

Would be a good target for the rest of the year to finish reading them.

I eat so well in the summer months.

All the fresh veggies and salads.

Subbing in on alto sax with the Rock Falls with the Rock River Jazz Band.

Not a bad night for a field trip to play some jazz tunes on the riverside.

Testing out the new camera phone.

Daddio, Momster, me and nephew.

Sunday visit. They wanted to see the new porch railings.

Another test shot.

Camera is pretty good on the new phone.

More salad.

I added some faux spicy chickn nuggets, but forgot to

take a picture until after I'd eaten most of it.

Very tasty.

On their visit, Momster and Daddio brought up a

huge bag of green beans and a bunch of cucumbers.

I froze most of the green beans to use later,

and with the cucumbers I made a crunchy, refreshing cucumber salad.

I just recently finished off the huge batch. Eating it at lunch for the past

week or so. It was a big bowl of salad. 

And cucumbers are mostly water, so very hydrating.

Had a wonderful, lazy Saturday afternoon with a 

gentleman friend. Took a walk around Credit Island, had some

lunch, and then relaxed at the house for a while before he

had to leave.

then, after he left, I headed out to another park for some Shakespeare.

Pool time!

A common sight lately.

Drying things in the bathtub.

Or out on the porch railing.

Hit the road Sunday afternoon and ended up in Newton.

Short stop at the hotel with some Culver's fish dinner and

trashy TV before heading out again to Waukee, Iowa.

I had a ticket to the Lord Huron concert!

I've been trying to see this band for years.

I fell in love with them shortly after moving into the house,

even though they've been around since about 2012.

I discovered them by accident, by hearing a song on someone

else's playlist at work.

After finding out who the band was, I

dove in and became a full-fledged fan.

I tried to catch them at Summerfest the year they were there

when Tammi and I went to the DMB show, but their set ended

just as I got to the stage after DMB ended.

So, I put them on my mental list and watched for 

opportunities to come my way.

Not a bad place to catch a band.

I planted myself near one of the posts, in front of a rather tall fellow.

i go into most concerts without many expectations.

The band will play the set they want to play.

I've been a bit spoiled with DMB's constantly changing setlists and

nearly three hour shows though.

Not all bands work that way.

Still, Lord Huron played for about an hour and a half.

and it was a great set, with lots of my favorite songs.

For those unfamiliar with this amazing band you've never heard of,

Lord Huron is a folk/rock/country band with a cinematic vibe and a supernatural twist.

Four core band members, with a few additional musicians for touring.

Great musicianship, and a polished show.

Frontman and songwriter, Ben Schneider.

Lord Huron is named after Lake Huron, where Schneider

spent summers when he was younger.

I appreciate the Midwestern roots.

Good use of interesting visuals and extended stage props.

The phone booth had a camera to project him onto the screen.

Lost in time and space

meet me in the frozen pines

World Ender, baby

I'm not seeing Dave this summer (Dave Matthews Band)

but this was a great substitute. 

I got a tour T-shirt and poster, which happened to be signed.

Bonus!

The next morning, after the obligatory waffle at the hotel breakfast, I

packed up and headed back out onto the road for home.

And then got caught in a huge rainstorm that dumped

a ton of water on Southeast Iowa.

I was stopped in at the World' Largest TruckStop in

Walcott, and was then caught in the world's largest rainstorm.

After waiting a bit, hoping it would let up (it didn't really), I made a run

for the car and still ended up a bit soggy.

Geneseo Big Band.

An annual tradition.

Who else is going to play all these Sammy Nestico charts?!

A kind gesture from the president of the Catfish Jazz Society.

Lovely flowers from her garden.

i got some flowers myself at the Trader Joe's stop on the way home from Waukee.

Of course I stopped at Trader Joe's. Do you even know me by now?!

I like having flowers around the house sometimes.

Bix7 training.

Foam rolling the tension away.

My fascia says thank you.

Ready for my 17th running of the Bix7.

clothes ready, shoes and socks, bib number.

The next day, I was asked to play with the 
Locust Street Boys for a Bix Jazz church service.

I'll play another jazz service next Sunday.

Tis the season.

Cold pool feels good on a hot day.

This is an apple soda.

It's exactly what I expected and exactly what I wanted.

Very refreshing and delicious.

Heading into August.

Planning more pool time, Floatzilla and sweet corn,

and finalizing plans for my vacation trip coming up in September.

Stay hydrated and wear your SPF.

🌞🌞🌞