July in Brief Review

July is drawing to a close.

Another busy month.

We went to the 4th of July Parade on the 2nd of July. Leo enjoys parades. We went with Zelda and Travis and their family. Sat in the shade. Parked too far away (assuming it would be as crazy as St. Pat's Parade, but it was not). Below, our neighborhood babysitter who will too soon be all grown up and not our babysitter, is waving on a float:


Basil Lemonade and homegrown carrot snack while I did some sewing:
Trip to Powder Valley with Miss Bridget, on the most humid day in my lifetime:

And we went to the Botanical Gardens to look at treehouses, none of which were actually off the ground. Strange. But flowers. And fun.



I should submit this one above to Awkward Family Photos. Leo in the background all creepy like that. And below, Leo lost amongst the iris.

I did a lot of cooking. Mike and I have challenged each other to not eat out until mid-September (after he was gone for 2 months and I kept grabbing stuff to-go and he had to eat meals out and we're both just tired of it). I learned how to make paneer. I love the internet. Paneer is a farmers cheese. More on my other blog, the one about urban homesteading or whatever you want to call it. Here is an entirely homemade Indian meal: saag paneer, butter chicken, some sort of aloo (potato) dish, naan. Everyone was happy. Which is rare.It was Sophia's birthday this month as well. Ten. Wow. She had a friend party and cheesecake with the family. I made the cheesecake, my first attempt. And it was pretty durned good.


I played a night of mah jongg. Girls went to horse camp and circus camp. We went to Cairo for the 4th of July weekend (Saturday night through Monday afternoon, post-Saturday parade). I watched some Law and Order. Mike didn't travel anywhere. Sophia went to our school's feis and didn't do so hot. She kind of knew, getting off stage, that she hadn't done so hot. So there will be other chances. But we did start looking and thinking about a solo dress. This will be a very slow process.

Mike and I celebrated 15 years of marriage by not being struck by lightning.

I sat in Ann's living room, too, quite a bit, as she was homebound and lonely recovering from hip surgery. This was not a sacrifice. I did some knitting. And some sewing. Genealogy and bitching. Typical July.

Actually, not. Better than the last 4 Julys, at least.