Unearthing a life.....

July has started working its way into August, the steady rains of last week have given up the ghost, and I was able to venture out, once again, onto my deck where I finished off the last couple hundred pages of the new and last Harry Potter novel. Was I happy with the ending? Not totally. But I'll wait till September to do my whining about it.

Aleister continues to adore his cousin Rachel and doesn't miss a chance to come to our house and take his position as her one true sidekick. I think Allie hates trying to ride his bicycle, but here he is giving it a royal try .... because Rachel [AKA Mrs. H, Cousin H, Mrs. M, and sometimes just Rachel] said he couldn't watch her play her computer game unless he went riding with her first.

In other news from our homestead, Rachel is progressing nicely with the painting of the inside of our house. With help from Arlis and Rich and Reba. Michal is due home from New Zealand about the 6th of August. Kay & Rachel just went out to Barnes and Noble, putting Kay's new VW Beetle through its maiden voyage. This evening, Rachel is going kayaking with BrownShoes husband out in the far reaches of South Kitsap. Rachel also seems to be a somewhat expert frisbee-golf player .... and what has Michal been up to as she wraps up her New Zealand stay? Skydiving? Bungee Jumping? That's the rumor .... photographically supported.

This is the first of my two extra weeks between chemo session 4 and session 5. I had hoped for some noticeable strengthening, but until yesterday noon, I've not had a good week. But at noon the VW dealership called and said they'd just gotten in a red Beetle with automatic transmission and that distracted me. Today I'm feeling pretty good and conserving my energies for a trip to Seattle tomorrow afternoon for our Ocean Cooking Group's mid-summer get together at Steve and Katie's. As always, NoApologies' mother will be behind the wheel, dodging the various SeaFair Parades and what have you.