Quiet Day

Today is a quiet day. Not by force mind you, as in "turn off that d*** TV!" Joey is in DC and Mike's at work. So the girls and I are just hanging out. The TV is off, but the noise of the AC (finally broke down and turned it on), the washer and dryer fill the house. Earlier you could hear the new ice cream maker working it's magic. I've filled it with my own noise...the click of knitting needles and now the click of keyboard keys.

Earlier the girls helped me clean up the patio. The table and chairs had turned yellow from the pollen in the air over the last few months, so it took some elbow grease and time to get it sparkling again. The pool, unfortunately is still too cold for real swimming. Justine did jump in yesterday...pool temp was 70. She always does this; I guess she just can't resist.

I sat outside at the nice clean table and worked on the Bakersfield Shawlette sample I'm doing for PicnicKnits. It's close to being done and I'm determined to finish it tonight ("barn door" Jen & Jodi would call it). The birds were singing, pool pumps were humming, and Cast-On's Brenda Dane was in one ear talking to me about Occam's Knitting (yeah, I'm a little behind on the Podcasts). To me, that's a quiet day. No yelling, no fighting, no TV blaring, no dog barking, no guilt in my head about what I should or shouldn't BE doing. Quiet. I'm enjoying and appreciating it while it's here.

New Lions Bridge!

The Lions Bridge in St. Augustine has been under construction for a few years now. A temporary bridge was erected while construction was going on and will now be dismantled, towed out to sea and will become an artificial reef...cool!

Today we went to St. Augustine and were so surprised to see the new Lions Bridge open! The official opening hasn't happened yet (I don't think), but we could drive and walk on it...it's so pretty! I can't wait till they get the lion statues back at the foot on the bridge on the St. Augustine side.

Draw bridge...going up!
Texting never stops...

Joey checks out the water below.

It's a beautiful day here on the First Coast!

Velocity

Here's the entire drumline, instructors and all.
Velocity Pit!

What a great season for Velocity drumline! They got first place in all but one competition. Veronica had such a great time. She couldn't have done it without the generosity of her Aunt Barb & Uncle Mark, Nana and especially her Grandaddy!
Thanks again everyone!!

Today

Today it arrives. The purchase was made online, shipping has been monitored on a daily (if not hourly) basis, and it was confirmed yesterday...today it will arrive.

After the birth of our second kid, the house have never been what one would call quiet. Then kid #3 came along...you really have to talk in a loud voice to be heard sometimes around this place. Kid #2, Joey...he plays the electric piano and trumpet. He can make some noise...but it's about to get a whole lot louder...

Today his electric guitar will arrive!

You people in San Diego listen up...you may be able to hear the screamin' guitar from here!

I told him he'll need to learn all the "old school" rock and roll songs. He already knows how to play "Smoke on the Water." Maybe he'll start a band...in the garage. Sweet.

(If it doesn't arrive today, Joey's gonna go nuts. The rest of us will follow suit.)

Mom's Music

When I was a kid, my mom had the coolest music. I guess I was too young to have my own music taste and well, I thought her music was cool. Back then, if you didn't have money to buy your own records (If you had your own records, you had to negotiate play time on the record player, because having TWO in the house would just be insane.), you were subject to your parents music. Ok, you could hold your tape recorder up to the radio and tape your favorite song that way but, let's face it...it sounded like crap. Lucky for me, I was subject to my mom's taste in music and not my dad's. My dad liked The Four Freshmen and Johnny Mathis (which he always pronounced Matthews...we still get a laugh about that to this day).

Here's a sampling of my mom's music:

Blood Sweat and Tears (Spinnin' Wheel...my fav)
Beatles (Apple albums, of course)
Simon and Garfunkel (Bridge Over Troubled Water)
5th Dimension
Joni Mitchell

My mom, who listens to alot of jazz these days, is still pretty cool. My dad, well I think he's still listening to Johnny Matthews...but I love him anyway (actually, I really like Johnny, too...but don't tell him).

Here we go again...

Monday night was the start of TRI training for Jen and I. We actually got on our bikes! First time in about four months. We did pretty good, too. I'm just glad I didn't kiss the pavement from not being able to unclamp a foot (I know this will happen, just a matter of time.). I plan to run today with my neighbor and then on Saturday morning, swim at the Good Shepherd pool with Jen and Kelly. I really need to get a calendar out and plan out when I'm doing what so I know I'll get in enough workouts. If you think I'm nuts, you're right.

Our plan this year is to do two triathlons:

July 17th - The Moss Park Triathlon (We're doing the Sprint distance.)
October 31st - The Cooter Tri (This is the one we did last year.)

Whew...ok, now it's in writing...it's out there and you all know about it.

No backing out now....

A bit brighter...

You know how when you're feeling like crap because you've caught a cold and even though it's a beautiful day, you still feel kinda gray...then along comes someone who makes you're day brighter? Well, theBecky did that for me today! Check out the bee-utiful project bag she sewed for me...

It lays on it's side with a zipper opening so I can access my latest project easily. It even has some plastic canvas in the base to give it support.

Then when I'm ready to go; I can zip it up, hang it on my arm and I'm on my way!

I saw a bag similar to this online and when I asked Beck about the pattern, etc. She offered to make it for me. BFF to be sure!

Thanks again Becky!