Weekend of July 1st - 3rd/4th, 2011 - What are your plans?

Going to be a holiday weekend here in the old US of A & Canada, too! I'll be growing things, killing things (just weeds and skeeters, hopefully) cleaning things and eating too much, most likely. And maybe sneaking in some book time.

What will you be doing?

Singing. My choir's giving a concert tomorrow, and I'm hoping we'll be fabulous.

Getting some relief from my grandbaby-deprivation. I haven't seen them for 3 weeks. Leaving tomorrow after a physical therapy appointment.

I'll be spending some time cycling. Monday we'll go to our town's pet parade and then our Old Fashioned Fourth celebration down at the park and then of course a bbq and watching fireworks.

Not sure if we'll do anything special this weekend, but I just got back from a night cruise on the neighbor's boat. The local tourist mecca does fireworks every Thursday evening, so we cruised out to watch them, ate finger foods, and had a great time with friends.

Writer's group meeting on the 2nd, and flying to Chicago on the 4th.
Here's hoping nobody fire off any "test" fireworks early...

Canada Day tomorrow so fireworks for us, too! And even better, a day off work. I LOVE holidays :). I'll walk over to view the fireworks with some old friends.

The rest of the weekend will mostly be spent gardening. Tonight I started a new shade perennial bed and turned my compost. Is it weird that I get excited about compost? It was literally steaming hot as I turned it. Husband (scientist brain) brought out the kitchen thermometer (I promise it will be well washed before touching food again) and measured the temp at 53C. Is that not awesome? I think so!

Canada Day! Almost done work, one set of assignments left to mark, then have to get on with the packing. I'm leaving tomorrow or early Saturday for the Nahanni River. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the parade. No fireworks here - not dark enough this time of year.

Not sure what I'm doing for the 4th, but an old friend and his gf are coming tomorrow and staying till sometime Monday. His gf has never been to Seattle, so we're going to give her the tourist treatment, show her the sites. Should be fun.

I'll have to work some - how much depends on how much I get done today Friday... Reports apparently doesn't write themselves ;-)
Then it'll be the usual chores, I guess, plus hopefully some useful time spent with family.

I'm doing a whole lot of nuthin if I get my way. I have to work on the 4th.

Taking my mum out for a nice lunch for her birthday on Saturday.
Catching the train to Bath on Sunday to start my walking holiday.

#12 Ooh Bath, I'm jealous. I think there's a really interesting exhibition on in the newly re-opened museum, fakes and forgeries in art, just in case you get a chance :)

I am going to bake a chocolate cake on Sunday so I can christen my newly bought 1930's porcelain tea set. Alfred Meakin 'Tonquin' in brown, very classy. £10 from a charity shop!

>13 KayEluned: Sadly I will only be in Bath long enough to meet up with my travelling companion, and then take the train on to Warminster to start a rambling holiday through parts of Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset. I will have to get to Bath for a day sometime soon though.

This and that really. Sunday should be a bit of a bimble caving trip with some of the club's older members who want to keep their hand in.

#14 - sounds excellent. Beautiful part of the world - some of the footpaths can be poorly defined at times, but generally not too bad.

How could I not know Canada day was around the same time as our Independence Day? I edited my post to add it. :o)

#13: Oooh, so jealous right now of the tea set AND the cake!

Apparently the town fireworks are set off in the park that's just 2 houses down from where we've just moved, so we're looking forward to sitting in our back yard and watching the show! We've also been invited to a picnic by some new friends who host a pretty big shingdig, so hopefully we'll meet some more new people here in our new town. Then, at some point this weekend, I want to try another new dessert recipe for pound cake. And then, with all that leftover time, reading, sewing, knitting,...

I arrived back here monday, so today I am looking forward to have some beers with friends. The local brewery has made a new beer that I really want to taste. Their beers are usually really good.
Saturday I am hopefully going on a boat ride to one of islands in mouth of the fjord. We will do some hiking on the island and just enjoy the day.
Sunday after bodytoning I will spend the day at home enjoying being at home with my cat again.

We're going up for a weekend in San Francisco. It turns out that the hotels are EMPTY for some odd reason, and that's good news for us - an uncrowded city, hotel room with a great view, with weather in the 70s, sounds a dream! :D

#19 - Enjoy that, it sounds perfect!

I ain't doin' a damn thang!
Nope, not nuthin'.
It's a holiday, and I'm gonna just enjoy NOT goin' to work; yep ain't doin' nuthin'.

However, I hope all of you who do have plans have a safe and lovely holiday weekend!

See ya'll!

going to my mom's where we usually shoot off a few fireworks. I will be taking a side trip up to the farm to pick up the mill so my next 2 weekends can be spent turning a couple cord of logs into lumber. Anyone free and want to give me a hand? ;)

We'll be taking it pretty easy this weekend in preparation for the next couple...

We have just* been informed that Monday will be a national holiday. We celebrate our independence on the 5th, and this year it will be exactly 200 years since it was declared, so it is a big thing.

Anyway, the Minister of Communications just announced the festivities will start tonight, so we'll be off work on Monday as well.

Why oh why couldn't they say so earlier, so I could book a flight to someplace nice for this very night?! Now I am forced to limit myself to a four-day-long beach trip all over the Venezuelan coast... *sigh*

* Just = Twenty minutes ago.

EDIT: This is the Venezuelan coast: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=playas+venezuela&hl=es&tbm=isch&bt...

Well, I can agree that it would have been nice for them to tell you a little further in advance. But is it really too late to book a flight somewhere? My son just booked a last minute trip on a flight to see his girlfriend and he'd not planned on it 'til this morning.

I and my spouse are going away for a few days to Lancaster, PA. We'll see some old friends and likely make some new ones as well. The plan is to get off the grid and stay away from the computer screens for the duration.

Will eat, read, knit and gab while knitting. And then off work all of next week!

#24: Well, to book a flight overseas I need to get foreign currency, and to get foreign currency I need to do a ton of paperwork, which takes at the very least a week but usually around a month, to be approved. So no, I can't leave the country just now. Oh well. At least we have really nice beaches around. =)

PS: Enjoy your trip and your gabbing!

We're going to my MIL's to hang out on her balcony and watch the fireworks tonight. Tomorrow the boys and I are going to the library to sign them up for the summer reading club. The rest of the time is reading and weeding. It really feels like the start of summer now.

Happy long weekend to all who are celebrating. Happy weekend to all others!

#19 - Enjoy your birthday weekend, PeaBee.

Happy Birthday weekend, too,PeaBee.

in order of play:

Work (cough, without football)

Quick, bottle the rest of the honey because I've another inspection in 2 weeks and if the bees have filled up the combs to No Room, it'll be another round (too little/only light rain means the palms flowered, but the nectar did not wash out with downpours - so it could be a higher honey flow than usual)

Reading!!!! Reward - (the carrot) finish The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg - which, true to her form, the second installment of a series deepens and flips prior assumptions - I love books that deepen like this so much, there are too few.

Garden: prepare the soil for asparagus beans, just ordered. July is the DEATH month for Florida gardens....you can grow peppers and tomatillos and (when I get seeds) an heirloom Everglades Tomato - but I've just heard asparagus beans can take our high heat and humidity, so here goes.

PICINC with Black Powder - invited to a bash at the neighbor's provided we bring the beer and the cannon. O-o.

Nothing much until Monday. We're heading into Washington DC to watch the fireworks Monday evening.

This is the weekend of the Seattle International Beer Festival. I will be attending today and tomorrow to sample some of the world's tasty beers. We're going to a friend's place to watch the fireworks on the 4th.

I believe I have nothing much planned. Good weather = work in the yard, rest, and read. Read-A-Thon! New books + books I've started. I just turned down an invite to stay home and read. I really, really want to just do whatever the spirit moves me to do!

Hope you have a good Independance Day all you Americans. I will be thinking of you on Monday, in fact I think i've still got a few sparklers somewhere left over from Guy Fawks Night....

I have just gotten home from a wonderful four days in Charleston, SC. The city is absolutely beautiful and the food is out of this world! We toured much of the city, went to the forts around the harbor, and spent some time on the water.

This weekend I'm be catching up with things here after being away. I think I'm going snorkeling/diving Sunday. I don't have any specific plans for Monday. I would be happy to read all day long.

My plans are much less exciting than all of yours.

As it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow here (and my wife is working), I will be playing with the kids and editing.

I love going to Charleston, SC.I went in May and enjoyed it very much.Too bad we could not have planned our trip near the same time. Loved the shops and the history too.
I wish I was all done with my Masters work. I have a long way to go. My goal is to finish in the spring of 2013. I'm taking two course now. I must be nuts! Happy 4th Georgia Dawn!

I am going into the chat room...right now.

#29 Ah for the good old days when we could watch the fireworks from the roof of the Pentagon. Long time gone now ... Altho sitting on a boat in the Potomac gave a pretty nice view too.

After reading The Lords of Discipline, I had to visit The Citadel in Charleston last week. They had most of the barracks locked, but I was able to go inside this one. The barracks are all the same. They have this beautiful floor surrounded on all four sides with the cadet quarters. There are iron gates in the center of each side than can be locked. The campus is beautiful. You can't walk around these historic buildings without being touched. The pride and tradition are evident every where you look. The first cadets reported to the school on March 30, 1843.

Watts Barracks

woah, way to make me dizzy, GeorgiaD! nice shot.

I'm going to try to make potato salad since I have a craving. I am not a cook, but maybe salad is within my limited range.

Also might venture into the woods briefly as there are some interesting wildflowers just now (this is wintergreen)



and I think we're going to drive up to the Stanley Steamer museum in Maine for something to do tomorrow.

I do love potato salad! Of course, if it's made right in the south it has too much mayo. :) Now I want potatoes. :)

Beautiful wildflower! I love the spider web attached!

I love potato salad, too. I can eat huge bowls full but as I'm trying to keep the pounds I lost, permanently lost, I won't. Yummy potatoes, mayo, mustard, pickles... ok, that is just torture over a bowl of cheerios with bananas.

I'm kinda winging the recipe - light mayo (yeah I know), mustard powder, fresh flat parsley, green onions, bacon, celery and of course white potatoes. Not at all scientific, but it might work. and a dash of lemon juice. Oh and hard-boiled eggs.

thanks GD...I love surprise spider threads. I never see them when I'm shooting and they magically appear in Lightroom while editing.

Bookmarque: You can tell if it's wintergreen: crush a leaf or a berry, the smell will identify it INSTANTLY. Very strong.

Nice shot, too, GeorgiaDawn!

Staying at home with my ratties this weekend, missing their "mommy" tons. That's how our July 4th goes every year.

Funny how I always thought it was one of the most romantic holidays (think stretching out in the dark gazing up at the fireworks while the one you love leans back against you) until now, when I realize the irony of it. If we hadn't had our independence, my wife would probably be living with us right now instead of stuck in the UK. I like being American and I love our history and what everyone in the past fought for... it was all worth it. Just... messed up one relationship /way/ in the future. :p

It's 9 billion degrees outside, with 400% humidity. I am trying to grow gills just to breathe out there.

#45 Yipes! Stay cool & dry!!!

Time to resurrect that weather thread?

Just tasted my potato salad and damn it's pretty tasty. All I can do not to eat it all right now.

sorry it's gross out D...I don't tell you how perfect it is here right now. New England gets so few days like today.

#47 - "New England gets so few days like today."

Maybe we're being paid back for a weird June we had. I know. I know. I doesn't work that way... Still, I'll take it!!!

MMMM... 'Tater Salad. Maybe I'll make some to go with the grilled salmon I'm making tonight.

We're having ours w/NY strips, but that would work. Here's what I made -

5 cups diced potatoes
3 hb eggs (slice or chop, whatever)
1/3 cup chopped green onions
2/3 cup chopped celery
2 tbs fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp mustard powder (mix into mayo for best results)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup mayo
5 or so slices of chopped pre-cooked bacon

I may hit it with some lemon juice and black pepper when we eat.

That looks similar to the one I make, only I don't add eggs, and I pour a little cider vinegar over the 'taters while they're still hot. (My grandmother's recipe.) Also, I don't always add bacon, but if I do I use turkey bacon and sour cream with the mayo. And chives!

Took the kids to see Cars 2 today as it is alternating between raining and being a steam-room outside.

My Cars 2 review: It should have been called, "Larry the Cable Guy is a Tow Truck"

#51 - LOL! Nice review.

I had thought about cleaning out my pond today, as it will soon be a marsh if I don't take care of it, but due to back pain and hot weather, decided to go through boxes of photos and memorabilia from my husband's family. I finished one box, haven't decided whether I will tackle the next one or not. After all, I want time to read, too.

Choir concert last night was great! I had so much fun!

Holy Cow Georgia! When I went to Charleston in May it was to attend the The Citadel graduation. I stood exactly where you took that picture except there were cadets everywhere. Your right the campus is beautiful. I wish you could have seen the long gray line done by the cadets that day. It put chills up and down my back.

#45 wow, how great to have 40% humidity! Especially when it is a billlion degrees outside! You are so spoilt!

I'm riding a bus to escort my daughter to summer camp. It'll be a long 10 hr drive tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time to read. It's just soooo hard to pick out a book. Probably something by Mercedes Lackey or Juliet Marillier.

Monday- maybe swimming with my kids, playing outside, probably talk my husband into cooking out. Just a relaxing day with the family. Then fireworks that night by the Trinity River. It's awesome!!

Great shots >38 GeorgiaDawn: GD and >39 Bookmarque: Bookmarque, as always. The perspective of both shots is impressive, from the very big to the very small (and yet the scale is somewhat difficult to tell in both cases - which is great, it keeps you guessing).

For my weekend, I've been enjoying the rare and welcomed burst of sunshine that we've been having. I'm also packed and ready for Scotland next week (camera batteries charged, memory cards emptied, lenses cleaned... oh, and some clothes shoved into a bag).

In anticipation of that upcoming trip, here's a shot from a couple of years ago that I have dusted off, re-processed, and uploaded online in this format for the first time:

Whoah! Talk about a brooding presence!

#58 - No kidding!!! #57 - Fabulous picture.

#38 - It's so perfect it almost doesn't look real.

#39 - Just lovely, as usual. Wintergreen! I never expected the flower so be so fragile.

I got 6 more herbs planted yesterday, and sprayed moss/algae remover all over the north side of the house. It's raining today so I plan to do laundry and read! :o)

My new flower bed is looking great and I am almost finished re-staining the fence. Husband stripped the old stain on Friday with a power washer - so much easier than sanding and scraping, but flecks of dried stain everywhere. Yesterday I bought a few more perennials for the new bed - all shade stuff - a couple of nice big hostas, a goat's beard and a bleeding heart. Around here plants are starting to go on really good sales as the temporary garden centres start to close up so I got quite good deals on the plants.

Have finished baking, the chocolat cup cakes are cooling on the rack :)

Happy 4th July to all our USAnians! And Canada Day to our Canadians! Clam, your picture reminds me of a glorious day (in 1998!) spent exploring Alexandria VA, followed by the happy discovery that I could see the Mall fireworks in relatively uncrowded splendour from the Connecticut Ave. bridge over Rock Creek, about 3 blocks from the B&B where I was staying. Thank you, America, for a great memory!

Thanks Tane and woah, yeah that's a great hill. I love the shadows of the clouds on the ground. Fab.

Today Ken & I went to a historic house owned and built by Walter Gropius the famous Bauhaus architect. Unfortunately the way it's situated made it difficult to photograph and indoor photography was banned. So we went into Concord and saw some historic houses and battlefields (the American revolution basically started here in 1775) and so it fit the theme of Independence day. Then of course, I had to go into one of the oldest European cemeteries in the country - the Old Hill Burying Ground in Concord, established 1673. Here is my favorite shot of the day -

#28 you own a canon?!

I managed to get sunburnt while caving! This I feel takes some doing. It was probably only 20mins or so while getting changed and walking up to the cave. We did Alum Pot which is one of the more famous holes in Yorkshire. Massive sunlight main shaft was as impressive as ever.

#63
That is a wonderful shot, very atmospheric. would make a good book cover for a spooky novel. :)

#64
Sounds exciting. I've never been caving, is it very dangerous?

Wow, Tane and Bookmarque. Lovely photos!

I did go snorkeling yesterday, and got a little too much sun. Today, after checking on my mom at the rehab center, I will probably be lazy and read. I'm going to eat with friends tonight.

For all of you who celebrate Independence Day in the US, be safe and have fun!

#64 - not particularly more so than walking or climbing. The weather is the biggest hazard, and you have to choose what cave you do with that in mind. Other than that the only difference is that a twisted ankle might mean an hour on the hills, whereas it can be 8 hours waiting underground for a stretcher to get to you. The popular perception of hazards - rockfalls, getting stuck, and big drops - aren't accurate. They certainly exist but you have to be extremely unlucky or foolish to suffer from them. I guess I do find the physical challenges exciting, but I also enjoy the sense of team spirit camarderie and the knowledge you're going place very few other people have ever seen.

#64 - Reading Fox - Yes.

Just got back from our annual trek to a Lancaster relax-a-con and had the usual fantastic time in terms of conversation and general light-heartedness. While Grangecon is oriented towards science fiction and fantasy, I sat at dinner with a lovely woman and discussed Jane Austen for a while. As a relaxacon, there is no formal programming at this gathering so conversation is what you make of it. We've made new friends and we've reconnected with old friends and solidified friendships with online friends! If anyone is looking for a good comfortable get-acquainted type sci-fi/fantasy con, I strongly recommend Grangecon!

#68 (64) - Doesn't everyone keep one around for hunting?

snipes?

I finished A Feast for Crows.

I forgot I am fair skinned and was at a waterpark for five hours today. So my current plans are to nurse my sunburn.

(PS - Tane - Awesome shots...)

One thing I did not do is fireworks. The big NYC display was, until a year or two ago, nicely visible from Brooklyn Heights. However, Macy's -- which sponsors the fireworks -- decided again this year to do the fireworks in the Hudson and only the Hudson. (Past years were, I think, fairly centrally placed in the harbor, though I think they may have had a carbon-copy display in one or both rivers, around Midtown level.)

Too much noise for my hearing schnauzer. Poor girl spent about 12 hours yesterday trying to drill through the floor into a quiet, dark hole (of which I have none). The funniest one was when I am in the bathtub she squeezes behind the toilet, and stick her head under the shower curtain (hanging over the edge, outside the tub, next to the toilet) and sits, staring at me, with the shower curtain hat. Poor baby, I laughed outloud at her. I'm sure her feelings were hurt.

It was otherwise a very nice three day weekend.

Ugh. I drank too much this weekend. I was at the Seattle International Beer Festival on Friday and Saturday, and at a 4th of July party last night. I kept going longer than I should have for essentially unknown and dubious social reasons. For me, overindulging makes my body feel terrible. I don't get behaviorally altered at all, but I physically feel awful later on. Believe me, I had a rough night. Blegh! No more alcohol this week.

It was a pretty good weekend apart from the excess boozing- we went to the Fremont Sunday market, bought some interesting carnivorous and succulent plants for the apartment, and had a nice dinner and neighborhood evening stroll at my parents' place.

#64 - That must have been some MASSIVE sunshine, to give you a burn in 20 minutes!!!

I spent the whole weekend indoors, working, in front of the table fan.
Ah well, you can't have it all.