Boy it's been a while. I didn't realize how far away from 7/22 we'd gone. It's August now, many of my friends at the lake are saying summer is over. Well, the end is coming soon I suppose. I'm about to embark on my 2 week vacation trip to Rhode Island, which is wow-ily exciting for me. My sister is now in Rhode Island and will come here to the North Country on Thursday. I guess I'll pick her up at the Burlington bus station, though travel plans are not totally firmed up yet. She'll be here for our annual family meeting, which is Saturday morning. Jenica will come for it, too, dutiful Rogers that she is. Molly will stay until Monday or Tuesday, when we'll drive to RI together. In my new car.
Yes, I bought a new car. Another Civic. I think this is my 6th Civic. It's a 2012, not that I wanted such a new one because they've redesigned the car almost completely this time. Anyway, it's pretty and it's new. I got a fairly ok trade-in for my old car--a 2008 Civic with 67,000 miles on it and some body issues. I needed new tires and knew it wouldn't cost that much extra to have a new car, so I opted for the new car. Now I get to worry about messing up this car. I got it on Friday and so far: wet dogs have ridden in the back seat; I've taken garbage to the dump in it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make everything work but I finally figured out how to turn the radio on (or even more, how to turn it off); I'm trying to figure out why the colors on the dashboard display change from blue to green to bluish green; I've driven it to the boat house without doing any (apparent) damage to it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make it stop locking all the doors when it goes forward and/or stops. My sister reminded me that, when I got my previous Civic I complained that it had too many complicated things to figure out. Mostly it was the digital speedometer, which I now much prefer. I'll probably never figure out how or why to use the USB port and who knows if I'll ever have a cell phone or MP3 player. But it's always good to be prepared, no?
Work is moving along, nice calm pace. Home life not so much. There are many people in Hawkeye right now, all wanting to get together, eat, drink, be merry. I hosted a cocktail party for about a dozen people on the boat house porch, which got others in the mood to do more of the same. Last week I had dinner with 3 cousins, with much reminiscing about the past. Sunday at noon we had round 2 of the Hawkeye Chicken Wars, hosted by Joe & Martha. They served Vietnamese food, which was tasty. Participants have to rate the chicken-based meal on taste and presentation. I'm not at all competitive, so it's hard for me to participate in this part. What will I cook when it's my turn? Yipes I have no idea. I'm hoping my sister can help me come up with something Italian and interesting.
I stopped at Linda's last night, briefly, and friends from Baltimore were there. Other friends are hosting a duck dinner one night this week and a wine & cheese tasting on another night. I should take an evening off to get the dogs to the vet before leaving for RI. This will interfere with my social AND financial lives, but I think it would be a good thing to do. That would be tomorrow night. Hmmmm. I'm undecided about this. One reason for doing it now is that they would get their Lyme vaccinations, and we're heading into prime Lyme country. Kitty will be incarcerated for 2 weeks (more animal expense). See? I couldn't afford new tires at all.
I have tons of lilies blooming in a few different places around the house. I like lilies and have usually stuck to Asiatic lilies, but I bought a bunch of lily-combo packs and stuffed the bulbs in the ground. Right now there are tiger lilies blooming, along with the day lilies, of course. I was supposed to get married when I was 19 and the year before the scheduled wedding my mother planted a yardful of lilies for my outdoor wedding. The wedding never happened, but she said the lilies were spectacular. Sorry I missed it, huh.
I go to the dentist on Thursday to have my permanent retainers put in. Right now I'm wearing plastic removable ones that are so horrible I can't wait. This is the final (I hope) installment of my Tooth Drama. So far they're still lined up as well as they were when I got my braces off. As they should be.
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