Hot days

The summer weather is finally upon us. Not nearly so hot as some other parts of the country--only in the mid to high 80s--but definitely a lot warmer than the last couple months have been. Very glad to have A/C, even if it is just an in-window one. The house feels pretty good, especially compared to outside.

Ralph recently bought a pressure cooker, and today we are making our second meal in it (the first being a beef stew that was very tasty). Tonight it's spare ribs in homemade BBQ sauce. It smells wonderful! I think this pressure cooker is going to have a huge and beneficial impact on how we eat during the week, since a proper meal can be cooked up in the same amount of time it would take us to order a pizza or go through a drive-thru. We're both pretty excited about it.



The Alter Ego Swap is just about finished. I was the first person to receive their package, and I was quite pleased with what I received: some origami cranes & an origami bookmark made by my swapner; teas grown local to her area; sock patterns and some scrumptious green/black yarn to go with them; a notebook with a beautiful stained-glass motif cover; and a very nice note in a flight-themed notecard.

My downstream swapner received her package on Friday, and I think she really liked it. She's a Harry Potter fan, so I made a 'super-colossal deluxe chocolate frog' for her, which can be seen in the first photo of today's post. To give you an idea of the size, the pillow on which it is sitting is a little over a foot square. I also put in some chocolate/caramel treats; sock yarn in a blue/grey/white multi; cheese popcorn; stitch markers; buttons; and needle holders. It was fun putting everything together & I'm already looking forward to doing another swap.



Also in today's post are a couple photos from the hike Ralph & I took in the San Gabriel Mountains. The tree is an ironwood, or so we were told by another hiker. All I know for sure is it was very pretty with its red wood and grey-sheen leaves. I wish I'd gotten a better photo. Maybe next time :-)




Yesterday was a very expensive day for us. We took Sadie to the vet as her skin issues were really flaring up again. They've got a new doctor in the practice, and she prescribed new medication in addition to the prednisone, as well as a rather pricey hypo-allergenic dog food. Of course, she hates the new food. Afterwards we went to the Halloween Club & spent a couple hundred dollars on props & costume pieces for the haunted house, including a magnificent animatronic "Demonica" figure for which we have plans muwaaa haa haaaa! You'll have to wait until Halloween to find out what! Oh, almost forgot, we also spent quite a bit at PetSmart getting Frontline & a few other items. Ah, well, it's only money, right?

Just another lazy Sunday

Had a very nice time last night. Ralph & I met up with friends at George's Greek Cafe, and we ordered the family-style dinner (platters brought to the table & everyone serves themselves). The food was really good: pita with hummus and tzatziki followed by Greek salad and saganaki (cheese flambé topped with kalamata olives). Main courses were lamb chops, beef gyro, chicken skewers, rice, and sort of a pasta-thing with ground beef & cinnamon, the name of which escapes me. The meal ended with baklava; I had mint tea with mine which was lovely. And, of course, talk talk talk with our friends the whole meal through :-)

Today is the last day of the OC Fair, and we didn't make it even once. Oh, well, LA County Fair is only a month away :-)

I've joined another swap on Ravelry. It's been fun getting the package together for my swapner, although I don't dare go into details here since my blog is linked to my Rav profile & I don't want to give away any surprises. I do hope she likes the package, though. Mailing deadline is 8/24, so there's still time for me to finish things up. I don't want to mail it too soon, since the last time I mailed early on a swap I found more things that would have been perfect to put in the box.

Catching up

So, quite a bit of things going on for a change. First up, as you can see from the bottom photo I finished my "Skew" socks which I made with the yarn Lizard gave me for my birthday. I call these my "Tweedle" socks because the colorway of the yarn is "Tweedledum & Tweedledee," and like that famous pair the pattern is simple, and a little off. I learned a new cast-on for this project, which is an added plus.

In good news, the Neighbors From Mariachi Hell have moved out (these were the people that would start their parties at 10:00 PM (yes, you read that right--PM) and not end them until about 4:00 AM. These parties had live, loud mariachi bands. Calls to the police did no good.) Anyway, they have moved out & new neighbors have moved in. Neighbors K & A had a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" dinner party for them last weekend. It was a lot of fun, and I really like both of them (Neighbor G & Neighbor S) a lot. Neighbor S is rather on the quiet side while her partner, Neighbor G, is very outgoing & boisterous. It was a great party & we're all so ecstatic to have them as neighbors (and hopefully friends, too!).


Two weekends ago Ralph & I went on a looooong (for me) hike at Black Star Canyon. The leader set off at what she called "a nice, slow pace" and what I call "a bloody race up the bloody mountainside." I was exhausted by the time we got to the top of the hill, and there were still two miles to go afterwards. Still, there were some interesting things to see including a wingless wasp, prickly cucumber, and a turkey buzzard nest. I did take some pictures, none of which anyone will ever see because my camera memory card was damaged & I lost all of them. Sigh. I can post some of Ralph's when he downloads his, though. The hike was part of an anniversary event (one year since the land was donated to Orange County as a permanent wilderness area) and there were lots of freebies including t-shirts, water bottles, seeds for native California plants (I got California Poppy), free admission to the OC Zoo, pens, and magnets.

Today we went on a much shorter walk along the San Gabriel River. We brought Zoe with us & she had a pretty good time. The water was *very* cold, and felt good on our hot feet. Zoe wasn't so enthusiastic although she did go into it of her own free will. I picked up a new camera card a couple days ago so I was able to download those photos.



The middle photo is a just-opening hibiscus on the plant in our backyard. I'm not sure why it looks like it was taken at night; it wasn't exactly noon but the sun was completely up. I think it came out nicely, though.

Next week we are having dinner with our friends MS & SS as well as PH2 & MH2. We're going to George's Greek Cafe & plan on ordering the "family style" dinner. I'm really looking forward to both good friends & good food.