leaves of three

Inadvertently I did not "let them be" and now I am covered in a poison ivy rash. I'm not sure how I came to be so affected - there is a patch by the mailbox and fence; there's some on the golf course; there's a wall of it on my dog walking route. Perhaps there is no way of avoiding it? The Mr. got it first - he was gardening and I'm not sure he'll ever garden again. I thought he was a bit dramatic regarding the itch and the burn. Oh no, he wasn't. My dear dermatologist friend prescribed some cortisone and that helps calm the itch for a bit but then another patch appears... I'm just going to have to ride this thing out. And be more careful of those leaves of three.

On a more positive note, tomorrow I am taking my dog to a paw-ty. It's to celebrate the birthday of these two adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and I'm going with my friend and her dog. This year it's a 60's theme - Dixie doesn't dress up but most of the other dogs do. I'll try to get some photos!

fun and festive fireworks

Ok so I haven't posted in a while. There was all the end-of-the-school-year stuff including prom (pre, actual and post) and graduation (pre, actual and post), plus parties and let's not forget the driver's license. Yes, she got it! Now I must calm my nerves enough to allow her to actually DRIVE... Oh, and all the planning for that daughter's trip to England, Israel, England, Switzerland and Israel with the cousins. And the Mr.'s triathlon for which I was enormously supportive (according to me) during training and the event. I will admit to having spent quite a lot of time doing a couple of things for myself as well - playing rounds of golf and making batches of hot fudge sauce.

But now I'm back and last night we went to watch the fireworks with our lovely neighbors. They do ALL the work setting up the picnic area in the park and we show up with our bits and pieces of contribution - last night it was swiss chard tart and green salad with lemon vinaigrette. There's nothing quite like dining outdoors with family and friends especially when dessert is Ina's brownie tart. And after dessert, fireworks: this year they seemed a little too close and a little too noisy but visually they were as spectacular as ever.