Party time

We had a Memorial Day graduation party for B this afternoon. Here he is with his high school friend, M.

L and Cindy.

We set up a table from church in the back yard. It was windy so we had to tape the plastic tablecloth down. I made tortilla roll-ups and caprese skewers for sppetizers. We had brats and burgers for dinner, with baked beans, Asian salad and broccoli salad. L decorated block I cookies in the school colors.

Allison and Pat.

Julie and family.

Even Schubert came over. He stayed so late his mom came and took him home.

L and her friends, T and N, played around with some sparklers once it got dark.

Cindy’s here

Andy and I went to Union Station this afternoon to pick up Cindy. Her train was coming in about a half hour early but ended up more than a half hour late. Andy went out to feed the meter three times.

Andy and I were sitting in the food court sharing a soda when a pigeon walked by ... inside the station.

Celebrating the grads

The church recognized all the graduates this morning. There's my boy!

It is nice to have him home. Here he was last night knocking down spider web on the back porch that kept setting off our Ring doorbell. And tonight he's making stir-fry for dinner.

Andy’s Envision

Andy and I drove to Oak Lawn last night, where we purchased his Enclave in 2016, to try out the Buick Envision Avenir. At one point during the negotiation we walked out and planned to go to another dealership where we saw a better price online for the same vehicle. Before we had the car in gear the salesperson was walking out to accept our counter offer. He wanted blue, but it's black. Dealerships everywhere have a low inventory of cars because of the pandemic, which means trade-in values are ridiculously high. It's loaded with all the bells and whistles, and it's a little smaller than the Enclave. We figure our years of hauling kids to college are coming to a close (though it might take a Uhaul to get L moved in and out).

Taking the kids for a spin around the block to show them ...

how the rearview mirror has a camera mode ...

and the huge sunroof. The backseats are even heated, which L likes. The driver's seat massages.

It's going to take awhile to figure out all of these controls.

Thanks, L!

L posted some of her old clothes on Facebook for sale, then left the clothes on the sofa. Muffles is loving the "new bed" ...

and so does August.

Men’s night

B and Andy went to the Ale House last night for a Pilgrim men's night. Lots of conversation, food and drinks.

Swinging the club

One of the advantages of Andy working from home is that he can occasionally get up from his chair, grab a golf club, and practice his swing in the yard.

My new ride

Our new buffet had a second attempted delivery yesterday and again, arrived damaged. We ordered it Feb. 13 and they said if I wanted a third delivery attempt it wouldn't be until after Aug. 31. No thanks. I called and canceled the order. Grrr. Not happy with Macy's.

So we bought me a new car, a 2021 Buick Encore GX. We had been looking at used cars for L but for a couple thousand more we could get a new car with the warranty. Then we thought, why should she get the new car? It should be me lol.

We had to drive to Naperville to get the deal and the color (black currant) I wanted. We were there a long time.

Andy has been thinking of downsizing, perhaps to an Envision. We'll see.

Share?

B found it a little difficult to eat his cereal this morning with August waiting for some of his milk.

Generous neighbor

A neighbor a couple of blocks away was giving out free heirloom tomato plants yesterday. He started them from seed and they did better than he imagined! I walked over, talked to him and brought three home.

They're not your usual red tomatoes. He even marked the varieties on popsicle sticks. I have a Brandywine, Paul and Zebra. He said they all taste about the same, just slight differences. Let's hope they grow!

In addition to these new plants, I have two cherry tomato and two regular tomato plants growing.

More quilt woes

I just put this quilt on our bed and noticed one piece is torn. Trying to figure out if there's a way to fix it.

Meanwhile, E is making lots of progress on another of my patchwork quilts. Both were made by mom so it would be nice to keep them in good shape.

B’s home!

Andynd I went to Champaign today and picked up B. He'll be home for awhile but plans to return to school a couple times this summer.

It's nice to see a light on in his room.

And since my Mother's Day gifts were in B's apartment, I got those today too. Thanks, kids!

Letting it go

This was part of the Wandering Jew plant I bought last May. The plant grew so much last summer that I separated it before bringing it in for the winter. It wasn't looking good so I pulled the plug on it. (The other half of the plant doesn't look great either but I'm holding out hope it improves).

I dug the plant out and replaced it with three wave petunia plants. Looks better already.

So fancy

I recently bought a small wooden tray so Andy and I can enjoy a charcuterie board while we relax outside in the evenings. This was my first attempt. E said it was "lovely" but I need to add olives. Andy would like that. Me? Nah.

Donation gift

Andy and I donated to the bakery where L has worked when their roof collapsed earlier this year. As if things weren't bad enough with the pandemic, their store had to close for a couple of months. For our donation, we got $10 gift card, a pound of coffee beans and a bakery mug. L wanted to stop in and say hello and see the new shop (just around the corner from the old one) so she picked everything up for us and got some cookies yesterday.

Mid-May flowers

My clematis behind the garage are blooming.

Irises are blooming...

and so are the bushes in the back yard.

Graduation gift

The university sent B a graduation gift - a set of magnets. And confetti. Here are some of the pictures Allison took:

Leaving his apartment to head to the quad for some pictures.

Fixing his mortarboard before the picture-taking began.

I can't count how many times I fixed his stole. It was a beautiful, sunny day but windy at times.

That's better.

Family photo after the stage-crossing.

Spreading the love, er hair

L left her sheets from college on the dining room table and August decided it was a new place to sit. At least they haven't been washed yet.

Off to work

L transferred to the kids' shoe store up here for the summer. Today is her first day at the new store, working 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. She's full time for summer.

Lots of unpacking

L posed yesterday in front of Snyder Hall, her college home for a crazy, untraditional freshman year. This was just before she was going back in to turn in her room key.

And now she's home! Good thing our buffet wasn't delivered as we expected Thursday because I don't know where this stuff would have gone.

She has lots of unpacking to do. These are her clothes. Eventually everything will get sorted through and stored in her room.

It was pretty funny when Allison opened her car door and these Squishmallows came pouring out. She likened it to a clown car. Not so funny now that they're piled in my living room.