Three mahjong wins

On Monday at Allison's mah jong night, I won three out of four games we played (pictured is my final win of the night) and got three more ducks for my collection. My strategy was to pick a line and stick with it; no pivoting. It worked surprisingly well - that night at least.

Simultaneous Declaration reading

Not sure how I got to be the one organizing the Simultaneous Reading of the Declaration of Independence to mark the country's 250th anniversary, but I was. I've been in contact with local governments and organizations since late May and managed to line up 17 readers. I divided the Declaration into speaking parts and emailed everyone their assignment, secured the park permit, ordered stickers to give away and pocket Declaration books, had a poster printed of all the particpants' organizations, and publicized the event. I even had to talk to a local reporter. (I prefer being the intereviewer rather than the interviewee.)

We had people sign a Declaration with feather pens and ink. Fun but messy.

Here I am checking readers in and making sure everyone has their assigned reading part.

The reading started at 5 p.m. yesterday to coincide with communities across the United States and its territorities, marking when in the Declaration when it was first read in public on July 8, 1776. How cute are these Girl Scouts?

Me and Uncle Sam, one of our volunteers.

Laughing with Uncle Sam. I swear this volunteer is always smiling. Andy worked from home and took pictures while I was busy working. It went surprisingly well and there were probably 100 people in the audience.

Uncle Sam, me and my coworkers after the event. Aren't we a festive bunch?

B-day with the church ladies

Our church ladies' celebrations of birthdays that started out as cooking for everyone has evolved into dinners at local restaurants. I wanted to save everyone some money, but didn't necessarily want to cook either, so we catered dinner in from Margarita's, our local Mexican restaurant. It was the same food E had for her rehearsal dinner and we ordered more than needed so we'd have leftovers. Everyone pitched in $20 for their share (and to cover tax and some of the drink cost). I ordered two table runners (one for the table and one for the buffet) thinking it was keeping with the Mexican theme. L, though, said it was cultural appropriation. Boooo. And I disagree. I decided on the birthday wine glasses for water and the small cut glass ones for margaritas.

Me and the church ladies. I won't give away their ages but I'm the last to turn 60.

Here's the spread.

Andy was the evening's bartender making margaritas on demand.

My friend, C, made dessert. I requested something chocolate and she outdid herself ... and even brought ice cream to go along with it.

Graue Mill and Museum

After my birthday lunch on Sunday we were a very short drive away from Graue Mill and Museum and I had never been there so we decided to stop - and admission is free. Andy thinks he was there once on a school field trip but didn't really remember it.

The volunteer overheard me tell Andy that the main floor smelled like a corn crib and told me the corn the mill is usually stored in the wooden bins that lined the wall. It's a unique smell and one I know very well. On the second floor, a woman was giving a demonstration of turning sheeps' wool into yarn.

They also had a weaving loom set up and this volunteer showed us a picture of a 3-by-5-foot American flag they created and gave to a local school. You can see the leftover red, white and blue yarn on the loom.

The third floor was set up as old rooms and buildings. There was a kid's room, a parlor and here's a general store ...

and the kitchen.

The outside with the water wheel (not running). They do mill corn from Kline Creek Farm (by Julie's house) then return it so they can feed the animals there.

The path was flooded because of all of the recent rain.

The creek was high and fast. That bridge is York Road.

An office building.

This building wasn't open to the public. It's the Ben Fuller Farmhouse, circa 1840.

Happy b-day to me

How is it possible in 60 years my aunt has never failed to send me a birthday card?

My day started with winning my online mah jong game. That's a rare occurence.

Andy and I did some shopping for boring things (cat food, shampoo, etc.) and ended up at York Tavern for a late lunch.

We had never been there before and it was really cute. It was built in 1843 and stands in its original location along the Salt River. It is believed to be the oldest continually operated privately owned eating and drinking establishment in DuPage County.

I had a cheeseburger and Andy had the chicken Parmesan.

One of our stops was Nothing Bundt Cakes so I could get my birthday bundlette. Andy insisted on taking my picture with the candles so here's looking at 60.

Slow July Fouth

This sign welcomed me back to the Farmers Market Saturday morning for my second donut shift of the season.

I was the outside coffee server, working 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and this was my breakfast. It was a holiday so it was a pretty light day. Regardless, I was a bit achy after standing for three hours. Andy was the first donut captain then left to play golf. Needless to say, he gets home, falls asleep and there, again, our day is shot.

Meanwhile in Florida, L sent a video and pictures of the Air Force doing a fly-over at Epcot. They flew over Magic Kingdom too, but she was working in the Members' Lounge at Epcot.

A closer look.

I had planned to grill out Italian sausages for dinner but it was raining with no chance of letting up for two hours. Good thing our local pizza shop was open!

Trellis troubles

A heavy rainstorm blew through yesterday afternoon and once it was over, Andy took some garbage and noticed our trellises by the garage got so heavy with rain they were falling over.

He used some butcher's twine to tie them up and secure them to the garage. It may not be a permanent solution but it might be.

I did notice our milkweed have lots of flowers this year. No Monarch sightings yet ...

but the bees are enjoying the coneflowers.

Happy Fourth of July

I chose this "patriotic puzzle" because the Fourth of July was coming up but once I opened it and saw that it wasn't completely taken apart, I had second thoughts.

It's features Keystone, S.D. and it and it had all of its pieces. That was a good roadtrip with the kids. I had printed out multiple choice trivia questions for the long car ride, having them answer which president on Mount Rushmore was the correct answer. We also ended up with a flat tire, ate a lot of Little Caeser's pizza because there weren't a lot of places in town to eat, and watched the July Fourth Mount Rushmore fireworks from our hotel room.

That trip also gave me one of my favorite photos ever of the kids at the monument. We used a "happier" one from the same photo session for our Christmas card that year, but this one tells a better story of that hot day.

The cats

My cute jungle cat. Should I tell Piper the plant is fake?

Ruby has a knack for looking scared in photos.

Summer in bloom

Our former neighbors planted daisies in their yard years ago and I've been trying to coax them into our yard ever since. They're spreading pretty well and they're blooming.

And the coneflowers have started to bloom.

Hard to miss this chicken and hen that's about to bloom. It looks ... very happy.