oh dear, it's August!!!!!

OK, July just flew by. Sort of. I have to admit I napped during part of it - a really bizarre work schedule, vacation, and intense heat waves kind of messed with my equilibrium, and I found it quite refreshing to snuggle in with the little fur babies and take naps until time for the next job. Lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer indeed.

My magic birthday list is progressing nicely. I have been bowling ten times ( I will post the scores thus far, even though they are really pathetic), I have seen a couple of more birds, my Magic Birthday Garden is growing, despite only a little rain this summer. In this post I will try to put some photos of things.

I have actually accomplished some things on the list in the past month. With a bunch of Stein Mart days off in a row, I even cooked John supper one night (item # 18 - only 4 to go now). I cooked some chicken with wild and brown rice and broccoli and then made a pretty good pie for dessert - a "lemonade pie". It was pretty delicious on a hot summer evening.

Last weekend John and I went to a botanical garden (item #48) - this being the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden in Owensboro. It was a short drive, being on this side of Owensboro, and we had the entire place to ourselves on a hot Saturday afternoon, except for the wedding being prepared for in the visitors' center. We found it to be quite interesting, and surprisingly nice in its size and design, being as Owensboro is a smaller town than Evansville. We saw all manner of roses in a very nice rose garden, herbs, grasses, fruits, a little Japanese garden, a really neat Children's Magic Garden with little sub-gardens - and the beginnings of new gardens being currently developed.

The next day we went to Mesker Park Zoo and Botanical Garden - Evansville's own. I wanted to see the new exhibits, particularly the Amazonian ( item # 36) exhibit. I have only to been to our zoo once, and that was at least ten years ago. I have been by the zoo countless times, as there have been many activities in the Mesker Park area that I have been a part of, in particular, the Evansville Symphonic Band Concerts we used to do at Mesker ( we perform at the Coliseum now) and when I worked for the Philharmonic, working at the Labor Day concerts and running the instrument 'petting zoo' there. Although not in the zoo proper, the Amphitheatre is right next door and often we would hear a lion roar and always we would hear the peacocks, especially as our music floated into the air. Anyway, this was my first time to the zoo in a while, and John and I spent most of the afternoon there. It was hot, yes, and it is a BIG place, lots of walking, but we are well up to that, and really had a good time. The Amazonian exhibit was fantastic. It so reminded me of the zoo in Belize that my sister Suzi and I went to - that zoo was in the middle of a rain forest, and the exhibit at the zoo is also a rain forest, although man-made. In Belize, the humans were the ones in the 'cages' and there were howler monkeys overhead, jaguars with only chicken wire between us, otters that would come right to you - it was quite an experience in the middle of the country. Mesker's compilation of that had so many of the same animals and birds we saw there, with so much more, and in a much more controlled environment. It seemed so natural a place for the animals, so they actually live there instead of just being on display.

Another thing on the list was to go to the annual Parade of Homes and to take five ideas and incorporate them into my own home (item #20). I go to the Parade every year - it is when area builders put their new houses on display. Some are really incredible, million dollar homes that have been decorated by all the best firms in the Tri-State. John and I went this year, and saw maybe 25% of the homes - the list was small again this year, I guess because of the economy. And, sadly, I really didn't see anything that floated my boat, so to speak. We saw house is at least three different price categories but they were all the same - they looked the sameoutside, nothing too exciting, and inside was the same. Everybody had earth tone painted walls (greens, browns, taupes, golds, some red here and there and prerequisite pink and blues for children's rooms) and everyone had woodwork painted white. Every house we saw! Also, stainless steel appliances and granite counters. Or concrete. Concrete is cool, I like that. But granite or concrete is not too practical for our counter tops - our house is not very expensive, nor is it in an expensive neighborhood, so it would be silly to go with astronomical upgrades (we can't afford it anyway). And John thinks that as soon as we would paint all of our woodwork white, it would be out of fashion and wood stain would be back, so we may as well leave it stained and be ahead of the pack!!!! haha. SO, I didn't take any ideas other than a more solid decision on what colors we will be painting when the rooms are re-painted later this year. I guess that's something.

So that is an update - now I will proceed to try to post pictures and to list some things, like bowling scores. Promise you won't laugh at me, whoever it is out there who is reading this!