Category: Dear Diary

We started some seeds from scratch this year, lettuce, peppers and basil, and they did well. We bought our plants, tomatoes and more jalepeños, at Case’s on Norton just like other years. But we picked up some zucchini plants at Aman’s on East Ridge Road. The plants were labeled “zucchini ” but they got huge in a hurry and ran all over the garden. I pulled a twenty foot section out of our tomatoes and threw it back where it started. The leaves are as big as elephant ears and the vegetable that emerged from the blossoms looked a lot like pumpkins now. Some are already orange. We will probably have enough for the whole street. The one see above escaped the garden and is now hanging off the fence that is supposed to keep the deer out. Do deer like pumpkin? We will find out.

Peggi and I were talking to my brother about our nephew and my brother said, “He’s like a rat on a wheel.” This was a vivid analogy for us because we had just seen a rat on a wheel at the Holy Cross carnival on Lake Avenue up near the lake. We put 50 cents down on a color and the attendant spun the wheel and dropped the rat on it. In a flash the rat dove down one of the holes and it wasn’t the one next to our colors. As I watched the guy pull the rat out I was thinking of the white rat I had in Psychology class. We tortured it in rat lab and then I brought it home as a pet. I don’t remember what became of it. I hope my nephew has a better fate.

These shelves from our garage were full of junk when moved in. We piled our junk in front of them and couldn’t find anything in the heap. So after five years we decided to sort it all out, the old door hinges, motor oil, jars of nails and the industrial strength velcro.

I emptied the shelves and brought them out into the yard so I could even up the lines. I reworked the shelving and supports so they line up with one another. I know this is a bit obsessive but they looked like they had been put together by a madman. I can deal with the bright orange but I at least had to straighten out the site lines before I rehang them.

It only two two nights to do this. Not really worth an “After” shot.

Couldn’t help but talk a little World Cup with my brother at my aunt’s funeral service this morning. My brother thought Germany would have beat Spain if Müller had been allowed to play. I told him Spain cleaned Germany’s clock and controlled the whole field for the whole game or at least 65% of it. Forget about Germany and Brazil. Spain plays the “beautiful game.”

We were on the road to the church this morning when Peggi asked me if we knew where we were going. I had my aunt’s obituary in my pocket and took it out to read “Church of the Reformation” but there wasn’t any street address. So we turned around and googled it back home. There was a Church of the Reformation downtown but it was Lutheran so I looked at the obit again and it read “Resurrection” which sounds a lot more Catholic. We were a little late and I was thinking how people used to say I would be late to my own funeral and I’d say, “that sounds like a good idea.” but I’m not so sure anymore.

My father gave a nice little talk about his sister and their close knit neighborhood in the 19th ward. He finished with how he will always remember her smile. It seemed she was always laughing in the old days. I think she really enjoyed life.

We picked two more pans of raspberries from the garden. You really need to wearing long sleeve shirts and full length pants when you get out there in the prickers but it was too hot for that. Peggi made a pie and plans to make another today after the World Cup. I’m afraid Paraquay’s going down today but it would be nice to see them upset the Netherlands apple cart. We had more raspberries for breakfast. I’ve been picking seeds out from between my teeth for days. I’ve been afraid to use my Waterpik, in fear that I’ll drive one of those little seeds up my gums.

Our friends and neighbors, Rick and Monica, lent their vintage VW bus to Jeff Spevak this weekend. Jeff didn’t go anywhere in the bus. He just used it as a prop behind their designated area in the fenced off section of Charlotte beach where the Roc City Barbeque Event took place. Jeff smokes meat like a pro and won a contest in Memphis last year. His crew is called the “Smokin’ Dopes”.

We road our bikes over there on Saturday and were pretty confused by the whole thing. We paid five bucks to get in. Contestants travelled from all over the country and pay 250 to compete. But we can’t try what they grill because of Heath Department rules? Some vendors were allowed to sell but they weren’t competing. We had a delicious slice of grilled pineapple and Dundee beer from the VW van and rode back home.

We ran into Jeff later that night at the annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash and we heard he won a 300 dollar award and trophy for his poblano pepper hamburger. Peggi, backed by her band, sang a beautiful version of “She Belongs To Me.”

It was a perfect day for a bike ride. We took the new trail along Lakeshore Boulavard and then down Rock Beach Road over to O’Laughlins on the Summerville side of the mouth of the Genesee River. It’s sort of a tradition for us to celebrate the anniversary of our first date by watching the Kentucky Derby down here looking over the river and out to Lake Ontario. Steve Hoy was our chaperon back then. He drove us the two hours from Bloomington to Churchill Downs the year Secretariat won.

Seems silly to link back to So Many Records but I like that Kevin linked here in his post on the amazing Lesley Gore. He put up a French version of “You Don’t Own Me” today. We just watched the extras on the T.A.M.I. show dvd last night so that is our fourth time through.

It’s Brad‘s Bday today. Hey, and Angel Corpus Christi has an amazing new video. I just love it! Mercury Rev meets Jeff Koons and then some. Check it out.

My father used to take us down to this section of tracks (click photo for enlargement) so we could watch the trains. It was just a short walk from our house but it seemed a world away. I think about that every time I ride my bike down Atlantic Avenue. Bike riding is conducive to thinking and dreaming and contemplating billboards. How do these two guys have “Over 50 Years?” Is that combined or did somebody do a good airbrush job. I went to their state of the art lawyer site.

I picked up our taxes at Steve Friga’s office andthe secratary had everything all laid out for me. There were little red flags on the edges of papers that needed to be signed and she gave had a self addressed, stamped envelope prepared for me to send back with the check for their services. She even made a short list of these tasks. She called them “action items”. I was knocked out by her organizational skills. It was probably painfully obvious that I lack these skills.

Our painting class took a two week break and resumed last night. There is a new show up down there in the gallery called “This Is A Series.” Most of the paintings are in threes and I have some crime faces one of the walls. I particularly like these three.

We walked in the woods today in the pouring rain and we noticed that animals really don’t give a hoot about whether its raining or not. We saw a couple of ducks, colorful mail and a brown female and then a groundhog going about his business. We interrupted a deer who was grazing and then came out on the golf course. It was especially green. I took a photo of Peggi in her slicker. We have matching slickers. I found a golf ball with a Guinness logo on it. I took that as a sign of good luck.

Stella weighed eighteen pounds last year. This photo was taken back then. She couldn’t even clean her butt. I just put her on the scale. Actually I got on the scale with her in my arms while she meowed. And then I weighed myself without Stella. She weighs 12 and half pounds.

No secret to her diet. She’s an indoor cat and we only put a third of can out in the morning and then a quarter cup of dry out at night. We weren’t able to control her weight when Ornette was alive because he was an active outdoor cat. He’d push the door open and chow down and run back outside. So we had to have food on hand at all times. We miss him.

Stella goes out in the morning for a few minutes but if one the neighbors makes a noise she comes to the door demanding to be let in immediately. She still sleeps most of the day but if he is awake for two hours that would be twice as many waking hours as when she was fat. Despite the new profile we still call her “Stelly Belly” and “Butterball”.