Erev dinner went well, with five of us together.  I incorporated a zucchini, an eggplant, tomatoes, a cucumber, and basil, all from the garden, into the Greek-inspired menu.

I seem to be engaging with the kids more lately, or they with me.  I feel more a part of the family and its progression.  I’m realizing the importance to Avdi and the kids of my just being there consistently and helping with continuity.

Avdi obliged my need to be useful by assigning me a big job: cleaning his office from top to bottom.  Mission accomplished.  I also vacuumed the pool and did other pool maintenance.  And sorted/consolidated Y’s meds.  So I think I “earned my keep”.

Here’s a belated photo of E’s amazing homemade tiramisu.  Be duly impressed.

Another amazing event was the impressive unfurling of another bird-of-paradise leaf, like a sail.  The elephant ears do the exact same thing, only somewhat smaller.  It never ceases to fascinate me.  I have to duck under leaves to move around, like in a jungle.

The okra has started presenting its gorgeous, delicate flowers (and okra).

In the midst of all the eventfulness, Avdi and I were still able to have our monthly “mom date”.  Jess came over to work with Avdi and stay with the kids.  E made this gorgeous and delicious strawberry layer cake, which we then ate, and a perfect tiramisu in addition, all from scratch.

This time we stayed closer to home in Webster, checked out Robust, where we sat out on the patio with tiki drinks and atmosphere.  Two musicians played acoustic Latin music, like Buena Vista Social Club, on guitars to complete the effect.  (The adorable drink skewers don’t actually represent how many drinks we consumed, which was one each!  The nice server saw I liked them and brought me a whole selection–my new hobby!)

Next, we adjourned to Madrina, an upscale, modernized version of a mid-century Italian-American fine dining establishment.  We had beautiful handcrafted drinks in that vein, and enjoyed talking to the bartender girl.  We decided to just chill there and talk and eat fried calamari, which was excellent, while the music crooned appropriately.  All in all, a very relaxing evening not far away from home, but we may as well have been somewhere in the Mediterranean.  That’s the beauty of WG.

Mic drop!  No surprise (or judgement) here, just the inevitable, but it’s kind of humorous!  It will all re-sort itself out eventually.

Everyone has retreated into their own private rooms or gone to visit friends, which is as it should be.  It’s still very quiet.  Chores are starting to get done, not by me!  There’s evidence of kids having explored the garden a little, like little animals looking for food!.  Also as it should be.  Back to a routine.

I just got some good news.  It turns out my dental work was mostly covered and I don’t have to go into more debt than I can ever repay!  I’ve been dreading that for weeks, but once again I got an unexpected reprieve.  And the rest of my upcoming procedures for the year will be covered.  For a poor person, this is major.

Avdi and I picked up the “squirrels” today.  I got to see S again briefly.  It was a long trip there (halfway point) and back.  Avdi was exhausted and crashed on the sofa.  The kids wasted no time getting together with friends.

And just like that, the weather switches from unbearably hot and humid to paradise at the turn of the month.  From cowering in AC to basking in the cool, dry wind.  Yeah, I know, first world issue, while the world is being destroyed by unnatural forces, but still.

It was our last peaceful Shabbat, with just the three of us.  Tomorrow I’m riding along to get the kids (and see S) at the halfway point.  Avdi is not very happy today.

Also today, in a humorous twist, I was driving Avdi around in the Fit to run errands, as he and Eric had traded cars for the day, and I’m better at manual!  Imagine, me better than Avdi at something!  Compared to that misadventure the other day, getting lost for hours on the way back from dropping K at friends’, this was a breeze.

I’ll let photos do the rest of the talking.

I’m just going to post these photos from the last couple of days, and leave it at that for now.  I’ll just say I’ve been hard at work, Avdi and Jess got home from CO, and it finally cooled off.

While A&J were basking in dry heat in CO, I was sweating it out in the tropics of MO.  I was determined to get this one job accomplished: I surrounded the large shade natives garden with fairy lights I had gotten A for his birthday, using poles.  I  repurposed some square arches Y had built to string the lights over the front and back of Percy’s Path.  It’s not all done yet, but I expect it will make that garden look magical after dark.

The caterpillars all over the parsley are black swallowtail.  The milkweed is swamp milkweed.  The cucumber is from Y’s plant.  The eggplant is an Asian type.

A&J took flight, and I got the Fit!  So I drove over to A’s, checked in with K, and braved the continuing hell wave to do a few jobs outside.  I vacuumed/skimmed/re-filtered the pool, planted a tree sapling, switched out some problematic hoses, and watered the front and back.  That’s all I could handle in the sauna.  The pool was like a hot tub.

I did the usual stuff indoors, made sure K was OK with being by himself, and drove home to chill.  It’s the best of both worlds; I get to commute back and forth without dying on the way.  If I had money, I’d go shopping!