Here’s a sneak preview of what I’ve been up to, and it’s my biggest challenge yet–sorting and organizing the chaos that was Y’s room!  We’re talking hoarder.

Just the mountains of clothing and bedding that were stuffed into every crevice presented a week’s worth of laundering.  Then there were all the crafting materials and other paraphernalia of every description, literally enough to fill another room.  It’s no mere “12-stepper”, because almost every other room in the house is involved, especially the office.

This project will require all the time the kids are away.  Jess and Avdi will help with reorganizing storage shelving units and a bed, once I’ve gotten multiple rooms under control.  I’ll move on to clearing out closets downstairs to hold all the bedding linens, pillows, blankets, cushions, etc.  Which involves sorting all the old stuff from the closets.  And so on.

This is the kind of project I like, because it’s all-consuming and requires thinking in strategic chess moves.  I wish I had a before-shot, but it was too scary to even share.  The after-shots are what I’m after!  So satisfying.

On a more frivolous note, since there were only the two of us for Shabbat, I got a reprieve, and another bonus evening out!  After drinks (gin slings) by me, we checked out San José Mexican Restaurant in WG, by the tracks.  Excellent margaritas and food, as we watched the frequent and very long freight trains go by!  Highly recommend.

Then we walked around town, with all its boutiquey shops and eateries.  There’s actually a genuine record shop with everything.  It’s sadly ironic that we no longer have phonographs and cd players, but the kids seem to be fascinated by all that throw-back physical media now, so maybe we’re seeing a come-back.

With all this interior activity (and extreme heat), I’ve barely made it out to the garden, except to water, but the flowers and veggies are really coming along.

I’m so behind, but not from procrastinating.  On Wednesday evening, Avdi and I did our latest adventure date, this time in Central West End.  We did Lazy Tiger, Brennan’s, and Up-Down.  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, no time to elaborate, except that it was great, as usual, and without the usual time limit.

Sunday night’s charcuterie “meeting” was pretty brief, with just a few scheduling items.  Monday I gave myself the day “off”, as there wasn’t much for me to do over there.

Today I not only did the usual cleanup, but started one of my so-called 12-step-projects, this time a challenging one.  I had permission from Y to clean up his room, which will really take planning and time, which I’ll have.

I won’t go into all that’s involved, but trust me, it’s like disassembling a mountain of chaos, reducing the hoard by half, and reorganizing it in some semblance of order.  But I’ve had plenty of practice, so by now I should be a specialist.  Call me the chaos vampire.  I suck the crap out of the room.

Avdi’s birthday was a big success.  I lost count of all the people, familiar and new, all ages.  Everyone enjoyed food, drinks, gaming, badminton, swimming, and hanging out for hours.  Jess brought a beautiful tiramisu cake, and E baked the best apple pie from scratch ever.  A lot of K’s friends spilled over into the house to game and chill.  I spent a lot of quality time with Y in the pool, and later getting to know people.  I believe Avdi had a very happy birthday indeed, thanks to his large group of friends and admirers.

As it got dark, the solar lights came on, including the pretty new ones in the pool, and the moon lit up the sky.  There were noisy, messy fireworks at the neighbors’ through the trees, which we could have done without, but still it was a fitting finale to our beautiful day.

Later I spent the night, while Avdi went to J’s.  the next day was laundry and packing day for all the kids for their trip to MI for a month with Mom.  I stuck around to be able to say goodbye.  Then I came home and slept in this morning.

Outside, patriotic parades and fireworks go on as if nothing’s changed, as if we still live in a democracy and not a fascist dictatorship.  Hard to fathom the denial and brainwashed lockstep.

Inside, it was quiet.  We mostly ignored the 4th and worked or prepared for Shabbat.  It was so hot out, I made an entire cold salad meal, featuring veggies from the garden and the first ripe tomatoes!  Just A, K, E, and I were there.

Tomorrow we’ll celebrate Avdi.

Well, I worked my ass off in the blazing humidity, to try to make Avdi’s patio gardens pretty for his party, and I’m pretty much done.  I discovered ripening tomatoes in there, as well as more big cucumbers.  The corn is corning, some with red silk.  Flowers are flowering.  The weeds were a bitch, but I got the better of them.  The exhaustion is well worth it.  E mowed the lawn and vacuumed the pool, so it’s looking good.

This year the 4th is nothing to celebrate, unless it’s the memory of democracy, but I always celebrate and honor my son’s birthday, the 5th, and hope to for many more.

The big garden cleanup continued.  Too many things to mention, so I’ll just post pictures.  Gotta get back to it.

Yesterday was bearable, so I began the job of weeding all the backyard beds before A’s birthday B&B this weekend.  The good news is, I discovered all kinds of flower seedlings trying to come up under all the weeds.  You know there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

Rain and more rain!  No complaints here!  I spent the night, actually slept.  The garden is rejoicing, including weeds!  More on that later.

In the evening, Jess and I went to a show at The City Winery… HipHopera!  You had to be there to believe opera and hip hop can be fused.  Excellent.  Then I persuaded J to check out the “secret” speakeasy, where we had more drinks.  I think I may have kept her out past her bedtime; I’m such a bad influence.

Walked over in tepid soup, made challah, cleaned, made dinner, etc.  I made fresh-pack dill pickles with some of the fat garden cucumbers.  It was very quiet over there, with everyone in their own room sleeping or reorganizing.  Later, the squirrels got out the water slide, and jumped in the pool, also tepid soup.

Y actually initiated a disgruntled conversation with me about why marriage doesn’t work (no arguments here!), which I later realized had something to do with the latest tensions over plans for the kids to spend part of the summer with their mother.  Between that, and Avdi’s work causing him a frustrating nonproductive day, and other issues, he was not too happy.  Of course it’s all on top of the continuing background of political hell affecting every aspect of life for everyone.

I never did get outside to water, but then lo and behold, it thunderstormed, with tons of rain!  It was a scary storm; Y was huddling in fear in his bed, until I coaxed him out.  I myself was very pleased at the sudden turn of weather events, as were all my plant friends.  This heat wave has been a real killer.

Later, walking home, the sky was this eerie unnatural bright orange, kind of like trump.  Nuts!