Hollywog's Pond

What a weekend!

'Twas so busy it has taken me until mid-week to post about it. :)

Started things off a bit early with Thursday departure road trip to the dry side of the state for a family reunion of sorts. My great aunt and uncle passed this year and a memorial was held by their family on what would have been their 76th anniversary. It was very emotional for me, which I was not expecting. My great aunt and my grandmother looked very much alike and had similar personalities, especially later in life. It was difficult to hear again the dementia stories as life and memories are worn slowly away. On the plus side, I now have a ton of cousins I never knew existed! Yeah! They were all very sweet and welcoming and we had a nice pool party in the 100+ weather. Remind me never to do summer over there again.

Only made one winery stop where dad got a bottle of his fave and I purchased a farmer's market cookbook with wine pairing suggestions on a custom bookmark. Go figure I walk into a winery and buy food paraphernalia. Can't wait to try one of the recipes!

After that we were off to Uncle Ken's 60th birthday bash. As usual, a lovely party. There were some great jokes about the date Ken started dying his hair (it is all natural with maybe three gray hairs) including a certificate of authenticity from his hair dresser of 30+ years. Very funny. Saw some more cousins and enjoyed their company as well. We should have reunions more often! And then of course, the night ended with some pretty explosives. Who could ask for a better finale?

Sunday took us back home at last. I ran off to a BBQ and proceeded to get tipsy off of one glass of wine due to my exhausted state. Food was delish! Friend of the host has a seafood export company in Mexico and provided some lovely dishes as well as cooking the whole thing himself! That ceviche was FRESH! Mmm, mmm good.

Monday brought Althea to me and the dog/cat drama ensued. Sigh. It has improved as of last night. I think they just need to spend more time together. Poor girl whined all night and turned me into a zombie for work yesterday. I actually put my head down in an empty cube and took a ten minute cat nap. It actually helped me get through the rest of the day - hurray for cat naps! My attempt at a Sunset recipe for dinner turned out pretty well though the vegetable chopping took considerably longer than anticipated, even with a mandolin. Makes for tasty lunches when dinner takes a long time (usually) so I guess it balances out in the end.

Looking forward to sporting my Sounders jersey this weekend and being lazy. Very lazy.