Cecilia, You're Breaking My Heart

Old habits are hard to break. Like clock work, I woke cleanly right at 715am, my typical weekend rise time barring any unforeseen circumstances (think too much beer). Mindy, of course, remained in bed as I slipped out of the room and downstairs. I started a pot of coffee then completed my calisthenics. It was sunny & 64 degrees outside – really nice.

After exercise, I poured a cup of coffee then took to my computer. At some point I rescued Eiknarf who was awake and ready to be released from Bella’s room. I took her on a brief walk where she relieved herself. I took my camera along but forgot that I took the battery out for a charging. No juice!

Back at the house and ahead of my run, I did some writing for my blog. Mindy was up a little before 9am. We spent some time together on the deck ahead of my run. I’m thinking that it was after 930am when I finally headed out.

It was an easy run, only 3 miles. Back at the house I asked Mindy if she planned on attending yoga. Yep. She planned on grocery shopping too. I thought I might trim the red maples around the yard, something I’ve been trying to find the time to do for a couple months. Jimaken came by to pick-up the kids around 11am and planned to keep them until about 3pm since he didn’t get a chance to do dinner with ‘em during the week.

Mindy left for yoga around 1145am. I openly celebrated the fact that I’d have 3.5 hours of alone time to putter around the house. I took my iPod and dock out on the deck then retrieved my tree pruning tools from the garage. I listened to Edgar Winter while trimming the trees.

I took my time with the trimming, removing all the branches that sagged below eye level, and then pretty much any branches with a downward trajectory. I had quite a pile by the time I finished. Not only does it open up the yard a bit more, but it allows more sunlight to the lawn and plants below too, not to mention the additional headroom. I must’ve made 6 or 7 trips back to the compost pile with all the cut branches. The cut branches ranged in size from ½” to as large as 3.5” in diameter.

After taking care of the trees I watered all the flowers front and back. Everything was looking thirsty, including the lawn. Next, I sprayed another dose Weed-Be-Gone. You may recall, I sprayed about 5 gallons the Saturday before I left for NYC. That dose did a remarkable job riding the lawn of most of the weeds.  I wanted to hit that pesky morning glory out back with another dose and then the few patches of remaining clover. I used about ¾ gallon this dose, not that much.

I headed inside where I took care of several inside tasks, including putting the sofa & chair covers in the dryer and then later reinstalling them. I still wasn’t done. Just before getting a shower, I vacuumed the entire downstairs. The house was looking good when I finished.

Mindy got home near 3pm just like she predicted. I helped her carry in groceries. She asked if I made arrangements to have Olivia. Funny, I was just about to tell her that I told Olivia she could spend the night.  Wasn’t sure how that would go over, but I couldn’t resist. Mindy was fine with it. We’d simply take her with us to see Bella perform at the St. Cecilia Festival.

We were expecting the kids to get home anytime. In fact, we were expecting Olivia to arrive at about the same time. Everybody was home by 330pm. We planned to leave for the festival near 4pm to allow enough time to pick-up Gloria, who was going along, too.

It was a gorgeous afternoon with sunny skies and a temperature near 80, just like forecasted. Low humidity too. Picked up Gloria around 415-420pm and arrived at St. Cecilia sometime after 430pm. Not only were we early for Bella’s event, but for the entire festival too. Not much of a crowd at all. Right away, it was pretty obvious that they have a more organized, better ran festival than St Margaret’s and certainly St Mary Magdalene.  A lot better mid-way ride selection as well as nice crowd flow.

Bella and Olivia wanted to ride rides immediately. Mindy sprung for $20 in ride tickets, which were crazy expensive for what they were. The kiddie rides were $3 a piece. We really should’ve sprung for the $15 wrist band. They blew through the $20 worth of tickets in a hurry.

Bella needed to be at the performance tent around 5pm. We headed back there as soon as the ride tickets were gone. You might wonder what Jacob did the entire time the girls rode rides. He used his $10 for two balloon/dart games. He won a prize both times. Not really sure who won, though, them of him. J The prizes were cheap 1 dollar stuffed animals.

The kids wanted drinks, and it was kind of warm standing in the bright sunshine. We fetched drinks from the nearby refreshment tent. We got Olivia some cotton candy too. Bella would get some as well, but Mindy wanted her to perform first, so not to get it all over herself.

Ran into an old friend, Joyce Castarano. Haven’t seen her in years. Introduced her to Mindy. As it turned out, they knew each other somewhat, through Jodi & Larry. They lived across the street from one another.  Joyce is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. And her family can cook like there’s no tomorrow. 100% Italian! Mindy and Joyce exchanged numbers so we can reconnect at another time. She was working the refreshment tent.

Bella’s recital started around 530-6pm. But Bella was one of the last performances. Must’ve been ten others ahead of her. And since she only started two weeks ago, we weren’t expecting too much. She did great, though, doing cart wheels, tumbles, and jumps with another girl about her same age/size.

We stuck around after she finished to watch some Irish jig dancers. They were cute. Ran into Makayla and Lillian, who were there with Lillian’s step dad. Bella really wanted to go find them after her performance and ride big girl rides. But the rest of us were eager to get home and grill our dinner – steaks. That was the plan all along. We didn’t make plans to hang at the festival for that long. Gloria decided to catch a ride home with niece Lindey, who came to watch Bella perform as well.

Think we left for home around 615pm, or just when the crowd was starting to build. I’m not too big on these festivals. For one, the beer is crappy. On our drive home I suggested we skip I-270 so I could see the progress at the new casino. I was surprised. The steel structure is already taking shape. I’ll need to get some photos of the entire area. If things go according to plan, one won’t recognize the entire area ten years from now.

Weren’t home too long before Mindy had me start the grill. I poured a pint of Centennial first. Yum-yum! We had four Rib Eye’s to grill along with a batch of asparagus, which Mindy planned to blanch first. I ended up over cooking the outside of two of the four steaks. All were OK inside, though. Mindy tried inviting the neighbors’ down for dinner but learned that they were off to another friend’s house to watch a NASCAR race.

The steak was good. I ate only about half mine. The asparagus was pretty good, too. Mindy bought a frozen key lime pie at the grocery. Haven't had one of those in eons. She and Bella wanted some pie right after dinner. I wasn't so sure that I wanted any, at least right then. What I did want was another beer. In fact, it wasn't long before I polished off the growler. But not to worry, I had a fine selection of IPAs waiting in the mini garage fridge.

Bella asked a little earlier if we could have a fire on the pondside patio. Why not? Haven't had one all summer. It's been too warm to think about a fire. The kids wanted to roast marshmallows, too, but we didn't have any. We all gathered around the fire, which started rather easily with the aid of charcoal starter fluid. The patio shrinks up in a hurry once you get a fire going. Too close really. I'm thinking about expanding the patio by about three feet, but before I'd get serious, I'll have a fire and put the benches/chairs at an optimum distance to make sure I'm expanding it big enough.

Because we didn't have marshmallows, I suggested that the kids roast hot dogs instead. I half expected them to pooh, pooh that notion. However, they didn't. Instead, they cheered gleefully.  Bella and Olivia roasted hot dogs. Actually, Mindy roasted most of Olivia's. Bothe girls woofed them down in a hurry. We didn't stay out too long. Jacob had the honor of dousing the fire with pond water.

Back inside, I poured myself a Hop Wallop and tuned in to the preseason NFL football game - Lions vs. Patriots. Granted, it was only a preseason game, but the Lion's were kicking their hind ends. They looked really sharp.

Mindy got the kids tucked into bed. Olivia fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. I headed up to tuck 'em in afterwards. Mindy & I headed for bed around 1030pm. Still catching up on my sleep, I guess.