With the heat index, per the news, we're the hottest spot in the state right now. 106 degrees.
Ned's at camp, but I know he'd post this if he were in town. Enjoy your day!
Mary Beth's dad always gets hosed with the double birthday/father's day card/gift. This year, also the blog post. Today's the birthday. Check out those 1980s glasses!
Lately, I've had an itch to move closer to home. It's been brewing for awhile now, but it's bubbled up again here recently with great intensity. I keep mentioning it to Ned, knowing that there's no way we'd move anytime soon (in two years maybe?), but I want him to know that it's something I'm serious about. I hope that mentioning it over and over and over again will eventually convince him. Today, we received a letter from my sister entitled "16 reasons y'all should move to Savannah," to reinforce my petitions. Here are a few of the highlights:
The new iPhone debuts tomorrow, which will render my iPhone obsolete. I updated to the new software today, which has a voice recorder and a cool new messaging system, but it's little consolation. The new iPhone has a compass (see the icon on the right) and the Google Maps feature will automatically rotate so that the map you view is from the perspective of where you stand. Do you know how many wrong turns that can save me? I can never figure out which way is North. I tried to be extra pitiful this morning in hopes that Ned would tell me to go buy the new iPhone tomorrow to cheer myself up, but he didn't fall for it. What can I do to persuade him? Ideas welcome.
I haven't been able to quit listening to Springsteen since we saw him in April. He's so great. So really, really great.
Ned's in Phoenix and I'm in Vicksburg, moping. We've got a lot of travel coming up; I think we'll only see each other two days in the next two weeks. We both hate it. On to happier thoughts, I've made an important decision for us this past week: when we next move, it'll be closer to the beach--preferably a beach near Georgia. We're not putting the house on the market anytime soon, mind you, but after nine years in Mississippi, I'm ready to go home.
After stressful work weeks (has it only been days?),we enjoyed date night tonight in Jackson. We celebrated Ned turning in the first full draft of the diss and our first dinner together--unrushed by work deadlines--in over two weeks. We ended the evening at Target. Great married fun. We'll have to do it again.
I'm guessing there's no leftover wedding cake, huh? It was too good to have any leftovers.
Photo by my friend and newspaper photographer, Katie Carter. I'm sure she won't mind me borrowing it from the Vburg Post. Article on the market here.
This was a great surprise in the zinnia bed on Saturday! What looks like a weed (on the left), is actually volunteer Thai Basil. I planted some last year and loved it, but lost control at the end of the season and let it go to seed. I looked to buy more this year, but couldn't find it. And today, look what I found: one little volunteer. The seed must have survived the winter, and it's sprouted amongst our zinnias.
Aforementioned zinnias.
The tomatoes are out of control. The plants are so heavy with fruits that they have bent the tomato cages we use to contain them, and they've all fallen over on top of one another. MB tried to "tidy" the garden today and right all the problems, and we had a few green tomato casualties. But, as you saw yesterday, we made good use of them for dinner. When these turn red, we'll be tomato rich!
The green peppers. Ned wants to pick them now. I like them a little bigger. And, since we have green peppers in the fridge, these will get to stay on the plant for a few more days.
Each day of Dissertation Madness, Ned's received a surprised. One day I stocked the beer fridge with his favorite, Blue Moon. Another day, I bought him some Klondike ice cream bars. On yet another day, I baked him some of his favorites: peanut butter cookies. On Friday, admittedly, I fell behind and he got nothing. So today -- Saturday -- Ned got two surprises. Surprise #1: three new Florida Jasmine planted beneath the windows in the living room (to take the place of all the trash weeds and dead azaleas that were there before). And, for dinner, homegrown (and home fried) green tomatoes. They were delicious! Zinnias in the back, courtesy of our garden. Tabasco, courtesy of our SFA sponsor. Blue Moon, courtesy of Ned. It's the last of his beer fridge surprise stash.
The VFM was a hit today. We had probably 500 customers over a three hour period, but it was never too crowded. And this year we set up a cafe area, and people actually took the time to sit and visit. It was great!
We made it--to June, that is. Ned and I have this thing: once you turn use the AC, it's a point of no return. And neither of us could stand the thought of giving in to summer as early as May. So we toughed out the mini-heat waves in May, using ceiling fans, and we made it all the way to June without turning on the cool air. And, since the start of the month, we've only turned it on twice: both times briefly in the evenings, just to cool things down for a few hours, and we cut it off again. We've enjoyed keeping the doors open for almost two full months! Tonight, it's supposed to be 61 (thanks to a rainy day), and tomorrow night the low is 58 (freakish, no?). If this keeps up, we'll keep the doors open and the air off just a bit longer. It helps, of course, that the cold-natured half of Team Mitchell works at home. I'm not sure Ned would have survived the great AC challenge if he didn't have his office escape some days!
I've been thinking about Paul McLeod this week, and wishing for a visit to Graceland Too. It's just the sort of good fun that our house could use this week, as work and dissertation stresses continue to mount.
This is the water wheel that operated the Jameson Distillery until the 1970s. Ah, good times. Also, prayers to St. Anthony work. Ned found the data he needs for his chapter. Hooray!
call for desperate dinners. We went with frozen pizza and Velveeta mac and cheese tonight (pizza for Ned, mac for MB). Tomorrow, we'll try something a little healthier. Tonight, it was about getting it on the table fast.
