Kris and a fountain

Kris attended a magic class at Glen Oak Park tonight, and she and I learned some simple and fun tricks.

Karen's birthday

Yesterday after a lot of work around the house we went to dinner with the Bosmas to celebrate Karen's birthday. Afterward we had a big thunderstorm that finally cooled off the weather. Today Karen had a French toast breakfast and opened presents, then we went to church and had a picnic lunch at Wildlife Prarie State Park. This evening we went to IHOP. Goofy thing: a late night TV rerun was a Christmas episode - Merry Christmas everyone!

Summery things

HOT this week in Peoria with highs in the 90s and heat indices over 100. At the same time Bradley University's science building has HVAC problems and was in the 60s indoors. Bugs has been a little ill this week, but I think/hope he is pulling out of it. Here is a picture of him resting next to an air conditioner vent. Our garden is doing all right: lettuce is fine and we are starting to get peas, black raspberries (big sign of summer peak), a few yellow beans, and five blueberries from a bush extracted from northern Wisconsin. I think this is the first time we succeeded on the beans and blueberries. Everybody has heard about the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson; RIP all of them. I have this dim memory of seeing Michael Jackson doing his moonwalk on TV in the early 80s and wondering "how did he do that"? Tonight we went to the Forest Park Nature Preserve to attend a firefly program (fireflies are another big sign of summer peak). The weather has cooled and dried somewhat, which made it less conducive for fireflies than earlier this week, but it was a nice show and I got a few time exposure pictures. I forgot to bring a tripod - it is hard to hold perfectly still for 15 seconds! Oddly, few signs of cicadas yet.

Cave Point County Park

Sunday, not long before we headed home, we visited Cave Point County Park, on the Lake Michigan side of Door County. The place is pretty, and Karen, Kris, and I find ourselves wishing there was a beach around here (especially with the heat we have been having).

Door County weekend

We camped in Karen's folks' backyard this weekend and had fun.

Matthiessen State Park

On Friday morning, on our way to Door County, WI, we stopped at Matthiessen State Park (see: http://www.stateparks.com/matthiessen.html). This park is close to Starved Rock State Park, which is bigger and more well-attended. Like many, I have not paid to much attention to this place...until a former student sent pictures of her visit. What a joy is was to spend an hour or so poking around in all the nooks and crannies of this place, and with all the rain there were lots of waterfalls. This sort of quiet intimacy with the sandstone dells was what I was looking for in Wisconsin Dells last year, but I just could not seem to get close. When we got back to the van I said to Karen that I was hot, tired, dirty, and sweaty and happy as a clam. Enjoy just a few of the many pix that I took.

Assorted

Here is a picture from 4 years ago today, along the Pacific Ocean in Olympic National Park. It was a beautiful evening. Assorted week. I stuck myself in the hand with a needle in the lab a couple days ago and it left a bit of a welt. I saw a doctor about it and it appears to be getting better. Last night Karen and I attended a CPR and AED class at our church. The resuscitation techniques have gotten simpler over the years. Yesterday the weather started to get quite warm and humid - looks like summer is finally here. The fireflies are really coming out. Our strawberries are done, and our gardens seem to be doing well. Lettuce, anyone? We had a severe thunderstorm rumble through at 5 am (Karen and I heard it coming, but Kris can sleep through just about anything). No hail here, but an inch of rain, wind, and the sky looked like a strobe light with all the lightning. Small branches down here, and a few doors up the street a house has its power line angling down across the street (with plently of room left for a vehicle, however). Karen saw broken and uprooted trees in town. Tonight we are watching "Slumdog Millionaire", it is nice. A couple days ago I saw "Coneheads" (it's been a long time). We saw it a drive-in in South Dakota on our honeymoon and again in Seattle in a hotel near our first anniversary. What is the significance of seeing it now? I found it in the video store!