Busy today and tomorrow. Spent today with my neice and parents getting ready for her birthday party tomorrow. She and my mother have decided to have a Mexican fiesta theme for her day at the pool with friends and family.
Murray has arrived in Atlanta tonight to work on opening an office of his company here. He'll be in town til Thursday so I'll probably be spending a good bit of time with him while he's here.
I also have an appointment in Buckhead in the afternoon to make before Rachael's party so I'm sure I'll be worn out by the end of the day. Then I make an insane road trip on Tuesday. At least it won't be a boring week.

Was kind of a do-nothing day today. High point was watching a show on the project to clone the Tasmanian Tiger, a native, marsupial carnivore brought to intentional extinction by humans who were trying to recreate the flora and fauna of Europe at the time. I remember reading about that animal when I was a kid in grammar school. The last one died in 1936 in a zoo in Europe. I had a huge interest as a child in the recently extinct.

Spent today babysitting for Ray's daughter. Turned out to be very enjoyable and much easier than I thought it would be. She's a precocious, friendly little girl who likes the Beatles, Hello Kitty and the original Batman TV series among other things. I took her to the Botanical Garden where we spent most of the day while her dad was working.

Joy & Cam's backyard cookout thursday was great. Good group of people. Good home made eats. Great house and garden. And, as an early birthday gift, Cam gave Joy a trampoline! Everyone was trying it out all day - kids of all ages, gender, size, etc. were jumping, bouncing and giggling uncontrollably. Despite the oppressive heat, there was also a volleyball game going on most of the afternoon. At night, we were lucky enough to be able to see fireworks from the backyard. Some of the crowd ran down the sidewalk to get a view of the display unobstructed by the trees.
I came home tired, stickey, and happy.

Was going to see Viva Las Vegas at Screen On The Green in Piedmont Park, but thunderstorms blew into the city tonight. Stayed home and watched Frasier instead.

Looking forward to having my hair cut tomorrow. Got a free hairstyle coupon for a buckhead salon from a photo client that I am quite thankful for. I love scooby-snacks.

What I learned today:

Cremini mushrooms are really just baby portobello mushrooms.

I saw the most perverse thing on CBS this morning. They were showing film of a tearful mother apparently talking about the hate-crime murder of her gay teenage son. Then a minister comes on and, rather than condemning this kind of violence, starts explaining how the ACLU is everyone's enemy.

What I learned today:

You can trust a man with a dog because he knows he has to come home at night or clean up the mess in the morning.

Ha!



I'm completely down-to-earth!
Find your soul type at kelly.moranweb.com. >

Got this recurring dream.

I set a snake loose in the garden.

I only had the best intentions.

Wanted to help the little creature.

It seemed about to die in a rocky place.

I forgot that songbirds live in the garden.

Now there is a predator loose among them

and I don't have a way to take it back.

Watching Earth Girls Are Easy on TV tonight.
Jeff Goldblum is such a hottie.

I had a nicer time than I anticipated at the potluck yesterday. Met some nice people that I could actually come close to holding a conversation with and had some good home cooking. I'm awful at small talk and social graces. Mostly, at gatherings of strangers, I like to watch and try to stay out of the way.

Today I bought groceries and the sunday paper. Then went out to late lunch and hung out with Spike in east Atlanta.

Got to watch Farscape on someone else's television last night. Still mourning the loss of the SciFi Channel on my basic cable account.

Read in this month's Health magazine Tip of the Month: Socialize. Researchers found that soungbirds living in large groups have more new brain neurons than those alone. Those findings "indicate that flocking to social activities might be just the boost your brain needs."

With that in mind, I'm planning to go to a potluck neighborhood gathering today.

I'm finally home from my holiday in Paris, France. The city of Paris is beautiful. The people are beautiful. The food, wines, cheese, and bakeries are wonderful. The museums and history of the city are incredible. What can I say - it's Paris.

And I have my computer back and working again, too. Now I'm starting to settle back into a regular daily schedule again.