What Are You Doing For Excitement Today?

[Janet Harrington]

I think this isi so exciting and I can't wait to get back to Howard this weekend to see if this cousin got the pics sent to Mother.

As for me, when I drive to and from Indy to go to work, I notice some flowers, yellow with black centers, along the ditches. I am going to take pictures tomorrow and I hope my mother will be able to tell me what these flowers are. I don't think they are black-eyed susans, but we will see when I post the pictures. My excitement for the day. LOL

[Wilma]

Takes after me, doesn't she?

[Janet Harrington]

Here are the pics. The yellow wildflower is a Tall Coreopsis, but is there a common name for it? Then the Queen Anne's Lace is just everywhere you look.

I just wanted to share what I get to look at on my drive to and from work everyday.

[Diane Amberg]

Tick seed?

[larryJ]

Here in Los Angeles there is a street called Olvera Street.  It is located in the downtown area across from Union Station which is the main train, bus and subway hub.  Many movies have scenes that were taken inside Union Station. 

Olvera Street is said to be the oldest street in Los Angeles.  It is about two blocks long and is very narrow and paved with adobe bricks.  It has some of the oldest buildings in Los Angeles and the middle of the area, from one end to the other is lined with vendors selling all things Mexican and American Indian.  There are several restaurants, a candle-making shop, a museum, a well preserved hacienda on one side and outside to the southern end is a area with a bandstand and a place for street performers.  We have seen solo artists performing there as well as American Indian dancers doing traditional dances.  It is one of the most visited tourist spots in Los Angeles. 

We go every once in a while just to see it.  Nothing really changes except for some of the things the vendors sell.  Of course, the entertainment at the bandstand changes from time to time.  The food is excellent at the eateries and it is usually very crowded.  My wife's cousin probably has seen it, but it was decided yesterday to make another trip and take her with us. 

My son and daughter-in-law are off to Las Vegas to attend a wedding for the weekend and they left #3 granddaughter for my daughter to watch.  As this is my son-in-law's birthday, the two of them will be going out to dinner tonight which means all three granddaughters will be coming over to our house later this afternoon.  My son will return this evening. 

So, a busy day looking for a decent parking place..........merging through hundreds of people (narrow street).........waiting for a place to sit in a restaurant.........traffic.........finding a spot to sit if there any performers at the bandstand............and then coming home to watch our three granddaughters.  Can't think of any better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

   Friday and Saturday were really rough around here. Had some very serious storms come slashing through twice that did a lot of damage just south of here.
  Yesterday at 5:00 AM fire board just lit up with lightning strike calls ,trees on wires, houses and vehicles hit and damaged by lightning and flying trees.
  Most everywhere lost their power due to many big poles and primaries down. Lower Delaware had a couple of small tornadoes, but most of the problem was from severe straight line wind shear that buried the wires and roads under big trees for miles. We had been out and had stopped at the Amish farmers market.They had a big generator to run the freezer and refrigerator cases....but no lights. So we took our huge flash lights in from the truck and shopped all we wanted. No other customers and no waiting in line. HA!   
       Right now our air conditioning guy is here trying to figure out what the storm did to kill our two year old unit.  It's all under warranty still, but...who needs trouble when it's so brutally hot out? Seems to have something to do with the blower circuitry.
 Stay cool all.

[painted]

looking at the moon.....its bright. and the sky is so clear. as dark set in more and more stars lit up as if some one was turning them on one by one. Finally it's not to hot to be outside. The light breeze from across the pond is great, I love the frogs and crickets songs. Even the fireworks around the neighborhood don't seem to destract from fabulous summer night. 

[Ms Bear]

Diane, I hope you have been able to get your a/c fixed.  It is so much hotter there than it is here.  We have had rain but haven't lost power so that is good.

[larryJ]

We were faced with a tough decision for today.  Our #1 granddaughter will be marching in a parade today in the afternoon.  Some friends of ours are having a party at about the same time.  As we spend a great deal of time with our granddaughters, and not a lot of time with just us, we opted to go to our friend's party.  This was decided mostly because we had such a good day on Olvera Street last weekend without kids.  We felt it should just be a day for us today.  I don't feel bad about missing the parade.  I take her to her cheer leading class every week and see her perform.  Sitting out in the sun and then having to follow her to the end of the parade versus some good food and drink and friends our age really wasn't such a hard decision.  I am sure she will not miss us.

Larryj

[patyrn]

We enjoyed the LibertyFest Parade in downtown Edmond this morning.  It was longer than I had remembered from years in the past and was  full of lots of patriotic floats, military units, and Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts all honoring the USA along with all the traditional parts of a parade (fire trucks, bands, Shriners, horses and riders, vintage cars, farm implements, Queens, etc.)  They scheduled it at 9:00 a.m. so the heat was not unbearable, and we were lucky to find a shaded viewing spot.  Proud to be an American!!!  Happy 4th of July to all!