Scarlet Pimpernel

Dammit, Mrs. J...that is quite the dinner! And yeah, perfect for a hot day!

This is a great story, @H2O. Obviously not saying that because your dad was a racist as you say, but because you grew up beyond that with your own experiences and realized how that was just not right. I'm sorry to hear that you started hating your dad due to this, but I can understand (I've got my own crap family issues!!)...if that makes any sense. It's good you are drawing a line in the sand based on your experience; I find myself doing that as well. I've known people of various backgrounds, men, women, boys, girls, etc...and yes, you learn to like or dislike them based upon who they are, not because of some superficial aspect about them. I grew up in a fairly mixed neighborhood in the '70s and '80s, and knew black and white people who would treat me well and were friends, and those who treated me like shit. I didn't base that treatment on their race. Assholes transcend any cultural or racial barrier. As do people who are kind. I've lost some friends whom I've found over the years were not willing to be accepting of people for who they are...they objected based on their religious views or racial views (even if they thought the person was "nice")...and I just simply cannot go along with that.

Some clouds at sunset, between storms, this past Friday.

That's Cool, Mrs. J! My daughter has been taking riding lessons (and before that, summer camp sessions) at Meadowbrook Stables near Bethesda/Silver Spring. Really likes it! This summer they're allowing makeup classes for this past year (they were closed from March until now), so she's begun that again. And she's doing work there as an assistant to some of the half-day camp sessions too (that started up last week). She's a long way from jumping...right now her lessons have been walk/trot/canter.

I'm sorry to hear all this, PSU! I hope your son and daughter will be OK after all that. Funny (that's funny strange, not funny ha-ha, as a teacher I had once used to say)...your mention of your 2 year old crawling into Lily's bed by the window reminded me of how my daughter used to ask if she could make a "floor-bed" in our room if she felt scared or when there were thunderstorms, or after a movie that made her sad, or after a bad dream...years ago when she was younger. Your son is asking some questions almost beyond his years...and I cannot blame you for not knowing exactly how to answer. How does one explain that to a 5 year old, really? I don't know if I could do it very well, honestly. It's not easy to explain to someone that young that sometimes, people just simply suck...or explain a long and not very pleasant history of events in this country. But he's got the right idea, simple as it may sound from someone his age...why would anyone be mean to those based on how they look?

Ha! Maybe so! Of course, I was just joshing you a bit on the hot/humid weather stuff! Well, the 5 foot cockroach remark wasn't really a joke, I swear you could ride the ones in Florida!! Or at least lasso them.

I'd think having lived in Louisiana, the heat here would be nothing to you (can hear you saying, "meh...95 degrees and 2000% humidity? Y'all should see what it's like on the bayou, wimps!!")! You should laugh at us "northerners" wilting in heat and humidity!! I'll be honest, I never could deal with oppressive heat/humidity as well as I could with cold. But I grew up in northeast Ohio...if it got to 90+ degrees, fetch the smelling salts!! I lived in Florida for about 3 years (northern part, while in grad school, at FSU)...and *hated* the summers there! Oh, and the 5 foot long cockroaches.

Oh my...I am so sorry to hear about this, EJ!! I hope for the best for your friends and their relatives, whatever it's worth for me to say that. Take care, OK!!

Couple of photos for some Friday cheer!! A rose by any other name... A silky fall of water...

Congrats on your oldest kid graduating! Yeah, given the times I know most schools have not conducted "live" ceremonies but at least many tried to do something. My daughter graduates next year, guess it remains to be seen how that will work out by then. I don't even know if/when they'll attend school in person come September or how they will accommodate that. But regardless, I'll just feel that much older!! Now GTF off my damned lawn!

Haha! I actually remember the days of the old "traveler's advisory", ranging from icy conditions to a light/moderate snow event. Personally, I think the current "advisory" that they use is fine for the most part, it has a pretty wide latitude which I think is good. Including criteria for rush hour impacts. It essentially means an alert for a low to moderate impact event. One thing I'm glad they got rid of a few years ago was the "heavy snow warning", never seemed to quite fit in and was a bit confusing why that would be different from a "winter storm warning"...which itself already covers heavy snow (among other things). I swear sometime I once saw a map that had some areas with a heavy snow warning, others with a winter storm warning...for the same event and snow amounts (though winds may have been more the criteria for that).

So cute!!

Similar thing here for MoCo. They'll give kids in middle/high school a Pass/Incomplete for 4th quarter, but you have the option to have a traditional grade or a Pass/Incomplete for the entirety of the 2nd semester (grades were given for 3rd quarter, so some combination of that and 4th quarter P/Inc). School ends I think the end of next week if I remember the date correctly. We've opted for the actual grade, too, for 2nd semester. My daughter also took 2 AP exams, which were all online and shortened to like 45 minutes (normally they're a couple hours). There's some disgruntlement with the process, as those APs are not cheap and you're getting basically a "lite" version this time around due to the current situation. Also, there have been issues with submitting your final answers/essays but not getting recorded, and having to re-take it again later (this happened to my daughter, she took the AP Language and Composition a couple weeks ago, but the submission failed...so now she's having to re-take it this Friday!). It's been a bit of a cluster, for sure.

Go back to sleep, come back about December and see what's what by then! (Sneak preview: people complaining how we suck, winter is cancelled, fringed, etc.)

Oh wow...very sorry to hear that, PSU! I hope you are doing better and recovering OK, take care of yourself!

Oh...my...does that look TASTY!!

Maybe we flattened the curve of useless posts? Besides, it's summer, doesn't it normally get kind of thin in here unless there's anything severe going on or a tropical system? (ETA: Oh, and there's not much in the way of sports going on now either...) (ETA more: Personally, I think that wiener/Spaghettio image way back early in the month killed the thread!)

SNOW IN MAY!!! Holy cow, this is more that we got all season during actual winter!! . . . Nahhh, just kidding! It's only a coating of cottonwood seeds that are collecting all over the damned place. But it sure looks like snow, and actually did "accumulate" more than what I saw this year! (ETA: I slant-sticked about 3/4 inch total, and it's still falling!)

Wait, is that some vintage photo of @H2O Waterboy mowing his lawn back in the day??

Meh... Sun angle! Nothing but white rain! But seriously, pretty cool! I remember seeing it snow in CO years ago in July. But that was at the top of Mt. Evans at over 14,000 ft.

Early taste of Brood X for next spring? Must be an early straggler. I saw a few a year ago and was surprised.

LOL! Happy Birthday to you!! Now get the hell off my lawn! Hope you have a great day...

Ohhhh, Manhattans! I haven't had one in some time, myself, but like them a lot...Makers Mark for the bourbon for me (and sweet vermouth)! Also like a "perfect" Manhattan, which has both dry and sweet vermouth. There was a place in Atlanta when I lived there (the Highland Tap, for anyone familiar) that made awesome martinis and Manhattans. Friend of mine and I would go there quite often.

Yeah, the Dortmunder is one of their "lighter" beers, a golden ale. Personally I like that at this time of year, generally. But I also like the heavier fall/winter ones too, especially stouts. They have the "Edmund Fitzgerald" porter which is nice, and I've seen their "Blackout Stout" (commemorating the blackout in the northeast some years back) but never tried it yet. I also like their Holiday Ale, has some nice spice to it and is pretty heavy.