Another shot with my long range lens. Everything looks slightly, but only slightly, out of focus and rather magical.

I had to crop the upper left hand corner because my neighbors have some ugly old truck parked there. Looks like the kind of truck an electrician would use. Plus, the grass is really long which leads me to believe their rider mower is temporarily out of commission. Truck, unmowed grass – all we need is an abandoned sofa to complete the picture. Normally, they mow regularly, so I just have to let it go until they can mow again.

But it does mess up my photos…don’t they know I’m a blogger?????

There’s not a whole lot to share since yesterday’s post. We’ve been taking it easy. Don’s reading a book by Jim Harrison, I’m reading Wicked Prey  by John Sandford. Two more books arrived at the library yesterday. Yikes. I think I went a little overboard with the ‘hold’ button. So I read a big chunk of the Sandford this morning and will try to read more later on today.

We were going to watch more of Babylon Berlin last night but we noticed that TCM was running Top Hat  and Swing Time with Fred and Ginger. You know I’m a huge fan of Fred Astaire and have been since I was about 12. I have pretty much every book ever written about him and I have all of their movies on DVD. However, our DVD player is broken and it’s always fun to discover that the movies are being run live on TCM. So we dropped our plans and happily spent 4 hours in Art Deco/Astaire/Rogers heaven along with brilliant supporting cast members Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick (I love her, she can land a comeback like no one else) Eric Blore, and Victor Moore.

We’re still talking about it this morning.

Don is making pancakes and fried eggs while I write this, so I’ll have to sign off soon.

I hope you’re having a good weekend. Labor Day is Monday so it’s a long weekend around here, full of weekenders and campers. We’ll stay close to home.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

A foggy morning. The mornings are so much cooler now. It’s going to be in the low 80s today, so the daytime temps are rising, but I sure do sense a little bit of autumn in the air.

Yesterday, I had to run to the library to return a book and pick up two that I had reserved. Don offered to drive me, as the library was closing within about 15 minutes. On the way back home, I thought I spotted a banner for the Convicted Felon on a neighbor’s house. I thought I was seeing things. This is a neighbor about 6 houses down from us, someone we’ve chatted with on walks. When I told Don, we decided to turn around in our driveway, and drive back there to see if I was right. Of course, I was hoping I was wrong. Nope. A huge cloth banner hanging from the railing of the stoop on the side of their house, with “Take back America” and his name. They deliberately put it there because they are on a corner and the road there dead ends at a very public and well known campground which gets a lot of visitors.

I was stunned. I guess I shouldn’t be, but these people seemed like anything but fans of the Convicted Felon. It’s such a disappointment, isn’t it? It’s not like they are billionaires. They own a modest home and a nice chunk of property. So…they are okay with supporting a convicted felon, liar, rapist, and racist.

Good to know.

I know we’ve all experienced something like this in the past 8 years. I was pretty sure nothing would shock me at this point, but this one did.

We’re taking it easy today. Lots of reading, maybe a little weeding, laundry, etc. I’m reading some books by John Sandford, and Greg Hurwitz, both authors I’ve heard of but never read. They’re quite good.

The garden is still looking beautiful.

Maybe I’ll sit on the porch for a while. But first, we’re going to take a little walk at the library.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Thought you might want to check on on The Dude.

As expected, he’s cool.

The DNC was the best convention I have ever seen. Beyond ‘best.’  In the past, I never watched the entire broadcast from start to finish. I would check in and out, or tune in for the final speech of the night. This time, I didn’t want to miss anything. And I’m happy to say I didn’t. One powerful speaker after another – our bench is really deep – one moment laughing, the next crying. I could try to highlight certain moments, but frankly, there are way too many! (And I have ‘stayed-up-too-late-too-many-nights-in-a-row’ brain.)

Tim Walz. What an extraordinary man. And his son Gus shouting “That’s my dad! That’s my dad!” Pure, unbridled love for his father.

All of it culminating in the best acceptance speech I have ever heard. Kamala knocked it out of the park…out of the universe!

So glad we watched it on C-Span. We got to hear the house band, and watch the dance breaks with the delegates dancing along with the music. No pundits explaining something I just witnessed. Just the pure, unfiltered experience.

I’m feeling so hopeful this morning. I’ve never been a big flag waver. And then the ‘other side’ coopted it when they claimed to be “patriots.” We have taken it back, thank goodness.

Oh gosh, my thoughts are a jumble this morning. Thank you to the DNC for a masterful and joyful convention.

It’s been a week of late nights, lots of mowing, lots of reading, and lots of naps. Oh, and lots of good weather!

More tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.