Second August Update

I was in California. It was wonderful.
Yes it was hot. But it was dry!
The biggest focus was spending time with family.
My new niece and her energetic big brother to begin with.

As tradition dictates we met at El Cholo for the first evening. After Liam declared he was "nervous" but I assuaged that feeling with three trucks from the 99¢ Store, he sat beside me and proceeded to gobble most of the guacamole. Although a substantial portion landed on my blouse.
Two days later after story time at the local library we went to have lunch at California Grill (a local favorite). My nephew has his mind set on some things.

He ate a lot more of his burgers after I showed him how to dip them into the dipping sauce. Interesting how the dipping "skill" was already there for the french fries.

Every fry had to be dipped into each dipping sauce available on the table before it could be eaten.

 Other Liam antics included (but were not limited to): My fan.
As I am old an eccentric and don't really care what people think about said eccentricity anymore, I carry a fan with me during the summer months. In Philadelphia it is imperative on the close SEPTA platforms, in California it just keeps one from sweating when it is not necessary.

Liam wanted to "borrow" it. The minute he had it in his hands it became a "map," specifically a "map" to find the letter "O." How 'bout that? And sure enough he opened it and walked around  pretending to use it as guidance for the letter O on any signs in the playground. He is 3.

Every time we spent time together he asked for the "map." I finally decided he needed his own. I went to Daiso Japan (the Japanese Dollar Store) and they had blank fans I could decorate. 

Thank goodness Ann was well stocked with both rubber stamp alphabets and ink pads! I made Liam his own "map."
I went to say goodbye the evening before I left, as I was really leaving and saying goodbye,  Liam said, "wait! wait!" and ran away from us. When he returned he the "map" and tried to give it to me and told me I needed it. I asked him to keep it safe until I came back. He said, "OK." 


My niece? Oh, she's a cutie pie!

 Jesmyn is very calm and peaceful. She doesn't fuss much. But if you turn her to face you - she will talk your ear off. She really has alot to say! But mostly she is just interested in watching her big brother ricochet around the room. My nephew subscribes to Irish comedian, Tommy Tiernan's description of his middle child  "If reality doesn't meet the demands of his imagination he simply abandons it."

We already have the example of the "map," now witness the "snake-tail."

One thing I really wanted to do while in SoCal was to go to Artesia to the Indian Sari Fabric shops. Long story short, I struck gold. I bought four sari's - 6-7 yards of fabric each. Since I am not able to wear an actual sari, the fabric will be re-appropriated. Firstly by my nephew- who grabbed the gorgeous blue and turquoise piece (which both my sister and I agreed reminded us of something our godmother Nancy would wear), and ran around the house pretending the fabric was his "snake tail."

This went on for a good while, keeping him well entertained.

And one lets him, even though my sister wondered if the fabric wouldn't snag on anything? I didn't care. What a great gift to give him for memories. Not sure if he will remember - but I will. 

First Weekend Update

It's been a hot summer. Really hot and weird. Not the regular hot for a few days, thunderstorm, and pleasant for a few days before the next humidity build up begins. The humidity has been really bad. I think this is the most I've ever had my air conditioners on ever. It has also turned my brain to mush, so I am just now trying to catch up on my blogging. 

I was in California at the beginning of August. I had hoped to catch up on blogging there, but due to technical difficulties (my laptop can't receive wifi anymore - long story) I wasn't able to. So a quick catch up here of projects completed before going to California. 

The hallway skylight. A little more than five years ago, I finally opened this up and had it working - for about two weeks. Then the pull chain jumped off the wheel and it was no longer working. This summer I convinced Mr. El to let me borrow a ladder so I could fix it. He was, and I quote,"insulted" that I wouldn't let him fix it. Well first of all he is 80. Second - I've had two other people "fix" it and both of them failed. This time I wanted to do it. That way if it fails the only person I have to blame is me.

 I also knew I had the right tape to keep that stupid chain in the track. 
Now the skylight is open and boy does it make a difference! I am currently tenant-less which has been a nice break. So all the doors can be open and this skylight pulls the air through the house and keeps things surprisingly cool. My roofer called it "Italian air-conditioning" (he is Italian). But he explained it to me. Houses were constructed this way on purpose and the skylights were designed to pull the air through the house to keep them ventilated. I'm convinced.

Second project, hedge trimming.

The hedge has long been a wild beast. I probably should have done something sooner to tame it. Last summer Mr. El begged me to let him trim it and reluctantly, I caved. On probably the hottest, humid-est, sweltering day of the summer he tackled it.  I think it really sticks in his craw that I don't trim it regularly. A few weeks ago I caught him trimming the section close to his door. He was surprised and said he was doing it because he couldn't see down the street. ?? Hmm... I think it was just bugging him. Since I knew I was leaving for 9 days, and with that encounter didn't quite trust him to leave the hedge be while I was gone, I decided I had to wrangle it into control a little bit. Why don't I want him doing it? Because it is my responsibility and I should take care of it! I also don't have any money to give him for doing it (that would at least make me feel a little bit better), and how does that look to the neighborhood?

 So I trimmed and cut and shoved branches behind the fence. I still have to trim with a hedge trimmer, but the biggest, sweatiest, job is done.

Street project:

The city of Philadelphia decided to do a lot of repaving in my neck of the woods this summer. While it was desperately needed, I really wish it would have been handled differently. After trimming the hedge and practically melting away I sat down on the stoop next to Ms. Mary and spied the temporary No Parking signs. If I hadn't seen them, all of our cars would have been towed. Why couldn't they stick a note in our mail boxes? I sometimes don't drive my car for weeks! I probably would have missed those signs. But that wasn't even the worst of it. On the night that they were to begin work, they started ripping up the street at - I kid you not - 3AM. It was done with this machine pictured above. (I had to photo stitch that thing together it was so big, so please ignore the strange lines and background that doesn't match up.) That thing is so loud it sounded like it was coming right through the house. It scared Jacques so bad - it scared the piss out of him. Literally. He jumped on my bed, howling, and proceeded to pee on me! When I talked to Mr. El the next day he said he woke up and thought he was back in Vietnam. I think this was what upset me the most. No one should be woken from a deep slumber to think they are back in a war zone. 

When I got home nine days later, the street was still ripped up. It was several more days before they came to pave it. 

Another enormous machine, with a lot of people to help manage it. 

Then the bulldozer.
 The street is very nice now, and since they did the entire length of it, it is much easier to navigate on a bicycle. The block above me had been so ripped up due to all the construction and pipelines needing to be put in, that it was actually difficult to ride. Now we are just waiting for them to come along and paint the lines again. A bicycle lane needs to go back and Mr. El needs his driveways back.