The summer seems to be rushing past and I wish that would stop. But July has nevertheless been great.
Dan's been singing at Open Mic Nights at Fitzgerald's every Tuesday night.
We had our traditional July 4th backyard barbecue with Jess and Jett and a lovely addition of Tim and Lexi. The fireworks in our neighborhood are always crazy. No reason to go anywhere to see fireworks, because our neighbors have all bought professional grade rockets.
We're officially online at the agency for birth moms to read
our profile and consider us as possible parents for their babies AND we're officially certified by the State of Illinois to be a foster care family.
We've hung out with friends and each other and played Scrabble on the front porch and eaten good food and went to a Chirp Radio First Time and celebrated a few birthdays.
I saw this crazy enormous cicada on our fence post. Before I used a flash on it, I thought it was a frog.
Dan and I saw Ted Leo and Aimee Mann perform at Millennium Park--which also means riding the train holding hands and lazing in the grass together and watching the sun set behind the Michigan Avenue skyline.
And the garden is doing really well. I've canned 13 jars of dilly beans (beans and dill heads both from the back yard). Tomatoes are beginning to ripen and we've been eating them with lunch and dinner. The squash plants haven't gotten quite as big I was hoping by this point, but I have been working hard on them--fertilizing and now spraying them with an anti-powdery mildew organic concoction--which feels good and satisfying.
I'm most excited about this teeny tiny watermelon. When it's a bit bigger it will get a tiny sling to sit in and support it while it grows.
Life is slow and lovely. I'm working, but also living and taking big, deep, long, satisfying breaths and I feel lucky lucky lucky.
