Trying to keep cool

We definitely stayed indoors most of today. Felt like it was about 100.

Saturday night, though, we went to a nice party/picnic at a friend's house in Vienna. It was an annual gathering to welcome our Hong Kong correspondent back home on his yearly trip back to the states with his family. He's an old friend from the Money section. We also crossed paths in Afghanistan. It was good to get together.

M's been recording lots of songs in the basement, and you can listen to many of them here (his "solo" work is under his stage name "Stray Traveler"). E seems to have most, if not all, of what she needs for school. C has been busy helping her with that.

I've purchased 4 tickets for the Bills-Vikings game. That seemed to be the total we need after getting responses from everyone. They're on the 200 level, in one corner. The "view from your seat" feature on the Bills web site makes it appear they'll be pretty good. Let's hope the weather is that day!

C and I may do an overnight to W. Va. next weekend.

Not as cool as Maine, but ...

... at least we've gotten something of a break after last week's scorching temps. It was in the low 80s in Va. today - 70s in W. Va., where C and I were yesterday and this morning. Forecasts suggest things won't get too bad the rest of the week.

Hope all those who headed to the island are having fun. We're looking at a "normal" week - several Potbelly's shows for M, work at Best Buy for E, work at the old salt factory for C and me.

Happy Anniversary II!

This week's celebration was for M's 20th adoption anniversary (July 15 is the actual date).

Unfortunately, E had to work. But we took M out for dinner this evening at the restaurant of his choice - The Cheesecake Factory in Tysons Corner. We hadn't been before. It was very good, with way too much food.

M had the four-cheese pasta. C had a Hawaiian-type salad. I had Thai steak salad. We had an appetizer of avocado spring rolls. And of course, cheesecake for dessert. M had the standard with strawberries on top. C and I split the pineapple upside down cheesecake. Both were excellent.

C finished up addressing thank you notes to everyone for the flowers at last week's party. All in all, a nice - quiet - weekend, especially compared to last week!

Happy Anniversary!

Whewwwwwwwwwww! It worked!

The party was great. The surprise was ... a surprise. All in all, it was exactly what I'd hoped.

Yes, Carol was stunned.

Yes, I did sing.

Yes, Matt rocked the joint.

And thank you, everyone, for the flowers and moral support.

Chillin' in W.Va.

Quick post to say C and I went to W.Va. Saturday morning. Just got back home this afternoon. Good weather out there over the weekend. Only 80 degrees or so. Some storms at night, but pretty nice during the day. We did some biking, some grilling, some reading.

I took this picture near Thomas, W.Va. There are about 40 huge windmills along the ridges there. This one sort of popped up at us as we were driving along a country road near the tiny spring that is recognized as the headwater of the Potomac.