June 14-16
Friday night I did some food prep to the backdrop of music and a downpour, making cucumber salad, devilled eggs, macaroni salad, and marinating chicken thighs in a concoction of ketchup, garlic, soy sauce, W sauce, dijon, and random spices. Dad and Carol were in for the weekend. Saturday my brother and niece and nephew came over for Father's Day lunch. After that MFD and I drove up to Lititz to pick up Frank and Amanda and have dinner at a very MFD type establishment buffet before driving to Hershey for the Stevie Nicks concert which we found out was postponed while we were in line to park. We went back to their hotel and hung out for a bit before driving home - I love a good bathroom like the one in the Rock Lititz Hotel. Sunday was coffee out back, seeing Dad for Father's Day when he came back from golfing, stopping over to see Rich for Father's Day and my Mom for her birthday, and reading out back to cap off the night.
Friday I did something extremely inadvisable which is run errands. Friday is always a terrible choice of time to run errands at the shore, but add in a ballooned summer population with people zigzagging all over the streets on foot, bike, scooter, car, electric bike, golf cart, and cars and it is like swallowing a beachball of anxiety. I attempted the library summer booksale when it started and it was insanely packed, I didn't even get to peruse the paperbacks. Then on to ACME and finally dropping thrift store donations. We spent the early evening in the North End and it was a beauty. We walked up to the boardwalk to see the full Strawberry Moon and grab cookies from Famous 4th Street. Saturday turnover was very easy which is always appreciated. I painted my nails (OPI Self Made green and OPI Just Lanai-ing Around pink) before heading to the beach for a few hours solo. The sun was brutal so I took refuge inside and on the porch. Sunday was a porch not beach day due to wind. I read, did a crossword, walked Bruce and Ben to the library to return a book. Sunday was a truly relaxing day in which my brain participated in said relaxation which does not happen often after the onset of perminopause - those racing thoughts are insane sometimes am I right.
I went into Saturday's turnover knowing a teen had peeled paint off the electric panel cover, but did not know I'd also be patching a wall. Whew. I had to leave it unpainted which I hate during the season. After that I did the beach from 2-7 where I read a whole book and gloryed in being alone and meandering around looking for pebbles. I threw everything in the car and drove back to Philly before 8.
Sunday MFD left for a week-long retreat. I did an at-home pedicure/nails, hit Produce Junction, returned shit and picked up at Target, and popped in to Aldi. I read and watched Grease 2, Dirty Dancing, and The Office to loosen up my brain. Bonus the glorious mammatus clouds at the end of a stormy day.
June 28-30
A gorgeous early morning out back before I started work. Thankfully I was heading to the shore solo, no pets, when I was rerouted off 95 due to an accident and a drive that would normally take me an hour and 15 minutes at that time took me 2.5 hours. Man alive. I finished out the workday there, finished a book, and took a beach walk after work.
SMD
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