July 4 in Virginia - Part 2

Still in Virginia -

This is a picture of Sparky at her hotel in the indoor park during group play. I got this picture from doggie cam. She is the cute one. (If you don't know Sparky, there is another picture of her in the older blogs. She is a sweet little Westie. In the picture to the left, she is the Westie behind the other Westie. That other Westie is a puppy.) The individual condos are on the other side of the park.

It's July 9 (Weds). Lewis woke me this morning at 9:00 am. He brought a Kowal McMuffin for me into the bedroom. Egg & cheese on an English muffin. I love those. Since I was awake, I thought I would get up. Earliest I've gotten up since I've been here. It was raining. Nice, though. It's cold in the house so I like to go out on the back deck & get warmed up. After the rain I can smell the warm, musty smell of GREEN. I even saw leaves rustling in a tree. Rustling! We don't see much rustling in AZ. We see lots of branches bending, but none of that gentle rustling.

We played a couple rounds of Rummikub last night. Ate dinner & played again. All 7 of us. We had to use 2 sets of tiles.

I watched Sparky play for a while this morning. She was running around with another little dog. Seems most of the little dogs are gone - back with their families. For the little dog playgroup it was just Sparky & 4 other dogs. During the wk-end there were 10-12 little dogs in there. Once they take the little dogs back to their condos, they bring the bigger dogs out to play. So Sparky goes back to watch Animal Planet & look out her window which overlooks the soccer park. She is so cute !

July 10 (Thurs). I actually got up at 10:30 today instead of noon. Checked out Sparky on doggie cam just at the right time. The little dogs were out playing. I have attached a picture of her. From doggie cam, I can hit the "capture" button & get a picture of her.

Lewis did our laundry this morning. He'll do another load before we leave so we won't have anything to wash once we get home. That's a big advantage to staying here. Alex's clothes were a mess; He's been playing that shooting game outside with his cousins & their friends for a couple of days. They run all over the neighborhood wearing these full face masks with guns that shoot those little foamy balls. It seemed like they spent all day out there yesterday, running around in the humidity. They love it.

Right now Lewis, Alex, Jan, & Jason are playing pinochle. I'm going to try to finish my book. I borrowed it from Julia & only have about 30 pages to go. Then I can leave it with her & go on to the next one in the series, which is mine. Might seem a waste of time that I spend so much of my vacation reading, but that is what I love doing. And being able to sit down & read, uninterrupted, is a REAL vacation to me.

I also got a bunch of pictures taken in Israel from our friends who were on the same tour as Alex & Lewis. The pictures are postcard quality. They're beautiful. When we get home I'm going to print all of the pictures he sent us plus the ones Lewis took & make an Israel photobook from their trip.

Got a notice from the person I bought my new iPod from (on eBay) that the post office tried to deliver it but no one was home. I put a hold on our mail until 7/14. They aren't supposed to be delivering mail. I guess it needs to be signed for. Darn! If they don't find us at home after the second attempt, it will be sent to the post office to wait for pick-up. That's okay. I just wanted to have it there when I got home.

July 11 (Fri) Lewis, Jan, & Julia & I went to a very nice restaurant last night called Cafe Renaissance. Sort of a French/Italian. Best meal I've had in a long time. Started out with an artichoke heart covered with white crab meat, then onto the filet mignon, mashed sweet potato, yellow squash patty, pea pods, & then the dessert which Jan & I had - bananas foster, prepared tableside. Lots of fire. It was wonderful. Then they gave us all some port, which I've never been a fan of. Tastes too much like figs to me.

Lewis made Alex & me pancakes for breakfast (well, lunch really, since I didn't get up until 1:00) & fruit. Everyone else had already eaten.

Lewis, Jan, Alex, & Jason just left a little while ago to go to the Air & Space Museum. From there they will go on to a baseball game in DC, the Nationals, I think the team is called. The last time we were here, Jan took Lewis, Alex & me to a Nationals game, but they have a new stadium now. Jan has the box seats where he gets the good food at the good buffet. Real food. Seats are right behind home plate. So they won't be home until late tonight. This gives me a very long time to read. Julia is upstairs reading now too. She reads like I do.

I finished my book yesterday. I've read 3 since I've been here & started the 4th one yesterday. I was sitting on the patio reading earlier & I will go out there again as soon as I get some water.

The guys just got home. They loved the simulators at the Air & Space Museum!

July 12 (Sat) Just finished a long game of Balderdash. Lots of fun. Had more of those great pancakes for breakfast this morning. It's raining now. Now we're thinking of what to have for dinner.

Ended up going out for Chinese food. When we got back Jan, Julia, Lewis & I played a couple hours of Password. I haven't played the game in ages. Then we packed to get ready to go home tomorrow.

July 13 (Sun) Delta Airlines is not my favorite. We sat at the Dulles Airport for 4 1/2 hrs & finally had to have Jan come back & get us. Our connecting flight was cancelled from Atlanta because of weather, so we would miss our connecting flight. I told the lady we would take anything. She did her little keyboarding thing & kept saying, "Overbooked," "overbooked," "overbooked." "I'm sorry. You'll have to come back tomorrow." Tomorrow ! So we are now back at Jan & Julia's house. We took our sheets off the bed this morning & brought the towels up for the laundry, & now we have to do it all over tomorrow.

I was very worried about Sparky being home alone. Rosalie picked her up & then another friend (who doesn't like his name in blogs) will feed her & take her out to go potty. But she'll be alone tonight. At least she's home. I was going to have a buffer day before I go back to work, but that won't happen now. Lewis is actually missing a day.

I guess I'll go ahead & send this out now. I was going to do it when I got home, but who knows when that will be ? !

Hugs, Candace