week in pictures randomly

Saturday

Ella came over Friday to spend the night. She orchestrated a photo shoot in the morning with all the major players and the major shoes, of which she is enamored. Ella has a great sense of theater. She loves my shoes and asked if she could have them when they don't fit me anymore. I explained that I rarely "grow out of" shoes at this point in my life, but when I don't want to wear them anymore, I would surely pass them on to her.

Saturday

Ella and I with Gus in a photo. Gus is a camera hog and if pictures are being taken, he wants to be in them. We all slept in the king-size bed...me in the middle, Ella on one side and Regis on the other, Gus on the end. We were like puzzle pieces.

Thursday

Regis at Pappageorge in Mankato where he assisted me with the social media marketing plan presentation and we enjoyed a nice meal and some wine. 

Thursday

I'm not a professional. I'm purely amateur but I've learned some things and I get a kick out of it. Layla said she like the fact that I'm not a slick salesman and that I know them and the kind of food they like to serve.

Saturday

Ella and I walked down to the Key City Kennel Club's dog show this morning. These are the Great Danes which are gigantic and beautiful. I think this must have been the field for best of breed. The weather was strange so we headed for home shortly after this.

Saturday

Most of the concessions at the dog show were dog-related but we did find a food stand that sold giant pretzels and we enjoyed this one.

Saturday

We had lunch at Patrick's (a very unsatisfying burger) before taking Ella home. This is the poster for our birthday bash on June 8. I think we had a new server who was not familiar with the concept of serving efficiently. It took a long time and many trips. Ah, we have been through this before and it will get better.

Saturday

Patrick's was a weird mix of families with small children and very hung-over and on-the-edge-of-drunk-again college students as their graduation is tomorrow. It was more stimulation than I needed, believe me. One member of the second jumped out of the booth and did a few push-ups on his way to the bathroom. Gads.

Regis discovered that Neil Young's Americana CD is being released one song at a time on YouTube over the weeks before the CD release, June 5th. We love them and listen to them almost every night. Ella knows some of the songs from school, so we thought she might like them and she did. She sang Oh Susanna over and over this morning until I finally played the video again. In case you don't want to read the whole review, here's a quote:

You've never heard "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain" quite like this. For their first album together in nine years, Neil Young and Crazy Horse have taken classic American folk music and reinvigorated these songs with muscle, radiance and a whole lot of electric guitar.

 If you have been following Cousin Deb's hummingbirds, this is the last one to leave the nest. I've shown this photo to lots of people who have never seen a hummingbird nest. I wonder if they don't nest in Minnesota...maybe they choose warmer climes. That would be smart.

Last week, about an hour before I was due to leave for Luverne, I decided to try out these really cheap fake nails that I bought at the dollar store. The girls at the bank told me they were easy to apply. Well, after I had super-glued about three of them to the wrong places, Regis stepped in and assisted. I sort of liked the way they looked except for the crooked one. Today, I wrenched the last of them off as they were starting to look a little green underneath. I don't think I'll do that again. There is a reason that there are professionals to do that sort of thing.

There has been a change to the birthday party plans. We have to provide a meal for the band and we thought we would cook for them here as we would love to do it and maybe they get tired of food in restaurants. Turns out, that's what they want to do. I suppose they thought we would want to socialize which we wouldn't. Ah, well. One less thing to stew about, right?

That's enough for today.