quiet Sunday in August

Well, howdy!

It's been another quiet day with Olive.  She didn't even want to go for a walk this morning - maybe I tuckered her out yesterday.  She did enjoy a drive late morning to go check up on the condo, though, and I got her over to the park for a brief stroll. 

Otherwise, we're two mellow souls, having a day of (so far) reading, music, napping.

I may write some more note cards this evening before I turn on the television.  We shall see.  But dinner is done for both of us.  I poured a Kamikaze

and served up some leftover pork

and a few other things scrounged from the fridge. 

A basic meal, and that's fine.  It's not been the best day for eating, I admit.  Ah well.

A new week ahead, the library closed, Conrad and Van due back later on Wednesday.  Let's see what else the week brings! 

Saturday evening with the LG

It's been a super easy day.  I did make the mistake of going back up to the condo this afternoon, and that got me caught in all the traffic for the Noah Kahan concert at the Rose Bowl (and I would have loved to have see that - I've been enjoying his most recent album so much),  But that was a blip in an otherwise easy day.

Time spent with Olive today, once again. 

She is such a good girl.  We had a good walk this morning. 

By the end, she was tuckered out.  And I confess:  we both had a late morning nap.  Just that kind of day!

I poured another Italicus martini while I made dinner. 

Tasty drink for summer, I have to say.  Dinner was a hodge-podge.  I had a pork tenderloin that needed cooking, so I seared then roasted it, slicing it to serve along with some sweet potato leftover from dinner with Denny and some green onions in a bowl of Trader Joe's noodles. 

Not a bad dinner.  I feel pretty satisfied here.  Leftover pork for tomorrow as well!

Olive is used to television in the evenings, so I shall hop offline and get to watching with her.  Happy weekend, folks! 

Friday evening in

The week of me and Olive and just me and Olive continues. 

Almost at the halfway point.  I am utterly sure that she is dearly wishing that she was with her daddy and Plan C instead.  Rest assured, she is being fed and watered and walked, though!  I am not a monster!

I had a weirdly busy day for working from home.  Fridays don't usually have quite so much I need to tend to.  I'm glad for things to do, though.  At the end of the afternoon, though, I put on music (listening to the new Laura Veirs) and made a very very very basic dinner (things foraged from the fridge dipped in blue cheese dressing), and made a cocktail.  I shudder to call this a martini (just because it's in a martini glass doesn't make it a martini)(and I served this in a large Nick and Nora instead) when it's really a vodka sour, but it was tasty enough:  the Italicus Martini. 

I'd make this again, happily.  Simple, goes down easily.

I munched on dinner and sipped the cocktail then poured a glass of wine and started to work on notecards and such to friends.  One of my favourite things to do:  send something in the mail to people I care about, even if it's just a hello.  Who doesn't enjoy something in the mail other than a bill or a flyer?

Friday will wind down here.  Lunch plans tomorrow, and that's it for Saturday.  We are almost half way through August, folks!

a delivery!

Hooray!  I love getting stuff, especially when I've been shopping online.  Courtney and Robert gave me a generous gift card for Eataly for my birthday last month, and I was so very happy to spend it.  Fun times.

At the end of my remote workday today, I got Olive into the car (she LOVES to go for a drive)

and headed back up to the condo.  I had received a notification of a parcel delivery, and I wanted to be sure that it was inside, out of the heat, no matter what it was.  When I arrived, we discovered it was the Eataly shipment. 

I eagerly got it inside and unpacked it.

Pastas and sauces and some other goodies. 

Nothing perishable, lots I can have fun with down the road.  I'm so looking forward to it.

And then back in the car with us, another ride for the little girl. 

me and the LG

Conrad and Van have made it to the first stop on their 8-day road trip.  Yay!  I know they've been excited about it.  Meanwhile, I get 8 days taking care of Olive.  And I am delighted by that as much as she is confused because my routine is not Van's routine.  Poor girl.  She will survive, I promise.

It will be a mild 8 days, and that's ok.  Just nice to have time working from home and keeping an eye on her before the semester starts! 

last reminder of the month

She may be slowing down - we definitely are noticing more and more that she's not the young dog she once was (are any of us?) - but she's still the cutest, prettiest little girl.  Television date night at Van's last night, and when I arrived, there was much time spent on the Couch of Love, as we call it.  She jumps up and demands (and gives!) affection until she is done with us, and last night that was a goodly long time of making sure Olive was given the love she deserves.

Happy August ahead!  I look forward to spending time next month taking care of her while Van and Conrad go on a road trip. 

two cuties

Yep, a reminder that Olive is so pretty, so adorable.  And so is Conrad!!😉 

your latest reminder

Olive, I happily declare once again, is the prettiest little girl ever.  Such a sweetheart.  That was Tuesday evening when she was ever-hopeful that a little bit of our dinner might find its way to her.  So, not just adorable as all get out but quite the optimist, too! 

two birthdays

A sweet girl and a wonderful woman shared a birthday yesterday.  One of them is still with us, the other is not, alas.

Olive is 12!  She had her regular grooming appointment, then she indulged Van a few minutes by tolerating the cheerful hat. 

I had the evening over there last night, and she was in a good mood for a little girl who is now 12.  Not a young dog anymore, but loving and lovely as ever.

By coincidence, Conrad's mother's birthday was yesterday.  She would have been 97.  It's two and a half years since she passed away.  I've only been back to Conrad's home town once since the funeral, a wretched trip up there for the burial, which I missed thanks to food poisoning.  I might go up there with Conrad this summer.  I know he misses his mom. 

ah... the best laid plans

It's the weekend that was post, but with a bit of  difference.  You see, I sit here at Van's place not having done much of anything since late yesterday morning.  Why, you ask?

That's why.  There are two steps down from Van's home's entrance to the living room.  And when I took that second step yesterday, I rolled my left ankle hard.  Cursing, crying, icing.  I've run the gamut.  And now I'll baby it for the week ahead so that it's (I hope!) at least a little ok by the time we head to Nashville on Friday.

Sigh.

What's frustrating is that I'd been ramping up the morning walks, going harder and faster and longer.  7+ miles on Friday morning,

with Conrad joining me about four miles in,

9 miles on Saturday

with Olive and Conrad joining me for the last 3/4 mile. 

Good step counts through the week.  Feeling good about it.  And now this.

Alright, enough moaning and gurning on about such things.  Let it heal, Peter, and tell your gentle readers how the rest of the weekend was.

There was that good walk on Friday morning.  Conrad and I eventually made our way to Amara Cafe for a little breakfast

before I had to get home for an online meeting (that, it turned out, I didn't need to attend, and so I didn't).  I worked from home the rest of the day while Conrad spent the day with Olive, then he and I met up back at the condo to head for a light, quick dinner at Maestro.

I love when Rigo and Marco try out new cocktails.  It's always fun to see what they've come up with.  We only had one cocktail each at the bar there, but it was a terrific new one, a clarified pineapple daiquiri with a whipped matcha topping. 

Sweet, not too sweet, a little fresh.  I could have had more easily. 

Instead, we kept ourselves to the one round along with some guacamole

and plantain chips as well as the grilled octopus with fideo and nopales. 

Then it was back to Van's to rescue Olive

and feed her.  We had an easy time of it the rest of the evening.

Conrad has been taking care of me since Saturday morning, and thank goodness.  His cooking is rudimentary at best, but it's care, and I appreciate it a lot.  It's mid-afternoon on Sunday as I write this, and I think I may soon go back to sitting on the bed with my ankle propped up.  I'll avoid going in to work the next couple of days so as not to have to aggravate things.  Van comes home tomorrow, and the three of us have some travel ahead.

Onward with Sunday! 

this little girl

Wrapped around her paw, I am.  And hooray for the weekend ahead taking care of her.  Conrad and I will be sure to lavish love and treats on her.  And take her for walkies! 

Tuesday night

I've been quiet for a few days, I know.  Blame it on there not being much going on.  Blame it in part on the after effects of my second shingles vaccine this past weekend.  Whoa, did that knock me for a loop.

I was doing alright by last night, happily.  Weekly television date night at Van's for me.  We started with cocktails outside - such nice weather for sitting outside, and boding well for the party this weekend.  Olive at our feet, freshly groomed earlier in the day. 

A round of Naked and Famous cocktails for us (plus chips to much on!),

then I poured Van the little amount in the sidecar shaker and went and made myself a Champs-Élysées. 

We heated some food we'd picked up for dinner, enjoyed that, and then turned our attention to what was a not-great episode of American Idol.  A mild and easy evening, and not the most exciting to report on, I know, but hey, the cocktail photos look nice!

taking care of the LG

One more spring break entry to come, and it will come soon enough (but wow, is spring break ever feeling a long time ago now), but I thought it would be good to break up the installments.  So let's check in on more recent goings-on, shall we?

Not that there really are any.  The big thing last week, other than the Samara Joy show I couldn't take photos at and the continued battle with whatever nuisance of a cough I have, was taking care of Olive while Van was enjoying a vacation of his own.  She puts up with me, she adores Conrad. 

Mind you, Conrad is adorable. 

But it was an easy time with her.  She's low maintenance other than turning up her nose at an occasional treat that she decides she doesn't like.

Conrad is now in Atlanta the rest of the week, and I'll spend a few nights with Van, catching up, hearing about his vacation, watching our television shows.  But yes, that will give me more time with the Little Girl!