Evening under the stars, lunch in Better Homes and Gardens

Life is crazyfunbusy around here at the moment in the very best summery way.

We've got teenagers coming out our ears as AshLee's friends take turns coming to visit for a few days apiece. We had 1 this week, there are 4 booked for next week and she's working on a 5th. We have a secret ingredient that makes teens want to come to Cheney in the summer: the Seattle Seahawks, of the National Football League have their training camp at EWU, about a mile from our house. AshLee has a talent for getting the players to take pictures with her and her friends. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the cuteness. It's great having a house full of giggling girliness.

Wednesday we went to a minor league baseball game. We used to go to baseball a lot when we lived in Seattle and we realized on Wednesday how much we missed it. It was dreamy.

Thursday was my annual visit with my cousin Marcus. Marcus is finishing up Ph.D. work in biophysics at Cornell University. He comes to Cheney every summer to teach at Satori and we always have dinner and stay up talking half the night. Marcus has a twin brother, Nathan, who is doing graduate work in political science at Stanford (coupla genius boys, those two), unfortunately Nathan couldn't make it to Satori this year. We were blessed with a perfect warm July evening and after a wonderful dinner at Artist Cafe, we stayed up late talking under the stars outside the dorm where the Satori campers stay. I love talking with Marcus about the process and progress of his scientific work and I'm always energized by the parallels between science and art.

Friday I was invited to lunch at the home of one of my new coworkers. She lives in a great little house in Peaceful Valley, a funky old neighborhood that lies along the Spokane River. Bridget has just finished remodeling and redecorating her home and it is fabulous. Very Italian, with lots of terra cotta, antique fixtures and warm tones throughout. Her garden is equally fabulous, with terraced plantings and steps winding up a steep slope. It's a tiny house on a tiny lot, but it's a little piece of heaven. We ate a delicious mango chicken salad in the garden. I told Dave it was like having lunch in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Today we're headed to the beach. I picked up How to Be Good by Nick Hornby and Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde at Barnes and Noble last night and it will be hard to decide which to pick for my beach reading. I'll probably end up saving them and finish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince instead. I've been reading it just a bit at a time, trying to stretch it out and savor it, but Dave is getting restless waiting for his turn.

Last night Dave was talking about how excellent summer is and how he wished we lived in a place where the weather is nice year-round. I wonder if it would be the same if we could be leisurely about the weather and spread our enjoyment of it out over the course of the whole year? There's a certain sweetness to the crazyfunbusy, soaking up the warmth and color, pigging out on ice cream and fresh fruit, knowing that it won't last but we'll remember it during the long cold grey winter. It will be football season soon and time for crisp weather and a whole new brand of crazyfunbusy.