Took the Diva for a long hike in the hills this morning: she came back covered in burrs, which are hard to get out of a golden's coat. Done laundry. Now I need to do some banking and straighten a little, and maybe make biscuits. I'm having Dad & my brother over for dinner.

And I over-indulged on half of a buttermilk bar I found in the freezer. Woops.

My CSA delivers Tues night/Wed morning, and the timing is not super convenient, but I've pretty much gotten used to it. 5 years in.

I swapped the fountain in my container water garden, made an attempt to fix its intermittent leak, and started another try at flan. I will conquer you, custard! Trying to get my meal planning done while catching up on LTiH, sort of productive.

I'm having Dad & my brother over for dinner.

Wait. How? At your sister's? Because you don't gots a kitchen right now!

Hah, that was my reaction too, Nanita--"Wait, is your kitchen done ALREADY???"

Yup, at my sister's house. She's in the mountains with her family and I'm camped out here for the duration.

Oh, here's a story: I accidentally trapped a cat in my shed last week! I feel bad, but I think it's okay. I had left the door open accidentally, and then when my contractor was over I was showing him around and he said he saw something move in there, probably a rat, I should get a trap. There's definitely room for a rat or mouse to get in there and hide behind the hot water heater.

Then last weekend I kept hearing a kitten crying somewhere outside, but I couldn't find it, figured it was in the neighbor's yard. Then yesterday I opened the shed door and saw the cat! It hid behind the hot water heater, and I wasn't going to reach in to grab it, since I think it's feral, so I just left the door open, and when I came back later it was gone. Sheesh, I will definitely keep the shed door closed from now on! Poor cat.

Went out to breakfast with former assistant at historic deli, Canter's, and then to the Melrose Trading post (a great Hollywood Flea Market). It was crowded and full of cool stuff, but SOOOOOO hot. She moved here from Chicago and has been here several months and lives only a few blocks from both these places, so it is about time that she visited both of them.

Sigh. I miss Canter's. And Molly Malone's. Then again I still ate chicken when I was frequenting Canter's and so now couldn't get my fave matzo ball soup there anyway!

Just went to see it. It's a cute little apartment that's been remodeled, but it's only 460 sq ft.

Ah, sounds neat, but that kind of space is hard to live in. My first solo apartment was 400 sq ft and it felt like I was living in a storeroom.

Cloudburst would be my choice of the three colors, but then I've recently been thinking of doing my bedroom and kitchen in sky blue like this room in Mamma Mia!: [link]

Staying up late reading last night resulted in me sleeping through lunch today. Since I'm only having one actual meal, I think I'm going to cheat on my soup & salad diet and make it sushi.

A friend of ours goes up to Michigan every July to buy massive quantities of fresh blueberries (he has a deep freeze), and he's always offered to pick some up for friends, too. We took him up on it this year, and we just got our blueberries from him -- it's a 5-pound box, about the size of a shoebox. Oh my lord, they are SO GOOD. I have a lot of baking in my future.

Oh, aren't they, though? My dad use to talk about picking blueberries in the scrub behind the farm, and running into bears every third time or so. Totally worth it.