My aunt invited us to dinner, so that'll be nice. My cousin and her husband may join, too.

OK, spent.some time on finances, so now I will start laundry, then put away dishes and load the dishwasher.

I spent 7/3–7/4 with my sister at their boat. There were fireworks one marina over, so we just turned our lawn chairs in their direction and watched. There was one yahoo who tried to play God Bless the USA, but his wife or whatever must have been lagging. So it sounded like, “I’m proud to say I’m an . . . American, where . . . [breakup noises] . . . I know . . . I’m . . . free . . . “ Symbolism?

We went foraging with friends for wineberries and then Bob made us pancakes and we had brunch out back.

That sounds pleasant, Calli, minus the stupid song.

Yum, lisah!

Laundry load one ready to turn, second and final dishwasher load running, hand wash dishes done!

I also made a tomato, basil topping for my sourdough bread using up the vinaigrette from earlier. Also yum.

My cousin threw a party for the 4th, so I took Mom over to enjoy. One of my in-laws manned the grill for some truly delicious sliders, and we were blessed by the heat being dry/a bit shy of oppressive and the mosquitos being almost entirely absent.

What are you all up to today?

Well, now I'm going to make a tomato, corn and basil salad with a lemon vinaigrette.

So, I'm reading the NYT article about the Zizians, who are a cult-like group in the Bay Area linked to six deaths. And I'm getting twitchy because they profile as one of Marjorie Taylor Green's whackadoo fantasies: they're an anarchist, vegan group and their leader (and many of the group) are transgender.

I just know it's going to be a Fox news / right wing bugbear for years to come, fueling the anti-trans hate.

The half flat of strawberries I bought at the farmers market yesterday were squishier than I'd hoped at purchase, so I just made a pie (with oreo crust!) and put it in the fridge to chill. The rest I'm going to turn into syrup for future french toast and waffles.

Combine that with early morning church, weekend laundry, and a weekly two-hour Zoom write-in that's about to start, and it's a pretty busy Sunday.

Just groceries (done!) and then food prep for me today. After a shindig on Friday and a shindig yesterday, I need to chill out.

Dog walking, a bit of tidying, and watching the Tour de France are about it for me today. Then Sinners later tonight downtown.

Which, by the way, if you want something engrossing, mostly very charming, and educational—and have ever had a passing interest in the Tour de France—definitely check out the Netflix series Unchained. Each season (season three just dropped) covers the prior year’s Tour with tons of clips and interviews with many of the leading riders, but also a lot of the underdogs, along with analysis of all the rivalries, triumphs, and defeats of the race. It’s so well done. You really get a good feel for who many of these guys are and their personalities and how that impacts the race. And watching the race is a whole different experience.

Definitely recommended as a palate cleanser from watching anything to do with [waves hands] all of that out there.

I did the dishes! Even the errant pots and pans and cutting boards.

Also, we cleaned the Guinea Pig cage, and by "we" I mean Matilda did 80% of the hard stuff and I took the soiled liners down to be washed. (Which is unpleasant enough - carrying armloads of urine soaked cloth down the back stairs etc.)

Also emptied the garbage can and put out the bins.

I need to vacuum and I have a stack of about four packages that need to get in the mail and I should start packing/addressing those so I can run to the P.O. tomorrow.

I've been trying to stick to a disciplined diet and no alcohol for a week or two after my birthday indulgences of cake and pizza and I've been good so far. Fortunately, Alembic has some great mocktails, including my current favorite which is Strawberry Shrub and ginger beer.