Beautiful Morning in Bristow - Happy Birthday, Dear Beth!

Bissell's Backyard at 6:00AM

Hayden Ready For School

"Don't Take My Picture"

Halle With Her Art Work

I am up at 6:00, a sunny and warm morning here in Virginia, and Drew has already left for work.  It looks like a nice day, temperatures in the 80's, perhaps in the 90's tomorrow.

Our drive yesterday, from Chautauqua to Bristow, in Northern Virginia, was easy, mostly back roads but they were surprisingly busy, with Sunday drivers, out for a visit or just enjoying the countryside. This is the first time for driving to Virginia in June so everything was green, hillsides, trees, bushes, quite different from the usual winter, spring, or fall landscape.  We made it in just under 7 hours, arriving around 2:00.

Jill and Drew, Kicking Back On Their Deck

Granny, Halle, and Coco

We did not do much the rest of the afternoon, just relaxed with Jill and Drew and the girls, catching up on their lives.  Halle had come down with a fever, so she was a bit subdued.  Hopefully, she will be able to go to school this morning but I doubt it.  It was a warm afternoon, perfect for sitting out on their back porch with a beer, the yard, once bare when we were here in early spring, is now a wall of green.

For dinner, Jill had a pork butt cooking in the slow cooker, so we made carnitas, with all the fixings. We were all hungry so we devoured most of the pork.  We have not had them in quite a while so they tasted great.  I remember having them for the first time, perhaps 15 years ago, in a little Mexican restaurant in Cardiff By The Sea, California.

We did little after dinner as everyone was tired.  I did take Coco for a walk, to his delight, then worked some with Halle on her science homework.  She was learning all about sustainable energy, from the sun, wind, and water, and it was fun to see how well she understood the process. We were all in bed by 10:00, happy to be there.

Random Think: "When your children are teenagers, it's important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you."  Nora Ephron