Pie helped. I was really suprised to see that there was actually a bonfire, since it was so windy yesterday. But we set up next to the corn crib, and that helped block the wind enough to keep our food from blowing away. That's my dad sitting 15 feet from everyone else. He had been trying to call me all day to tell me to look in my garage for my birthday present, but I'd forgotten my phone at home.


We went inside for pie. Mmmm, strawberry pie. Calvin asked me if I wanted to play a game with him, so we went to find a game from the cupboard, and he pulls off the chess board. This is about the third time Calvin has wanted to play chess with me. I've tried to teach him about how the pieces move, and he's got quite a bit of that part down actually. We started working on thinking ahead, but then he got bored and wanted to play Sorry with the other kids.

I chose this particular picture, so you can see the fridge (plus I looked fat in all the others). I've been giving Mom a hard time for years, because there was only one picture of me on the fridge, and tons of everyone else's kids. I was putting the condiments away, when I noticed a dorky picture of me in the middle. Then I took a closer look: "Hey, they're all dorky pictures of me!" (Like there's any other kind.) We had a good laugh out of that.

And when I got back home and looked in the garage? There was one of those adjustable ladders tucked into the rafters, you know the ones you can use on stairs and such? Awesome. Dad had bought one when he came up to check on the water in my basement, and it's been sitting there for three weeks and I never noticed it. I can't wait to try it out.

One last touch: I cut my peonies and put them by my bed last night. I smelled peonies all night.