We haven’t had meaningful rain in about 5-6 weeks, so my plants are rather happy that Ernesto is coming to town… hopefully he won’t overstay his welcome here in Durham!

3 cities, 3194 miles, 10 hours in the airport, 9 hours in the air, and 1 grandma through security. That about sums up our travel over the last week. Not too surprisingly, Leandra is a bit sick, and we’re both pretty tired. Thanks for all the cards and thoughts…

Unfortunately, we’re writing with sad news today. As many of you know, Leandra’s mom has been in critical care for the past several weeks. This Saturday morning she passed away. That set in motion a plan that led to us to fly into Tampa to tell her grandmother Saturday night, then getting her grandmother to Chicago by Sunday afternoon. Needless to say we’re rather exhausted, and it’s going to be a long week.

There will be a public visitation on Tuesday from 3-9p at the Salerno Rosedale Chapels (450 W. Lake St, Roselle, IL 60172). The family is asking that, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Audubon Society.

Thank you for your sympathy through this tough time and we appreciate your prayers.

It’s been a fairly hectic past few days in our house… we have some training to do with pup, including getting her to SLEEP ALREADY at night instead of pacing around our bedroom—we just don’t trust her yet to have full run of the house.

The good news is that she is learning her name and she doesn’t beg for food when we eat. Oh, and she grunts charmingly at you when you play with her. Thank goodness for small favors! :)

I’ve been getting up before 7 (me! before 7!) to take her on a run every morning and we’ve been walking her in the evenings as well. My legs are definitely noticing the sudden increase in activity. She pulls a lot on the leash, but we are determined to train her to walk properly with us. There’s a dog park near our place and we applied for a tag, so soon she can run! run! run! and wear herself out some—she has crazy energy for a 5 year old dog!

For my birthday, my bestest friend bought me this, so I’ll let you know if any of the advice works!

Leandra has the same birthday as our friend Stan, so we had a dual 30-year birthday party Saturday night.

Born ~12 hours apart on opposite sides of the world!

Thanks to Wambui for planning and hosting!

My birthday dinner was at Restaurant Starlu in Durham, a place we’d recommend highly to anyone. The best part was their signature chocolate dessert plate. White chocolate bark with lavender seeds, milk chocolate bark with finely shredded coconut and almonds, two mini chocolate eclairs, and whipped peanut butter mousse with fudge. Thank goodness I only ate half my entree!

Before picking up Riesling at her foster home, we visited the Raleigh Farmers Market to purchase some corn (for Eric), okra (for pickling), and key largo sweet peppers (for roasting). Because we arrived around 9:30 am, the market was pleasantly empty… but by the time we left, cars were circling for spots and it was getting hard to muscle your way through the crowds.

I also updated our garden page with some new shots from last week, enjoy!

We picked Riesling up this morning, and since we got home she’s been investigating her new surroundings. She’s a little unsure of what is going on but she’s adjusting rapidly. Here are some of the first pics:

This MSNBC article (“Bush drops on nearly every issue”) points out that the elections this Fall will certainly be interesting. The title is a little one-sided though, considering the article also states that “only 26 percent of adults said the country was on the right track, and just 29 percent approved of the job Congress is doing.” Sounds like Congress is liked even less than the President… ouch.