Well, I finally made it to an STL Pride!  It was massive.  Every color, gender ID, orientation, and flag were represented.  It was inspiring to see.  The parade itself (we missed most of it; it went on for hours) was impressive and all-inclusive.  The fest took up many closed-off city blocks downtown.  We (Avdi, E, Y, and I) took the light rail MetroLink there (another STL first for me) to avoid having to find parking.

E&Y, having begged to go, got there and became insecure and perverse, as they do, so Avdi (who was already exhausted and not feeling well from dealing with kids) and I were unable to just meander around seeing the sights.  He had to accommodate their contrary moods and whims.  We did get to visit the History Museum (Missouri military history) for E’s sake.  See photo of Y checking out an “ancient” phone booth.

Still, I’m glad I got to go and see hundreds of thousands of STL queer folk feeling free to be themselves and strut their stuff, and all the orgs and services and businesses supporting the community.

E drew the chalk pigeon.  They’re on a pigeon craze right now.

The highlight of our erev Shabbat meal was a huge all-homegrown caesar salad with croutons made from older challah.  There were too many varieties of lettuce and greens to name.  I made a vinaigrette-style caesar dressing to go with it.  Roasted [potato, sweet potato, and carrot] fries on the side.  Ironically, the kid who is the most autistic (particular) about food, S, persuaded me to make a caesar salad, and he asked for seconds.  The other kids, all “ewww vegetables”, were pretty enthused as well.  My evil plan at work.

I’m hoping to join the Avdi’s for one of STL’s big Pride events tomorrow (all weekend event).  It’s the corporate (Boeing) sponsored Pride, so we’ll forgo marching in the parade itself with the Jewish contingent, so as not to find ourselves in an ethically compromised/difficult  position if pro/anti sides get antagonistic.  I’m just looking forward to going to a big STL Pride event (one of several during the year).

This is a good year for bee balm (Monarda), as you’ll see from the photos.  Lots of bee action.

Firstly, (as my Gson S would say), thanks to Avdi for the undeserved but appreciated shoutout in SIGAVDI #100   https://avdi.codes/welcome-to-devseeds/ (back atya) which predictably brought me a momentary uptick in curious visitors and viewers before they too fell asleep from boredom.  To them I say, welcome back anytime, if only to get away from code for a moment.

Also please note that I am the original cringey garden metaphorist in the family, whether Avdi knows it or not.  All of life can be summed up in some botanical metaphor or other!  It’s genetic.  End of unsolicited plug.  And now back to regular Blahg programming.

I love seeing these baby black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on the dill.  One measure of garden success is all the species of butterflies and pollinators doing their thing.

E made these great doughnuts from scratch!  They love a challenge.

Every so often one of the kids will pick up on Avdi’s ongoing stress and low spirits, and just stand close to him or give him a hug.  It shows they’re learning they’re not the center of the universe, and others work hard to make their lives secure and cared for.

It actually rained and didn’t flood the yard, it was so dry, but did my watering for me, so that was a good break.  The garden is relieved.  And the brutal heatwave is temporarily tempered.  I was able to resume walking round trip.  Injury be damned!

This time I walked to and from Avdi’s, and did a lot of gardening and housework, trying to will myself to get back on track.  It still hurts to do certain things, but I don’t let that stop me!  The excessive heatwave just keeps going up, but I seem to be getting conditioned to it, with a little help from hose spray.  Today is headed for 100° with a heat index of 107°.

Avdi continues to be in a constant state of exhaustion and overload.  Our “drink o’clock”, if it happens at all, once upon a time a happy break, now usually looks like this: Avdi continuing to work into the evening, or falling asleep at the patio table.  When he’s not hectically shuttling kids back and forth.

The other night when I slept over, Avdi did actually get to go out clubbing, with some expert makeup application by Y.  I think it’s how he works some of the tension and despondency out of his system.

Today I’ll be lazily sitting in a dentist chair, which is how I take a break nowadays!

I’ve included a beautiful banana bread by E. in the photos.

Later…Update: heat index is now 110 ° and counting…

I spent a couple of days at home recovering from my fall, then felt like a slacker and got back to light work at Avdi’s.  I may have overdone it.  Or maybe I don’t do enough.  I try not to play the “72 with cancer and anxiety issues” card.  Disingenuous and lame.

It still hurts to do the simplest things, but whatever.  The garden needed help in this excessive heat wave.  Heat indices have been above 100° for much of the week, with no rain.  It’s one extreme or the other, in MO.

Plus there was erev Shabbat to prep, and Y coming back from overnight camp.  Apparently it went well.  Life is back to “normal”.  Avdi continues to be overwhelmed.  We persist in what must be done, even when there’s no relief in sight.

E baked Y this excellent Shrek cake.  This amazing Chioggia beet came from our garden.  In fact, half the meal came from garden greens.

Well I do know how to steal the show and break up the party, it seems!  Other than that, it was a relaxing and successful B&B.

I slept over to help set up on Sunday morning.  We had scheduled it for a later time of day, because it was so f—ing hot, like 100°.   Then I decided to adjourn to the pool, which despite it having been refilled, was already like a bathtub again!  I actually spent the whole afternoon into evening in the pool, swimming and laid back.  Lots of friends and kids joined me or played badminton or just relaxed.  Even Avdi got to chill and drink beer!  I had a few myself, throughout the day.

Finally I returned to dry land and joined the party.  Wouldn’t you know it, I tripped over the coolers and fell flat on my chest!  I injured my sternum and bruised other parts, and was in semi-shock.  I should have stayed in the pool!  Everybody stopped what they were doing and started doing triage and poking and prodding.  Fortunately many of the friends had medical or healing backgrounds, and did all the things.  I kept trying to laugh and joke but it hurt!  Avdi panicked and wanted to schlep me to the ER then and there, but we talked him out of it.  My new friend Akasha was keeping an eagle eye on me, literally!  In fact everyone was so concerned and solicitous, it was almost embarrassing.  I couldn’t even help clean up.  Anyway, that was the exciting climax to our otherwise very fine gathering.

The best part of our gatherings (besides the pool) is that increasingly they’re composed of a diverse mix of various spectrums and cultures and ages.  By word of mouth, people come over to find an inclusive welcoming haven to meet and feel at home.  To me they’re all my extended family now, and I think many of them feel the same.  People have the greatest conversations about life, the universe, and everything.  If they’re stressed out by reality, they find a place to unwind and commiserate.  And bonus–Avdi gets grownups to talk to, and I get free beer by the pool!  And sometimes I provide free entertainment!

So today Avdi took me to an urgent care, where I got x-rayed and reassured it was not a fracture, just an injury, nothing to be done but relax and heal.  Yay!  Once again I cheat fate somehow, and learn another painful lesson.  Coolers are for beer, not parkour.

All the kids were away at various camps and pursuits today, and Avdi managed to make it to his desk to work.  I did the usual housework, and got a lot done on the garden.  It actually looks more garden-like, less like a chaotic jungle.  Today the milkweed was hosting this latest color of butterflies.

Poor Avdi has been sick and still trying to work from bed with three kids at home or day camp, so I try to do my small part to help.  There’s never a lack of work to do: multiple dishwasher and washer/dryer loads, straightening up the house, cooking dinner (last night’s was tacos with all the fixin’s), and last but not least, making sense of the jungle that is the veg garden.  Oh, and vacuuming the algae bloom in the pool.  In the process, I find lots to photograph.

It turns out I can really grow potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, Swiss chard, and borage, who knew, while the no-brainers like tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, peas, and onions were a big challenge this year.  I did discover, to my amazement, a whole row of assorted tomato seedlings that I had direct-sown after the deluge destruction, coming up!  Maybe we’ll get tomatoes after all, however belatedly.  The weeds, probably abetted by the flood sewage, are like little shop of horrors, gobbling up everything if I don’t stay on top.

The huge crop of milkweeds really do attract all kinds of butterflies and pollinators.

It’s been hectic at the Avdi’s, with K and S at day camp (K is a counselor this year!), and Y off to overnight camp early this morning.  So I prepped for erev and then spent the night.

Friday evening Y and S and I played in the pool for a while.  It was so relaxing, like a bathtub.  Plus Y is really trusting me a lot more lately.  Whenever they’re in a bad mood (which is much of the time) and snap at me, I never react, and later they always apologize.

Today most of the household was either gone or asleep, so it was unusually quiet.  I decided just for fun to paint my dirty gray hi-tops turquoise and black with acrylics, then acrylic spray gloss sealer.  I think it was pretty clever of me.

Yesterday was auspicious: I finally realized my goal of having actual “real” teeth in my mouth!  The whole construction project took years and thousands of dollars I didn’t have, but it was worth the wait.  I can smile, eat, but most of all, feel more whole again.

Also, I got down to 118 lbs. at one point!  Mostly due to the fact that I was sick and couldn’t eat, but still!  All the exercise is paying off.  One G is not going to slow me down!

After a long dental procedure of tweaking my new implants, I lightheadedly floated over to Avdi’s and did the usual.

I wish the veg garden was as unreserved as all the flowers.  Here are some.