...National Macaroon Day

 

... National Macaroon Day, KidPak Small Groups, bird flies, How to Train Your Dragon, Spider-Noir, Braves fall to Reds but still win the series, rotisserie chicken, goblins... updates coming soon...

Downy in the Garden

Citronella!  It's supposed to be an unappealing smell to mosquitoes.  We'll see how it works because we'll be putting this on the porch, along with an infuser spouting out citronella as well.  We were at the garden shop, or the nursery today, getting a few plants...

We did get this one arrangement on the bottom, but we also picked up a hibiscus (also pictured above) for the hummingbirds, plus some things for our garden:  marigolds, tomatoes, and peppers.  Here they are, planted in our garden this evening.

One of the peppers we got - in addition to this Mammoth Jalepeño for Maddie - was a Mad Hatter Pepper Plant.  I didn't know about this one, so obviously had to get it.  But right when I was digging up some ground there in the garden plot, there was a tap above me, and plop!  A pretty young downy woodpecker landed right there in the soft soil next to me.  

Immediately I picked him up, and we did a few right things, although there were some that they officially don't recommend.  We gave him some water and food, and that's apparently not recommended.  But we did put the bird into a cardboard box, and that is recommended.  That helps the bird chill out and not stress so much.  After a bit, the bird was more alert and was eating and drinking some.  But it wouldn't fly anywhere.  In fact, it just wanted to hang around Mom a good bit!

Sweet!  Mom and I were out there on the back deck, watching over our new friend while listening to the ball game.  The Braves won again, sealing the series victory against the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ballpark.  Our sound bar is working well, and so our audio in the living room is sounding great.  I had "Fantasia 2000" playing on the television earlier, all while straightening up some of the interior cabinets and electronics.  Just some tidying long overdue, but it was indoor work we could do while the weather was a little too warm outside.  But that rain was coming again, and that was good again.

As for our woodpecker friend, that little bird is spending the night inside a cardboard box with holes poked in the top.  This little guy just didn't seem ready to fly yet, so we'll have to see how things work out tomorrow.  Hint:  it all works out okay!

Maddie's had a good day today.  Maddie had Team Edge practice this morning, and then went to see a movie with Nate's family, "The Breadwinner," a comedy that everyone seemed to like.  She spent the day with the family, and the rain came down quite a bit after that - they played it safe, driving home after the rain. 

We were able to read together tonight, with Commander Vimes putting one culprit in jail after hearing all kinds of confessions about a larger more vile plan - the game is afoot!  We read, and we got to sleep after that.  Time for some rest!

Day of Ascent

 

Today I began my ascent of Mt. Everest!  It's a new virtual hike, and to make things more realistic, I've got the treadmill's incline going.  Gradual at first, but I'll build it up.  It's a shorter hike, but the distance will seem longer with that incline on the increase.  Should be a fun walk - I took an old photo of myself hanging off a ledge at Guadeloupe Peak, and asked AI to make it look like I'm at Mt. Everest instead.  

And here's the new race bib!  In a week or two I'll get that "Walk to the Moon" medal, which is not a virtual one.  These are great motivational tools for getting on that treadmill each day.  Got to keep moving, as movement is medicine.

So today Maddie was at home most of the day, but she did drive around with Nana for a bit, working on three-point turns.  She also drove us over to taekwondo tonight, and we met Nate there and everyone had a good night at Edge.  I was watching the students practice, and also getting the Summer Xtreme scripts in line and in order - for the first time, we're repeating the series "Unleashed" for Summer Xtreme, something we did back in 2019.  That was Maddie's last Summer Xtreme as a sixth grader, a big year for the sixth graders.  We don't repeat these, but it's been a long time since we've done this and more importantly, there was an animated project that Josh was working on for 2019 that he just ran out of time on.  I did some voice work for that, as did others, and so this has been sitting there dormant for all this time, all this voice work and animation already done.  This year, it will finally premiere, seven years in the making!  But all that said, I think that repeating the skits from seven years ago might be a fun idea.  We have enough actors for all the parts, so it should be easier to set up.  Anyway, I was working on that - and the latest Psalm.  I've been setting these all to music using AI, and tonight I was wrapping up Psalm 71.  I think I've done about 130 of them so far, so we're getting close to getting it all finished!  I'll share those when the whole project is done, one Psalm at a time.

Okay, so the big project of the day was a sound bar for the television.  We were watching the Braves defeat the Cincinnati Reds tonight, and the whole time I was trying to get this sound bar set up so that we could hear better.  The sound was going out on the television somewhat, but the picture is just fine.  So my thought was a new sound source.  Anyway, we got it going at the very end, and as a bonus, the Braves won 8-3.  We like scoring eight runs, apparently.  This BravesVision has been so much fun seeing all these ball parks, and of course as a bonus, the Braves are currently the best team in baseball.

Ye-Ye and Nana both have been getting some great news at the doctor this week, with good blood tests and other fantastic reports.  So that's been a lot to rejoice about.  

Tonight we read from "Snuff," and we know whodunnit.  The chase is on, and this will not end well for our culprit, I can tell.  We'll find out soon as we keep on reading at this pace.  Wild thought:  we started reading this book on the Disney Fantasy.  We should be done by next week, I think, and then off to some other character story in the Discworld, perhaps.

We said our prayers, and then it was time for some sleep.  It's raining again, and that's not a bad thing.  That's one great thing about our rainfall levels in 2026:  We're catching up!

Noir

Maddie drove us over to taekwondo tonight, and she's getting much better and smoother behind the wheel.  It helps that she's had a lot of practice time with Nana, who came by again this morning for some more driving lessons.  This is a weekly thing, and today's emphasis was on parking and three-point turns.  She was helping students with taekwondo, and all the while I was watching BravesVision there, while Mom was watching at home.  The Braves won big today by the same margins they lost yesterday, just crushing the Boston Red Sox.  The big blow came from Acuna Jr., and his very timely grand slam.  Go Braves!

Mom and I were working today - I finished up the Summer Xtreme booklet, then got things lined up for Sunday finally, helped a lot of other people with various tasks today... and splashed down from the moon!

This was a fun virtual march.  I had so much to watch during this, from NASA footage to documentaries and historical dramas and of course crazy fun astronaut movies.  It was 100 miles, so it was a little longer.  But post cards, character cards, open areas and other things opened up as you marched along to make it interesting.  Now I'm going to have to figure out what to do next... hmmm... 

More rain today.  And that's okay because it's going to take a while to get things away from where we were with the lack of water.  It didn't rain on Maddie as she was driving to and from taekwondo, so that's good.  We got home and Mom had made this delicious banana pudding for us after dinner.  We've been doing the Factor meals lately, and those have been good. Not all the time, but they're easy to pack for lunch and they're good for a quick meal at dinner.  

Tonight's featured viewing:  Spider-Noir.  We got through episode four, and I'm enjoying this whole vibe quite a bit.  The cinematography is a lot of fun, and the costumes and sets are refreshing.  We might have to go back and watch some old-school film noir movies now, like "The Maltese Falcon."  And I don't think these other two have ever seen "Casablanca," which is a must-see, right?  But first we'll have to see what happens next in this ongoing series.  Only four episodes to go, but it's been a fun alternate universe version of Spider-Man, and it seems to be pretty popular right now.  Kind of want to watch another Marvel series from this era:  Agent Carter.  That was a really good one.

Afterwards, we had time for some reading from "Snuff," where Commander Vimes is now on the trail of the culprits, about to head up river to make an arrest, or worse.  We'll see what happens next as that adventure also continues. 

We said our prayers after that, and got to sleep fairly quickly tonight - we were all a bit sleepy!

Patriotic Swedish Fish

I present to you... PATRIOTIC SWEDISH FISH!  We had a meeting today at KidPak, and we had a bunch of leftover Swedish Fish from a game this past Sunday, so why not create a patriotic masterpiece?  'Merica!  And Sweden!

Maddie and Nate went to do some bowling today, and it sounded like a lot of fun!  They weren't going to break any records today, but that's not really something any of us go in for when it comes to bowling - it's all about having fun, and maybe laughing at each other.  But celebrating with each other too, of course.  It's a fickle sort of game for some of us.

Speaking of fickle games, the Braves were crushed today by the Red Sox, and that was pretty hard to watch except an amazing foul ball catch by a broadcaster during the game.  It was basically the highlight of the game for Braves fans, and all the talk of BravesVision.  We'll get 'em tomorrow, surely, with another series win, right?

Tonight we started "Spider-Noir," which is a pretty fun show thus far.  We'll continue that tomorrow I'm sure, running through the entire series with a bit of Spider-binge watching.  And yes, we chose to watch it in black and white.  We're not Philistines. 

We had a lot of Summer Xtreme meetings today, and there was a good bit of planning for Sunday too.  It was a busy but productive day.  I have some great ideas for our upcoming small group Sunday, some of them involving the Mandalorian and a helmet I have at the house.  I'll have to bring that in for a makeshift "Helmet of Salvation."

Mom was fending off the raccoons again tonight - we didn't bring in the bird seed fast enough, but they tend to scurry off when you step outside.  And then again, sometimes they just sit there and stare at you as you step on their territory, and they're like, "What?  What do you want?"

We are getting so much rain lately, and that's been so great for our area, as the ground has been so thirsty.  One big thing I did was this:

The brass altar, the sheep, and the entrance to the tabernacle there.

Inside where there's the altar of incense and the bread

The overview of the entire Wilderness Tabernacle.  The top comes off to show you the inside.

The LEGO Ark of the Covenant!  It actually has Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, and a jar of manna inside.

LEGO Menorah, table of bread, incense altar...

An above-view with the top on the temple.

I finished the LEGO Wilderness Tabernacle!  I was pacing myself, putting pieces together here and there as the week went by, reviewing those scriptures from Exodus as I moved along with that.  But it turned out really well, and the instructions were near perfect - I think I only had one or two places where there were hiccups, but overall it was a great build.  I just read all this so it's been a great addition to the reading.  

Tonight we read more from our book "Snuff," attempting to figure out what's going on with these goblins.  Someone has to speak up for them, and adventure is afoot.  We read a little further along here in this final Sam Vimes book, and then afterwards:  prayers, and a good night's rest.

Grogu and the Mandalorian

We went to see the latest Star Wars movie tonight, and it's a big deal because I think there hasn't been one in six years or so, and the last three weren't exactly everyone's favorites.  We had a good feeling about tonight's flick though, because we love the characters.  Tuesday is half-price night, so we arrived with Ye-Ye, Nana, Maddie, Nate, Mom and myself for a visit to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

It was a great movie!  I think it felt like an extra long episode of the show, and that's not a bad thing.  The puppetry in the show was really amazing, and the special effects were incredible.  It just felt like an 80's sort of movie at times, that same old-school Star Wars joy woven throughout.  We all enjoyed it from our seats in the back, and the theater had a good bit of people there to see it.  

Oh, look who is sprouting here!  Our Grogu Chia is doing rather well today, as is our Chia Shrek:
 

The rain has been steady and almost extreme at points this week, just these huge downpours constantly barraging us from above.  The lake is starting to fill again, and I believe although we're still technically in a drought, this has brought the severity of the drought significantly down.  

Ah, lunch today!  I was supporting my friend Daniel here with his missions project, something Chick-Fil-A was doing in partnership with that ministry.  Meals purchased there helped with donations, so I went across town to have lunch there.  

And here's something else I did - I got a post card from the moon!  This may be one of the last ones, as I'm nearing splash down, the end of this virtual walk.  It's been good - I've been closing things out by watching the raw footage of the first moon landing, which is actually really interesting.

Tonight the Braves hung on to beat the Red Sox, but it was good to see their bats starting to come alive somewhat.  After catching the end of the game, we closed out our big day with some more reading from the Discworld, and of course prayers.  It was a fun day today!

Memorial Day 2026

'Merica!  Here's some patriotic jello, a rather simple idea from Mom - we've got a red layer of jello at the bottom and then she's sliced and placed some strawberries for stripes onto a layer of cool whip, and of course the field of stars up there is a field of blueberries.  Looks fun, simple to make, and it's delicious!

Today is Memorial Day, and we started out with a really great skillet breakfast that Mom made for us, and yeah, we had all those patriotic tunes playing today.  Got to have the appropriate theme music playing, and the patriotic tree plugged in.  The house looks great for our semiquincentennial.

We got our walking in, and got everyone fed, birds and sea monkeys.  The chia pets look great, and I worked a good bit on the LEGO Wilderness Temple as well, with just one more bag to go until it's complete. 

Afterwards, we went over to Aunt Shain's for a big Memorial Day feast!

Natural wildlife abounds!  Ah, the wild flock of flamingos in the back, grazing in the woods there.  Speaking of "birdies," Maddie, Nate, David and Jonathan were playing badminton for a good bit, and occasionally getting the birdies stuck in low hanging tree branches.  Also getting rackets stuck in them.  

But eventually, it was time for the Memorial Day Croquet Challenge!

This year's contestants were ready to go, a battle for the ages.  The weather was iffy, but the rain pretty much held out for us as the competition began.  The spectators were seated, cheering on the big game!

It's a lot of unpredictable fun!  This year's winner?  Maddie!  She and Marilyn pretty much ruled the course while the guys spent a lot of time floundering on the starting side there.  It was a tough course, but Maddie broke away from the competition, and it wasn't even close from there - she got to the end a good ten minutes before the others.  Still, everyone had a good time, including those of us watching.  We were all laughing at the misfortunes or marveling at the sudden bursts of talent.

The rain did come eventually, but not really until we were all done.  We got everything cleaned up and got inside for our big meal.  Here's the crew just before dessert, having patriotic cupcakes, cookies, and yes, that Jello Flag!

It was a nice time.  Nate was with us, and he enjoyed it too, although he was almost last in the croquet game. But still, we all enjoyed our time together, a really nice tradition on Memorial Day.

Today is also Towel Day, and so we watched "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" tonight.  We read all these books with Maddie once upon a time, but it's been a while.  I think next year I'm going to try and find the original BBC movie 

We closed out the day with some reading and then prayers.  Time for some sleep!