...basil.  I am nearly going out of my mind from the aroma -- in a good way.  I will be on the receiving end of some surplus tomatoes and corn tomorrow (from an entirely different source), so neither of those got much consideration from me at the farmer's market today.  I did bring home a nice cantaloupe, some zucchini (oddly, no one I know is buried under a surplus of that yet), some fresh purple basil (which scented the car so wonderfully -- I'm dizzy with it), and feta and mozzarella cheese.  I will be making a salad tonight with some of the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, olive oil and seasoning -- very much along the lines of Gretchen's bellisimo suggestion in the comments the other day (Thank You!).  For lunch today, I sprinkled crumbled feta and back olives atop the roasted cherry tomatoes and pasta that I made the other night (and had for lunch yesterday and again today and, OMG, I can hardly get enough of that, either).  Tomorrow, I plan on making the roasted tomato sauce that I wrote about yesterday.

Yeah, so, I may or may not reach at elusive 10 at WW on Tuesday, but I cannot feel badly at all about taking advantage of the season's bounty.  This is all good stuff.

My Saturday Sky is gray today.  My dad used to work in that taller building when I was a kid.  I used to go downtown with Mimi, who lived across the street from us, on Saturday afternoons -- sometimes Dad would be working and I'd stop in and see if he'd throw me some extra change.  Kresge's and Woolworth's were within a block of each other across the street and my favorite was the music department -- affordable 45s, specifically.  I bought "Dizzy" when I didn't even have a record player -- and I still get a good feeling whenever I hear that song on the radio.  Mimi was a few years older than me, but she never treated me like a little kid or a nuisance.  One summer, we (mostly she) organized a neighborhood carnival in our back yard -- all kinds of games and prizes and candy.  It's always been kind of a blur in my memory, but we do have a few pictures -- it was quite the event that summer!

For Sandy's Saturday Sky.

Now I remember... we're driving up to Sturgeon Bay this afternoon to attend the opening of a drawing show this evening.  The last time I was there -- ooh, it was a while ago -- it was also for a museum show opening!  We'd gone up pretty early that time so we had time to run through an antique mall and a yarn shop, among other things, but there's another fiber shop that I want to visit and have yet to see but will likely remain on my to-do list even after today because I think they'll be closed by the time we get there.

My Saturday Sky is a little out of focus this morning!  I took this on my walk down to our local farmer's market where I found some zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce and corn.  Nice morning.

You’ll likely approach the nuances of daily life as well as the pursuit of your goals with a newfound boldness and enthusiasm.  --excerpt from my Daily Om Horoscope for Wednesday, August 2.

Imagine my wry smile when I read my horoscope after making the can-do phone call on Wednesday, which had to do with work and my need to do a little more of it -- not in terms of putting in more hours or days per week, but in terms of doing more actual, worthwhile -- if not meaningful -- work while I'm actually working, and feeling happier about it.  Can you dig?  There was more rolled into it, of course, and some emotional baggage along for the ride, hence the choking up, but I needed to shake things up -- make a change there or do something else entirely.  It's done.  Now I'm busy learning some of the finer points and idiosyncracies of my very vague-to-you job and it's taxing.  I took a nap after supper last night and I never do that.  The festivities of the night before may have contributed a little to my weariness, but man, I was wiped out!

I'm at odds with the knitting projects.

--Not loving the look and feel of my knitting with two (or more colors) on the Jane Thornley vests -- I love the yarns and love the pattern, but my two-color knitting technique leaves something to be desired.  I will contemplate these for a while longer.

--I finished off the in-progress color on the Log Cabin thingamajig -- eh.  Marinating.

--It's time to get to work on finishing Fib.  It's cooler now.  I want to start the applied I-cord, but I still have seaming to do, which (for me) is best done during the day on a table rather than in the evening on my lap.  I will begin seaming today.

--I worked a few rounds on my Trekking sock -- I don't hate it, but I don't love it.  I think there's another sock, a different yarn, that I'd rather be knitting, but I'm cruising (slowly) toward the toe on this one and would just like to have it done -- making an entire PAIR -- before I start another dalliance.  These will come along for the ride this afternoon.

This is not what you want to see on a Saturday morning when you're hauling junk out on the driveway for a rummage sale.  The day before was a hundred million degrees, though, and I had said (numerous times) that I'd prefer rain to heat.  I got my wish.

These were taken in panoramic fashion at around 4:45 yesterday, though the last was actually the first and the camera settings obviously different.  This is a big storm that traveled S/SE across the state.

These were about 15 minutes later as I walked to my car.  Cool, huh?

I tinked and re-knitted and counted and tinked and over and over and back and forth with the little shoulder shawl last night and I didn't get anywhere.  Perhaps I just don't have the mind for it right now.  (Ya think?)  My stitch count is just not coming out right from row to row -- only one or two off, usually.  It's entirely possible that it has less to do with the knitting and more to do with the counting.  I'm tired, I'm stressed from this thing or that thing (or both those things and then some other things), and there's just a lot going on; I've been busier at work lately, too (that's a good thing, really).  From the comments, it's obvious that I'm not alone and concentration is in short supply everywhere.  I'll take the hints about putting it away for now -- it will definitely come out to play again when other demands are less.  (Please, let me live the dream.)  I will need something a LOT more mindless to take to my sister's.

The first two were taken early this afternoon; the last one was this evening from the grocery store parking lot.  The sky was pretty dramatic all day with storms all around.  I saw a few raindrops, but that's all.

I've been working on the Victorian Shoulderette -- tinking, then ripping, then getting it back on the needles, knitting a row, I think.  I'll be tinking some more; hopefully not ripping.  My stitch count is off and I'll have to wait 'til tomorrow for my eyes to uncross.

Sky to the west of me, jokers to the east, here I am...

...stuck in the middle of a beautiful day!  Cancel my earlier prediction for hot and muggy -- it's absolutely gorgeous outside!  Clear and hot in the sun, but with the most wonderful breeze.  I so needed a day like this.

The sky was so interesting for about 5 minutes this morning while we were at the market and I'm so glad I brought the camera.

I treated myself to two hosta pots today, while Mom & Katie both went for flowers.  One of the pots actually has two plants, so BONUS for ME.  They are "Pathfinder," dark green with a green-speckled white center, that I intend to plant in a narrow strip along the walkway between the house and garage.  Huh, that's kind of like a path, so there you go.

In the "yum" department, there are more berries (rasp-, straw- & blue-), green beans and purple ones, too, an adorable pattypan squash, and some more zucchini; corn should be in abundance next week.

This installment of Saturday Sky is mostly leafy -- with geraniums.  I'd just watered the geranium and the tomato nearby (I keep forgetting about that darn thing) and the light through the trees was so pretty.  The sky this morning is clear and pale, pale blue; I think it's going to get hot and probably a little muggy.  I'm off early to the farmer's market.  Katie has to work at 10, so we're going early and we'll go out for breakfast, too.  I haven't done that in ages.  I am currently being fortified for the morning's activities by a mighty strong pot of coffee -- I wonder if I miscounted.

Happy day.

There isn't any fruit on my cherry tomato yet; I've got it in a hanging basket at the south end of the back porch.  The sky has been gray on & off, sunny on & off -- chance for storms later.

We scored raspberries, strawberries and blueberries at the farmer's market this morning, as well as a nice bunch of baby carrots, and beagle bagels and other assorted baked treats of that nature.  I sense some sort of WW variation of shortcake for dessert tonight!

There was an antique shop on our morning route, too, and Katie found a small, kidney-shaped stand to use as a bedside table and another suitcase to add to the stack that's already serving as a stand in her room.  She's about half-way through the painting.  She was trying very hard to figure a way justify the purchase of a yellow formica & chrome kitchen table (with leaf and 6 chairs -- all in VERY good condition) -- too big to use as a nightstand, too hard to use as a bed -- it was right up her alley, though.  Someday...

Ask and you shall receive.

Had I taken a picture earlier today, say, when I was knitting in Central Park, it would have been cloudy gray -- fairly bright, but still gray, with a distinct feeling that rain might not be far off.  We did have a little sprinkle in the late morning -- barely enough to wet the walkway outside the back door -- and then it got mostly blue and the sun came out.  When I went out to take my Saturday Sky picture, though, I was quite surprised.  I thought, "Northern Lights?  But it's daytime... and this is south...  Oh!  It might be a rainbow-ish thing.  Ooooo, pretty!"  Isn't it?  Like a cloudy, wispy rainbow!

Meanwhile...

Maddy & DH returned yesterday after being away for nearly three weeks.  It's nice to have them back!  Maddy has already made connections with bunches of friends and made plans, practically to-the-minute, through the weekend!  Phone usage will pick up again, no doubt; good thing I'm having cable phone installed next week!

It was only the last few days that tasks were presented at home for which I was unqualified and/or uninterested and/or the ick-factor was too great and so I jotted them down on a list for DH to attend.

1. Relocate leaf with spider and eggs (ick).
2. Replace plug on vacuum cleaner cord since it doesn't work with only one prong (unqualified, though I could learn).
3. Salt for the water softener (uninterested, except for resulting soft water).

Here is DH, performing Task #1, and a parting shot of the little big enormous mama guarding her offspring-to-be -- we'll all be much happier now that they're in their new home, far away from mine.  The plug was purchased at the hardware store last evening, which was located right next to the grocery store where the softener salt was purchased along with ground turkey for some of the most savory turkey burgers I've had in a long time -- and it was a WW recipe!

Having basically come to a stand-off with the built-ins, the huge filing cabinet (which I dragged, pushed and pulled to and fro the other day), and the appliances that cannot be moved in the laundry/computer room, I had a consultation with DH in regards to that project.  In response to my lamentations of the limitations due to built-ins (they're great and all and I know they add value and blahblahblah, but...), he said, "Why don't we take it out?"  Since he was the guy who built them in all those years ago (19, to be exact), I didn't think he'd be all the anxious to un-build them.  They've served their purpose, he said, and now we don't really need them anymore.  What's not to love?  We'll be able to leave some shelving; I'll have to do a little painting; maybe we can even get some carpet or a rug; and best of all, we'll be able to use the big, honkin' computer desk (sans one upper shelf) that I'd otherwise have to somehow get rid of -- and I'll have the MOST marvelous view of my lower garden whilst computing, and I'll hardly even need to turn my head... I'll need only glance.  ; )  So, three little jobs and an impromptu remodeling project -- Welcome Home, Honey!  ; )

As the kids said:  It just wouldn't seem like home if there wasn't some kind of remodeling thing either in the works or under consideration.

I spent Father's Day at my brother's house; my mom and dad were there, and one of my sisters.  These blanket pictures are actually from my last vist -- doesn't he look stronger?  He had a neuro check-up yesterday and he's doing well -- as expected.  There are at least two more docs to visit in the next week or so and he continues with physical therapy for his shoulder.  Progressing... blue sky with a few lingering clouds, dissipating some, but no storms on the horizon.  ; )

You will be smothered under a rug.
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I love Edward Gorey.  I did a little blog-hopping yesterday and found this at a new-to-me blog which I may or may not have added to my Bloglines list and I can't believe I didn't jot down the name.  I must have been all excited about my Gorey death...

I love the sky.  There are a lot of knit-blogging Sandy Sky Watchers standing on their porches in their jammies with wind-blown hair taking pictures of the sky these days; the sky images make me smile, the photographers' images in my head make me giggle.

I love the Olympics.  Like Stephanie, I have never participated much in competitive sports; I was invited to join the gymnastics team in high school, but, hey, it was high school -- I needed more of a nudge and didn't get it.  Oh, how I love to watch!  I cringe and grimace and wince at the mistakes, and sometimes my heart breaks; I beam to bursting, heart full with pride and accomplishment at the winning; and often I cry.  I love the anthems, the flags, the pomp and circumstance and ceremony, the flowers, the medals, the smiles and the tears.  I love the TV clips of past glories (never enough!) and athletes' stories.  And I think I have the perfect project for the Knitting Olympics -- Williamsro!  I've done some training (i.e., knitting, ripping, knitting, ripping), but I've lapsed, so some intense drills are in order these next few weeks.  Williamsro is my reward sweater, which I intend to have finished by the quit anniversary, and if I do it for the Olympics, I'll actually finish it a month ahead of schedule!