#2957 three things: long weekend, travel plans, and the mulberry bush

three dancing squirrels

1. A long weekend! I got off work early today so the long weekend could be stretched a little further. I was glad because the three days before today were L-O-N-G work hours and kind of hard on my brain. I stopped at bougie Harmons on my way home for a fresh salad from their groovy salad bar, some Zero Sugar Creamy Coconut Dr Pepper, and some Czech beer. (The beer is for research purposes, of course). There are no big plans for my 4th of July weekend. I'd like to write, read, paint/draw, and putter around the house. MT is in Idaho, backpacking in the Sawtooths. T has to work at night, so it's just me and the doggos. Tonight I may watch a movie on the big ass TV. At the moment, I'm working on a little art project - I write while the paint is drying. I can see a faint rainbow out my office window, and I'm feeling relaxed and happy.

2. Trip plans! In a couple of months Lizzie and I are heading to Europe for vacation. I have been yearning to see the capitals of Central Europe: Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, so our travel advisor, Candice, recommended a river cruise on the Danube. We are starting in Budapest, with stops in Slovakia, three cities in Austria (including Vienna), and ending in Germany. From Passau, Germany, we'll have a drive up to Prague. As an extra bonus, we also have a couple of days in Amsterdam. I'm looking forward to seeing all these places. Lizzie gave me a couple of travel guides, one for Prague and one for Amsterdam, and I am happily reading and looking at things on Pinterest to give ideas of things to do, see, eat, and drink. 

3. Revenge of the mulberry bush. And now, for something completely different:

We used to have a tall mulberry tree in our back yard. It was a good 15 feet tall, very leafy and full. It provided nice shade and a spot for the birdies to hang out. It was also unruly and pushing on the chain link fence and our neighbor didn't like it and MT didn't like it, so he chopped it down. I was sad about it, but I kinda understood.

This spring, though, the stump started to get leafy. It was like that knight in the Monty Python movie, saying, "I'm not dead yet!"  I have been quietly delighted to watch the stump morph into a full-on mulberry bush. It's not getting tall, but it is spreading. Check it out:

the mulberry bush

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No, it's not pretty, but nature pushes on.

Have a great weekend. Stay safe!

my zine cover