Busy weekend. Lots of work on Saturday.

Sunday was Father’s Day and the whole gang came over to my place (mom, dad, Michelle, Link, and uncle Dick) for potluck with a yummy Culver’s cake for dessert.

Then it was off to the Stone Arch Festival in Minneapolis to work the Textile Center tent for a little bit. Michelle and Link came by on a walk and tried their hands at weaving:

Thursday night was gorgeous. It was warm but breezy. Just about perfect.

I drove out to Gayle’s place, and since I was early I stopped at a roadside lake (I believe it’s called Parker’s Lake).

There were people fishing and boating, walking and jogging. And that lakey smell (Curiously the same smell as the water out of my pipes in my apartment–mom says St. Paul water is drawn from lakes). I saw a red-winged blackbird.

Then after I got my cat fix at Gayle’s…meet Esmeralda:

…we were off to watch her nephew Zach’s soccer game. He did really well and no goals scored on him whilst he was goalie (I just like that word “whilst”).

It was cute to see all the 6- or 7-year-olds playing.

We went to Wisconsin today to celebrate my Busha’s 92 birthday. (Busha means “grandmother” in Polish). She’s still going strong and polka-ing whenever she can!

Michelle Teel (friend from college) came up to MN for a work conference yesterday and we got together for a little sightseeing and dinner. YAY! First stop: Mall of America. Here she is in Lego Land.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Mall of America, it’s a really big mall. It even has an amusement park inside:

We left the mall for a short driving tour of Minneapolis, some lakes, and the surrounding area (due to the fact that I got lost). Then to Ichiban for dinner (Japanese-slice-and-dice-at-the-table restaurant).

Gummi bears and classic REM.

Anyone know how best to clean off gummi goo from a scanner?

Summer’s here with a vengeance. 90s. In May. In Minnesota. What’s up?

Mom’s garden is looking good though. Dad planted extra raspberries in honor of my move back. The rhubarb’s looking great. Rhubarb=pie! Yea! Flowers aren’t doing much but this climbing clematis is gorgeous.

Mom recently found a passel of old photos of my sister and I and our grandparents. Here’s one with me about age 4 or 5 celebrating grandpa’s seventieth birthday (he’s wearing the special birthday hat of honor–it has cowboys on it). Look at me on the left–even then eyeing the cake. Some things never change!

Check out the candle-blowing, birthday action!

After working most of Saturday on the &*%$#@*! dropdown menus for the new butterfly site, I called Gayle up to go for a walk.

We walked in the woods behind her house picking wildflowers as we went.

Then we came upon this…Kinda makes you go hmmmmmm.

Is there such a thing as a Cinco de Mayo Tree?

I was shopping Etsy as I sometimes do, and came across:

Isn’t it great? And turns out it was made by a coworker of mine. Who woulda thunk it?

Gratuitous plug: If you’re shopping for bags, aprons, cuffs and other miscellaneous handmade textile stuff give Becka a try at beckarahn.etsy.com. End Gratuitous plug.