Two hours and counting until I need to leave the house for Denver. I haven’t packed. I’m still wearing the wool blanket and sweater I put on when I got up this morning. (We have the window open and it’s in the 40s outside.) Posey really thinks that I ought to just let her lie lovingly in my lap instead of getting up and moving around.

I haven’t picked out knitting projects (although I do have books to read). Should I take the laptop? (The hotel has free wifi, but then I need to lug the thing with me.) Should I take workout clothes? (I don’t work out at home. What are the odds this would change while on a business trip?)

I have queued up a couple of posts for you to read during my absence, so do check back over the next couple of days. If the Denver conference folks let exhibitors use the public computers, I’ll post an update. Otherwise, you won’t here from me live and in person until the weekend.

Be well!

Well, it’s 3:10 a.m. and my laundry is finally in the washer. I suppose it could be worse. My flight to Detroit could leave at 7 a.m. instead of noon. I have pulled out the cat-hair-covered suitcase, although currently the only things inside are underwear and a phone charger. Both are important, but I suspect my trip would be lacking if those were the only things to accompany me to the Motor City.

Okay, I admit it, I am a little further along than that. Instead of putting my jeans away, I have left them on the couch to wear. This would be a bigger comfort if I didn’t have a different pile on the couch that did still need to be put away…

And I bought two mysteries on Sunday to take with me — a Miss Marple and a Philip Craig Martha’s Vineyard tale. I’d meant to finish Anne of Green Gables so I could take Anne of Avonlea with me, too, but I still have 50 pages to go in the latter, so I’m thinking it’s not overly likely to happen.

I have charged my camera batteries. I have paid 2/3 of the bills I need to take care of.

I have not bought contact solution, stopped by the bank, or decided on a knitting project to take.

And I know, I know: I’m behind on blogging. I’d meant to get caught up this weekend or even to queue up some posts for while I’m away, but I got lazy. I probably won’t have a computer while I’m in Detroit, but I’m hoping there will be a free computer lab at the convention from which I can pop in and give you brief updates.

Anyway, if the only post you get between now and Sunday is the Thursday Three Beautiful Things post, please don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m just wandering around Greektown.

Rudi and I headed up to Connecticut this long weekend for some much needed R&R. We celebrated Shelley’s 35th birthday with a cookout and campfire. Rudi rode up a mountain. I hung out with my folks and with Gramma and caught up on sleep. And today (yesterday, now), we broke out the party caps and helped Dad blow out his birthday candles. (Mum thought 65 might be too many in his apple pie, so she opted for 13 (one for each half-decade) instead.)

It was a wonderful weekend and I feel very relaxed at the moment. I’m sure when 8:30 rolls around in the morning, I will be less enthusiastic about our late arrival home, but right now I don’t care. It was totally worth it. But if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head to bed. More posts about books and knitting and other such things to follow soon.

Now that we’re back on track with 007: Snap a Dozen Days, this shot embodies July for me:

Hanging out with Shelley, Mike, Daschel, and Irisa at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. We’ve been camping together for five years now and it just wouldn’t seem like July without our annual gathering.

This shot is just before we parted ways at the end of the weekend, which is why everyone looks a little weary, sunburnt, and/or impatient. But it’s the only shot I have with all of us in it. Other shots from the weekend can be found here.

The festival was good this year. Only a couple of rain showers — one Friday night and one Saturday morning — fell on us this year, as opposed to all weekend like last year, and not a single explosion/fire marred our experience. It really seemed like the organizers listened to our criticisms from last year, and we definitely saw a more obvious presence from volunteers and security as well as a better rain plan for those cars parked around the farm.

Thursday night was just Rudi and me, as Shelley and Mike opted to come up Friday in order to stay later on Sunday. We particularly enjoyed the harmonies of The Lovell Sisters, who are coming to the Kennedy Center’s free Millennium Stage later this month. We got a chance to meet them to have them sign our cds, and they were just sweet and overwhelmed and lovely. And they had their parents there with them. Isn’t that adorable?

Friday, despite applying sunscreen early, I awoke from an accidental morning nap in the hammock a radiant pink color. I listened to the emerging artist showcase from camp and was delighted with Vienna Teng’s dulcet tones, as well as with several others. Friday night we ventured down to the festival, only to have to quickly reverse directions with a sick child and impending rain. We did get a chance to see The Jason Spooner Trio, and Shelley and I later returned down the hill during the Friday Night Song Swap, featuring Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, Mary Gauthier, and Marshall Crenshaw.

Saturday during the day, I just begged for shade. Merely having sun shine on me hurt (Isn’t it amazing the way our bodies do that? “You! Stupid! Didn’t you learn yesterday not to hang out in the sun?!”), although a “Three Geeks and a Red Head” ice cream cone helped some with the mental anguish. We listened to the evening acts from camp, where we sat around the charcoal grill and made s’mores. We didn’t get to see the lights on the hillside during Dar Williams’ “Iowa,” but we imagined them. The night was lovely, and one of my favorite moments of the festival.

Sunday, we broke down camp after a hardy breakfast and then headed to the festival. I consumed a large lemonade and a savory crepe for lunch while hanging out in the kids’ section, before we returned to load up the cars during Richard Shindell’s set. We were back down at the mainstage in time to catch the final two acts of the festival — The Nields and Arlo Guthrie. Arlo was in especially fine form and regaled the audience with hilarious stories from his past. He was the perfect performer to end the weekend with.

And then it was all over for another year…

Earlier shots in the 007 series: June, May, April, March, February, and January.

Three beautiful things from the camping trip/music festival:

1. The blueberry pancakes Mike makes for breakfast on the campstove griddle.

2. Having my sunburnt skin misted with cool water by two small children.

3. Shelley and I intend to stay down at the music on Friday night when the guys return to camp. Instead, it begins to sprinkle and we decide to head up early. The sprinkles don’t turn into actual rain, so after sending the kids and the guys to bed, we decide to mosey back down to the midway for a late night cup of hot chocolate. Just as we arrive, the skies open up and the rain pours down. By the time we walk back to the campsite, we are thoroughly soaked. (My sneakers only just dried today.)

I didn’t relax much while traveling Friday or Saturday, but I do enjoy spending time in Pittsburgh more than I thought I would the first time I went there. As such, three beautiful things about Pittsburgh:

1. After walking out of the Eagle Giant in Southside, I noticed a sky so deeply, intensely purple and magenta that I said, “Wow! Look at that!” quite aloud. A woman turned to gaze with me.

2. After three short visits to Pittsburgh, I already have a favorite radio station there, 91.3, WYEP. When I picked up my rental car, they were about to start an in-studio performance/interview with Ruthie Foster. Another time I started the car, it was to the refrains of the Kennedys’ “Life Is Large.”

3. At the end of my workday on Saturday, I was trying to push free food on everyone I encountered. A little girl sitting in a tree behind me came up to eat some vegetables and immediately took to me and started hawking the joie de vivre of eating healthy to anyone who passed us by. She took the last of my veggies home because “it’s a waste something that someone might want.” And when she asked me why some people smoke (I have no idea why she asked, but we’d had an anti-smoking group with us earlier in the day, so that might have been why.), I gave her the answer that sometimes people think it looks cool and sometimes people are intimidated by telling their friends they don’t want to try it. This third grader looked me in the eye and told me that was silly and provided me with several lines to answer that kind of scenario. She also told me she wanted to be a lawyer and to have a vet place for homeless animals in her backyard and to be America’s Next Top Model and to be a cheerleader. What a sweetie.