Beautiful day today–clear–in the 80′s F, especially good too, because a task I had needed to do got cancelled–opening up some unstructured time for me–and the dogs.
Spouse’s garden is looking pretty rad. The Purple Smoke tree in particular is a favourite of mine.
In the backyard – Purple Smoke Tree – 6-21-12
‘Obi’ -6-2012 – Schaumburg backyard
Hosta – 6.21.112
6-21-12
Creeping upward… trellis
Raven and Obi – backyard 6.21.12
OK. That’s pretty much all in back right now–that’s thriving after this brutal weather, anyway. There’s much more in front but I don’t really hang out there. It’s an odd sunlight situation both in front and back because of the way this funny old condo building is built.
We (the condo assoc.–not me personally) fired our on-site groundskeeper and and are not buying much in the way of foliage so what spouse does–the scale, seeing as we own only one condo here not all six units, for this building. He does a real lot. People thank him though, which is all the encouragement he needs, I think.
Chris's 19th - Roger, Chris, & Jim - August 20, 2011
After tomorrow it is officially vacation for Roger and me:
Chris has to go to school and work and Jim has a still-new job clocking in 6 or 7 days a week–and a real-no-excuses boss. Fortunately, Jim had a trip back east my see his grandparents not too long ago. <3
Chris is flying into Buffalo, N.Y. –20 miles from the Falls– on Friday morning—leaving Sunday evening. My mom’s memorial is on Sunday August 28th …with folks coming in to the Haliburton Highlands so we decided to make it more vacation-y and stay overnight at a close to everything place in Niagara Falls. Three stars that my oldest son helped me very much in finding–for cheap–check out the topographic map of how easy it is to walk to the Falls! Excitement!
Niagara Falls Ontario--topographic & map view
… then the next morning at 11 a.m.–perfect-ish for a night owl like me…pick up Chris and do something by the Falls before heading back to Maple Lake until Labour Day… is the plan.
PHOTOS: Chris’s birthday at Fridays’ tonight- He refused the singing. (boo):
Chris 19th birthday aug20-2011-fridays-schaumburg-il-by cyn-mccrackan
- Plus: No one* takes my picture – further proof
*only me
August 19 2011 - Son's 19th birthday Fridays with entire nuclear family!
Some Friday's decor that made me nostalgic and I was already _in_ that frame of mind! * On another note: Was I the only chick that thought Linda Ronstadt was hot like 'this'--versus her hot pants-period (later)? I thought so. She's got really soulful eyes.
Happy 19th birthday, Christopher!
After dinner we saw this film:
Saw on August 20 2011
It was just OK…not great. A couple of the science-based plot holes really distracted me from the film. Also, they wasted Frieda Pinto (sp?) other than as eye candy.
NOW is the time to give to The Fresh Air Fund—in any way you can:
Summer '94
Literally, all my life I’ve had a beautiful summer place to go.
Thanks to my grandparents, I grew up sometimes spending months on a crystal-clear lake in the breathtakingly beautiful Haliburton Highlands in Ontario, Canada. At the time however, my nuclear family had emigrated to Connecticut–just a stone’s throw from the great state of New York and where I spent the rest of my year. My dad kept the radio on especially in the morning and I’d hear PSA’s for The Fresh Air Fund. It was hard as a child to imagine what it would be like stuck in the suburbs all summer long–never mind the inner city! Later, TV adverts made an even more indelible impression on me that I was exceptionally fortunate as there were many kids who were not.
After over 130 years of giving inner-city children the joy of a summer vacation with volunteer host families and at Fund camps, ‘creating unforgettable memories and fresh possibilities,’ no one needs to remind the not-for-profit The Fresh Air Fund of what a fantastic difference spending some of the summer away from the city can make for children.
Read an excerpt from a recent news story on how summer resources for city youth are going to be even more scarce in summer 2011:
NEW YORK — A rising number of children can look forward to excruciatingly boring school breaks this year as budget crises in places such as New York, Washington, D.C., Houston and Detroit rob them of the activities and programs that have long defined summer in the city for urban youngsters.
Swimming pools are being closed. Recreation centers are locking their doors. Library summer reading programs are suffering. Openings for short-term jobs have evaporated.
Yet, with a shift in perspective, do the kids have to be on the losing end?
‘We can’t afford to have children who don’t have positive places to be during the summer’
In New Orleans, Mayor Mitchell Landrieu this year fulfilled a campaign promise to boost city funding for children’s recreation facilities and summer programs, despite the city’s economic difficulties. While last summer, about 700 children participated in sports and literacy activities through the city’s summer camps for children ages 5 to 18, this year the city is expecting to serve 5,000 campers with the help of local organizations, private partnerships and doubled city funds, said Gina Warner, the executive director of the city’s Partnership for Youth Development.
The city – where nine out of 10 recreation sites were damaged by Hurricane Katrina – will be opening 12 pools this year, up from seven the year before and three the year before that. And libraries will be coordinating with the city summer camps to keep children reading, Warner said.
Warner said that while her city faces the same economic struggles as its counterparts around the country, elected officials see the New Orleans summer programs as not only an investment in children, but also a crime-prevention tool.
“We’re a very tourism-dependent city, and so we can’t afford to have children who don’t have positive places to be during the summer,” she said.
… then the next morning at 11 a.m.–perfect-ish for a night owl like me…pick up Chris and do something by the Falls before heading back to Maple Lake until Labour Day… is the plan.
![familyoldtemey022 425x343 Give an Inner City Child A Chance to Enjoy Summer OUT of the City [VIDEO]](http://maplelakeontario.com/wp-content/uploads/familyoldtemey022-425x343.jpg "familyoldtemey022")
