I had an amazingly fun holiday weekend, cramps during hiking (see previous entry) notwithstanding.

On the evening of the third, I made a cheesecake for the next day and was feeling restless just before sundown, so I took a few pictures of the cats (a rare picture of Cricket asleep, a picture of her looking all grown up and dignified for about two and a half seconds, a nice black-and-white of Juniper, and Lilith looking grumpy). I then went for a walk, taking pictures of some lovely flowers along the way, until I came to the Union Bay Natural Area, where I walked out to the bay itself. The sun was just setting, and Mount Rainier was glowing pink on the horizon.

I walked home slowly, savoring the perfect evening.

The next morning, I got up and baked another dessert for the party later that day. I'd gone to Central Market on Tuesday and bought several pounds of bruise-under-their-own-weight-ripe peaches. I knew they wouldn't last till Friday, so I opted to peel and slice and then freeze them.

I love peeling peaches. The smell of the fruit drifts up from my hands, sweet and disarmingly charming, with just a hint underneath of the sinful potential of overripeness. My hands holding the knife and the peeler quickly become slippery with juice, making peeling the peaches a matter of delicacy and surehandedness. I don't want to overhandle them, as every bit of pressure yields a slow drip of juice, but the temptation to simply bury my face in the peach I'm holding is almost overwhelming.

They remind me of some girls I know--press them right and you've got juice running down your elbow. I hear drops smacking into the floor. It's a full-body activity, peeling these peaches.

So sliced and peeled peaches were waiting for me on Friday morning. I quickly made up a double batch of crumble topping and popped the crisp into the oven for a bit over an hour--the peaches requiring no sugaring to make them perfectly sweet.

After baking was done and the crisp cooled off, it was time to go fetch Ray and head down south for the afternoon.

I've spent the last few Fourths with my chosen family, and like last year, this year was really a lot of fun. We got there in the afternoon, set up a bunch of games, and generally relaxed. Ray basked in the sun, and Graham decided to climb the sequoia in the backyard. (And Sunnie and Jen were laughing at him.) I caught Rich glowing in the setting sun. Ryan was working on something obscure and programmery for fun on his laptop.

We played an interesting version of croquet (it was more like an obstacle course than anything else) and badminton after a rousing round of water-gun fights. I got soaked, and evidently the sight of me playing badminton braless in a wet dress was....interesting, to say the least.

(Can I help it if I was having a "hey, I have a body, isn't that so cool?" day?)

It was geek badminton, played on a field that had been blackberries a few days before. There were many cries of "ow!" and much jumping up and down. We were proud of ourselves when we managed to keep the birdie in the air for more than a couple of exchanges.

I took a few pictures of myself, including one that turned out spectacularly well. And Kimba the cat decided to be very cute. There was dinner. Oh, was there ever dinner. And then there was a whole table full of dessert. My cheesecake met with rave reviews, which I was quite pleased about.

Then the sun started to set, and Bryan set out the fireworks for the night. It was a truly impressive array of scarily named things, including "American Strikes Back". Just one American striking back, mind you. Some of us piled onto the trampoline for a cuddle pile, and it finally got dark enough for fireworks.

The fireworks were Very Shiny. There were also sparklers; we danced and danced with them, spinning around with our arms outstretched, looking like we were summoning something.

After the fireworks were done, we all trooped inside for, yes, second dessert. And then we all went home, and I, for one, slept like the dead till I had to get up the next morning for the hike.

I've already talked about Saturday; on Sunday Sterling and I had a date for portraiture. I showed up in the early afternoon and we went to a local park for some playground pictures. She was using a couple of film cameras and my digital--we were using the digital sparingly for the first part of the afternoon. We took some pictures in the Arboretum, and then went to my place and took some pictures in various outfits. Including some pictures that will never see the light of the Internet, thank you very much. (Though I will eventually sort and resize the rest of the digital pictures for general consumption.)

I had an awfully good time, I did. Sterling's a fun girl to be around, and we spent the whole day giggling at each other, it seems. And we rented Men in Black II, which was funnier than I expected it to be.

A lovely day all around!

Unfortunately, Chris got some news he didn't want to hear on Sunday, as well. My heart aches for him. We'll be having dinner on Thursday, and there will be hugs. Lots of them.

We still turn to each other first for emotional support. It's somewhat reassuring that some things simply don't change.

I took Monday off, and used the day to catch up on errands and cleaning the house, the things I hadn't had time to do when I was busy having fun this weekend. Overall, it was a spectacularly successful and relaxing weekend.

The insect world has elected, this year, to wage war on me by biting me. I currently have about fourteen bites from various insects in various formations all over my body. Between the skeeters on the 4th and the biting flies on the 3rd and the 5th, I am all kinds of chewed up. Evidently, I am tasty to critters. go figure.

That and the mysterious bruises on my legs make me look like I've been through the wars this weekend.

My next few weekends are all busy--the Lavender Festival next weekend, a trip to the beach the weekend after, a hike and probably a birthday party the weekend after that...summer is definitely in full swing. I have a few dates spread out over the next few weeks, even. I've scheduled some time to myself at the end of the month, because sure as shooting I'm going to need it.

But there is sun, and there are kitties, and there are girls to kiss and friends to hug and I am in love with my life and my friends. My passion has returned in full force, and I intend to follow wherever it might lead me this time.

One last note: I've added a Weblog to my site called Salmonberry Days. It's a wellness blog, which means it's all about my efforts to get and keep myself healthy. i've been blathering in it quite a bit lately. You've been warned.

So there.

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