Nancy, Shawn, Lisa, Lisa, and I at Heavenly Village, South Lake Tahoe for sushi before heading to Caesar's Widespread Panic show. Thanks for the ticket, Muriel! I had a great time, and it was wonderful to catch up with the girls and to finally meet Maddie Welling.  

Mike, Courtney, and Amanda singing either "Ice Ice Baby" or "Lady Marmalade." Afterwards, we all walked down to the high school to watch the fireworks. It was a great day! Remember--what goes on in the tent, stays in the tent.  

Rob the Grill Master 

Our condo assoc.'s 1st annual 4th of July picnic--complete with kareoke machine courtesy of Yvette. 

This is the new portable A/C. I had a Home Depot guy out to estimate a wall unit ($2--3,000), but even he said it probably wouldn't be worth it. So, even though the hose is obnoxiously huge, I can transfer it to any window in my place. It gets the whole living room/kitchen cool, and helps out my new bedroom ceiling fan. We think it looks like R2D2. ;-) 

Before pic of the front of my condo... 

Here's my new tree! It's a Royal Purple American Smoketree. Those are Variegata that neighbor Mike planted; we're getting three more--one to put in between these two, and two that like the walk toward my door. Yea!