The X-ray confirmed that Humbao hadn’t eaten anything (thankfully!). But he did chow down on something sharp…which created an abscess in the back of his mouth, making it uncomfortable to eat and inflaming his eye. They drained it. And, we’re also thankful for pet insurance.

The ER vet clinic by our house is so delightful. The layout is an open room format, where surgeries take place in the center and…the staff was delighted to invite Meryl to sit and watch a foreign body extraction procedure for another dog. I was delighted that the procedure wasn’t for our dog, we were well informed in the ways of foreign bodies with Lummi - she defied all the odds:)

Higher and high he goes.

Holmes and I have a mutual love for chips. And Canada has a lot of chips flavors that are vastly different from what are sold in the US. Ketchup, Dill Pickle, the ever popular All Dressed. We decided we needed to have people over…for a reason to buy so many chips while we were in Vancouver.

Vancouver flashback. We had to try them! Butter chips were decidedly better than the Jura cheese ones, but we didn’t have the guts (get it?) to taste the blue cheese and prosciutto flavor.

The Fourth of July wasn’t just a day for grilling hot dogs and making potato salad (always a treat, Jo!), it also became a backyard spa day this year:) An Independence Day celebration of…relaxation.

Homemade bird feeder in the making, sticky with seeds. (Thank you for the ‘Backyard Birding’ book, Carolyn!)

Meryl is in a cooking camp this week and they made pizza today, which inspired her idea to make pizza dough tonight…not to eat, but to play with. I mean, it does feel good gooshing it between your fingers.

And we’re back! These have become a house menu favorite.

A Holmes creation! They’re all tucked in and zipped up:)

Sure is nice!

And my easy breezy neck fan that Frank got me for my birthday has been commandeered to create the ultimate dining experience.

It is SO, SO HOT in Seattle now. And yet, the Seattle Storm game today inspired a basketball practice session…in the shade only.

We took a quick trip up to Vancouver last week, and gosh it was a great escape.

There was a community park next door to our hotel, replete with a splash park and a water slide! We went twice in one day:)

We took the Aquabus water taxi to the science museum, Science World. I loved the Aquabus to much, I bought their t-shirt:)