4th of July weekend

I really thought I was able to write yesterday, but evidently I did not have the time. Oh well.

So, the past weekend was the 4th of July. It was a long weekend with Friday off. On Thursday, Joel, Kathy another couple and I had dinner at this British themed restaurant that I’ve not been to because of the smoke from cigarettes. However, on July 1st, restaurants and bars became smoke-free which is a blessing. So, this is the place we had dinner. I had a couple of pretty good beers and a British classic meal which name I can’t remember. After dinner, we plopped ourselves down on some grass right in the heart of downtown to watch the fireworks. Let’s just say it was nice to sit and relax especially after the week I had. Joel too concurred. Kathy and I took the shuttle to head to the capitol just to see the crowd and those who were there to listen to the symphony perform. I saw on the news yesterday close to 125,000 people were in attendance. The weather was amazing so it does not surprise me on bit the amount of people who were there. The fireworks were OK, nothing too spectacular and definitely not the worst I’ve seen. After the display, Joel and Kathy headed to my place for a nightcap.

I worked at the facility on the 4th in the afternoon. I was so happy to see a good number of the residents had spent the day with their family. That must have been good for them. The menu was pretty sad so I decided to make things a little more appetizing by getting them a watermelon and some pie. They liked it. Anything I can do to make the holiday better for them, I try my best.

I was at the Farmers Market early on Saturday and there were quite a lot of people. The vendor that sells the siew pau has not returned which is kind of a bummer, but I did manage to eat my breakfast burrito and it looks like something I’m going to have every time I make it to the Farmers Market. I just love the way they prepare it. Oh, I did sign up to work at the DRC that afternoon and all in all I’ve banked close to eleven hours total. I’ll probably take some time off during the Iowa State Fair or may make a trip to Chicago in the fall. We’ll see. It was a pretty quiet day at the DRC and our table had ten people show up. When I submitted the numbers, I was told that we received the gold star for having the most people. Yay! Saturday was also the last day I was staffing the DRC so I said my goodbyes to all the FEMA people. Some of them genuinely commented that they’ll miss me. A few of them said I should pop by the last day they will be open to say a formal goodbye. I probably will. I’ve worked with this group of people a number of days and you get to know them. So many of them have never been to Iowa and will probably never come back.

Later that evening, Joel and Kathy organized a party celebrating just 200 days left of George Bush in office. Needless to say those in attendance were Democrats and some independents. No Republicans were there. It was a blast because most of the people were from St. Kate’s and the rest we from Kathy’s Spanish group and a couple of them former staff at Aging Resources. The weather was more than perfect, and we all sat outside enjoying a beautiful summer day. Once everyone left, I stayed around a little to help clean up and move some chairs around. Indeed it was a very fun evening had by all.

Nothing too much went on Sunday. I sang with the group then it was off to work at the facility.

This Saturday is John’s 60th birthday celebration at his parish and I’ll be attending it together with some people from St. Kate’s. I don’t think it will be a major celebration, but you just never know what the people from his parish will plan. A couple of former Drake/St. Kate’s members who are not longer living in DM will be attending and it will kind of be a mini reunion. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

That’s all the news from me.