Hello and good day to you, where ever you are at this moment. Today is July 28, 2021 and you made it! Today is Wednesday around 4 AM and I am still recovering from the weekend. The weekend, though, was glorious. I spent most of yesterday, editing video from this weekend. It has been so long since I have been this excited the morning after watching a band perform and then getting to relive it through the footage I shot. During the set that No Reaction played I had my camera phone recording as well as my Sony since I had not brought a mic for the camera. Just wanted to see if I could get a better recording of the music and the Iphone has great mic believe it or not, that kind of naturally mutes ambient noise. A mic would have been much better but I am no pro or claim to be, so harm no foul, right?

The above one minute video is from the cellphone footage. It was fun trying to put that short clip together as the whole event was still fresh in my mind. It was great getting to experience it with my security blanket (camera) up against my eye. That day, I had total anxiety. Partially because I was getting to meet Hubby's friends and part of it was that I was going to have to suck it up and stand by myself and have to talk to people, real, breathing people. I get anxiety because I never know if my mouth will work correctly or if the right words will come out of my mouth. Now-a-days, you never know what might offend someone so I just mainly smile and only make small talk. I made it through that set as did Hubby and the band. Below is one of videos that came from my phone. I am still editing but wanted you to see a little of what I got to experience. I would cringe at the thought of my sons being in a mosh pit or even as close as I was to it that day.

I think I spent most of my time (in the last few days) rewinding, writing down the time each song starts and begins, the name of the songs. It was fun working with Hubby on that. I know that this is not for any professional production, however, I would like to put out something decent since we would like to send the finished product to Hubby's friend. I did laugh a few times at the high school antics that I got to witness. It was a great day though and so glad that I got to experience it.

Photo by James Keena
  • Always be that girl!!!

I mainly shot video and only snapped about 60 photos with both cameras. I thought this time I could cheat and grab frames from the video I shot. I will post those photos soon.

Our trip this weekend, also involved Jenny, our pug. She hates to be left at home and lately she has been telling us in her pug way, that she was bored and needed an adventure. She has had a few accidents and a party in the kitchen trash can recently. Also, she hasn't seen my oldest and middle son in a long time. She will be nine in a few months and has started showing signs of age. She is a getting more gray hair and has to warm up a little before we go for our walk in the morning as she seems to have a bit of arthritis. Once she gets going though, there is no stopping her. My boys watched her while we were at the party. We had planned on picking her up at their home the next day but my sons suggested we meet at the beach. I loved the idea and that is what we did.

Jenny with "her" son, not my son...

Jenny, even thought she is small and weighs around 25 pounds, thinks that she is a full size human. I noticed how she nervously watched them and stuck by them when they tried to go out to the water.

She did go for a swim with them and it was a little ruff trying to get her to stop running into the ocean after that. I hate to admit it, that I too was watching my sons with worried eyes. They had gone for a swim while we played with Jenny and then I looked up and I couldn't see them! It was like they were 12 and 10 again. Hubby mentioned that he could see there was a rip tide and said that they will be okay but will have a long walk back. Anyhow, I walked about 10 minutes looking for them in the water when I saw them walking toward me. It was hard to not act like a worried mother. My sons have been spending lots of time at the So. Cal beaches lately. My oldest son also makes these fiber glass skim boards ( I think that is what you call them) to use for body surfing and he also purchased an underwater camera and has shot some great footage in the Laguna Beach coves.

That is one of those boards that he made.
Jenny thought she needed to be in the photo of his board.

Jenny, as I mentioned, has been acting a little sassy. Usually, she doesn't wander away from us but that day, she was running up to people and not listening. I wonder is if her new attitude is from not getting much social interaction during the pandemic? There was this one man that she would not leave alone and she also went and sat on this ladies towel. Hopefully, this phase of hers will pass.

Yesterday, I listened to the hearings as I was editing and was sickened by what I was hearing from the officers that survived that attack on democracy, January 6, 2021. I won't get into all of my feelings but to anyone crying about taxes, why don't you focus your angst against the people that had the utmost luck by being elected and receiving taxpayer dollars to fund their salaries. There are a few senators that need to attend a sensitivity and perhaps business ethics course. Also he should have been disciplined for creating a hostile work environment. Example, last year a male senator called a female senator a "Bitch" or something to that affect during working hours and if that had happened at any job I have ever worked at, someone would have heard from my lawyer. The word "bitch" if not used as another name of a female dog, is considered sexual harassment, when it is used to describe a fellow employee. Where were all the human rights attorneys to go after that complete breech of employee rights? I just googled that story and see that an apology was made by the offending senator, not that it makes any of what transpired all right. Remember, they, elected officials, work for us. Sadly, many have not been doing a job fit for the salary that they receive, along with all the other perks. If you add in pension and medical insurance that they receive...I will stop right there as I can feel my heart tightening. Anyhow, I have tried to limit talk of politics in this diary of mine, but do feel it is important as it is part of our history. Most things won't go into history books, I bring this up because we passed Bruce's Beach on the way to our hotel this weekend. I hope that the land is returned to the rightful owners that had their land stolen from them because of the color of their skin. You see, I knew nothing of that story as it was not in any history books I learned from. Hopefully, this period in our current history will not be white washed, watered down or forgotten. I watched the horror unfold in real time as did millions of other humans that were watching TV that day. What we saw was a coup and not a group of visiting tourists...breathe.....

Well, time to head off and finish editing. Oh yeah, one cool thing happened this morning. I got to speak to my friend, pen pal, blogging buddy, Terrie. We have been communicating with each other through our blogs and such and it was nice to actually get to hear her voice. Truthfully, it was a big step for me because I have trouble speaking because I get tongue tied so I usually try to limit phone calls or never speaking on the phone. I am still working on not being so self-conscience of things that bother me like my speaking. Really though, it felt like I was speaking with an old friend and I am so thankful that she gifted me her time. We met through our blogs because I love reading stories relating to food or recipes. She would always respond to any of my questions or comments about about her various posts, something that many people do not do. Right now, she and her Hubby are conducting a Chopped! challenge of their own and I must say it looks like so much fun and such a great activity for couples or friends. Do check out one or all of their challenges! I love that they each pick out the ingredients to put in the mystery baskets and the stories behind them, thinking about the jalapeno sauce...

This is one of the baskets that she had and features mole...mouth watering just thinking about it...

Chopped Challenge: Episode 3 Holy Mole!

This is one of her Hubby's challenges! I had never heard of a kugel but now want to try it. How could I not want to taste something that they said was "Kugelicious!"

"Chopped" Challenge (Episode No. 4 – "Who you callin' jerk?"

Okay, so now, time to get on with stuff. Thank you dear reader for stopping by. Where ever you are going today, get there safely. Hugs to you and you and YOU!