Poppies for Memorial Day

my poppies, originally uploaded by roxydynamite.

It's Memorial Day weekend here at the Jersey Shore. Which means the invasion by summer folk has begun. The parkway is jammed with traffic. The aisles of Target are clogged with kiddies in need of swimmies and super soakers. I always prefer Labor Day weekend when the weather is bliss and the "bennies" as we call them are packing up for home.

We're up to our eyeballs in work here this weekend. We started renovating the space upstairs exactly one year ago. Friday night and Saturday afternoon, we did the last of the painting. Work supplies had to come downstairs. Vacuuming was done. Everything was wiped down again to pick up errant dust. Last night, halfway up the staircase holding the tail end of a heavy table I just started beaming because we were FINALLY putting furniture up there. Sweets set up his Mac and speakers. The new floor was just crying out to be danced on so I shimmied to Brian Jonestown Massacre. We found spots on the shelves for our collection of vintage typewriters and cameras.
It's not totally complete yet but it's done enough to feel done and that feels good after working on it for a year. We'll still need curtains, a rug and a work table for my laptop and crafts. Oh, goodie. Now we get to shop!

I did take a break on Saturday night to go see Pearl Jam with Cyndemouse again. In Albany we had first row. Camden was second row but we ended up in the first row by the end of the night. The light was way better for pictures. I've got about 700 frames to sift through. Will post some soon.

We spent Sunday afternoon celebrating my oldest nephew's seventh birthday. It was the first kids party without Grams. This year there will be so many firsts of this kind and they all make me sniffly for a while. I miss her every day.

Today is the last day of the much coveted three day weekend. It proves to be action packed. Still more small things to paint, lawn to mow, deck furniture to wipe down, groceries shopped for. Later on we'll have some conviviality to celebrate the birthdays of JPo and her twin sis. We've all been claiming to be 29 for so long, I honestly couldn't tell you how old they are. Maybe we should just start counting how many mojitos we can put away.

Hope your summer season is starting with a bang and not as work filled as mine!