malt shop night, ashford band concert, wild weather

 last monday i met up with my friend carolina for lunch at 'longfellow grill.' she lives in st. paul, so it was a good in between spot. we caught up on life, which is always fun. the meteorologists were forecasting the potential for thunderstorms monday, but they never materialized in our part of the state. the evening light is so pretty in my favorite room in the house. i just can't get enough of it. i also have bought flowers 3 weeks in a row now. i can't seem to stop! 

tuesday during my daily walk with winnie, i started noticing green coming up from the ground, which is the best sight after a long winter. even if they are also weeds :) flowers started coming up again at the end of january in seattle, so being back here again, the winter to spring transition has been a lesson in patience. 

in the evening my brother came over. we picked up azalea from her driver's ed class and went to 'the malt shop' for dinner. our thatcher-is-out-of-town-for-work tradition :) i hadn't been to the malt shop in probably 15 years, but azalea went with a friend over the weekend (just for a malt) and wanted us all to go back for dinner. it has changed owners and the concept has changed a little, but the food was better than i remember. 

wednesday after i went to the gym, i checked out a coffee shop in our neighborhood i had not been to yet. it's a vietnamese concept. i got an iced latte with ube and it was so good! 

i also took winnie to the vet to get weighed for her monthly heartworm prevention pill. she's up to 23 lbs! nearly full grown now. she loves to lay on the cool concrete floor beneath our fireplace, especially after walks. i think that will be her summer hang out. 

 azalea had her 3-hour drivers ed class on zoom because the instructor was going to be gone. it was a beautiful evening around 70 degrees, so i took winnie for another walk after dinner. we met so many people and dogs while we were out and i chatted with our neighbor mary across the street. i just love summer-like nights like that. it's something i missed a lot in seattle. we had friends in the neighborhood there, but not really neighbor friends if that makes sense. thatcher got home from san francisco in the late evening. we were happy to see him. 

thursday evening ashford had his first band concert. it was actually the second one this year, but he missed the first one due to sickness. there were not nearly enough seats for the families in the auditorium, so thatcher and i stood near the back for most of it. grandma cheryl and grandpa durant came too, and luckily they got seats. it was so fun to see ashford up there. i wouldn't say he loves playing saxophone, but he likes it enough. he really does love piano, though.

friday i finished my invoicing for work and then headed out for a little shopping. i went to opitz outlet, which always has such great stuff. the weather cooled way down after a thunderstorm that also included a large amount of hail.

i picked up the thumb drive from the video conversion place that contains a few of my childhood videos from 1987. we made stir fry for dinner and watched the video footage. i'm so happy to have it. now to decide about how to convert the other ~35 tapes. 

saturday morning azalea and i went shopping at southdale and to the grocery store. i walked winnie and thatcher built a new dresser from ikea for azalea. she had plans with her friends nick and sylvia in the evening. thatcher, ashford, and i had a chill night at home. i read my book and played with winnie. 

sunday morning we woke up to actual snow! on april 19th.

ok, only a tiny bit and it melted after a few hours.

 it was a chilly weekend, but it's going to be back to summer temps this week. we ran a lot of errands. ashford got some new summer clothes, which was much needed. in the afternoon, thatcher and i were invited to a surprise retirement party for our neighbor carol, which was at their house. it was an intimate gathering with some of her family, friends, and a few other neighbors. we were happy to be included :) the rest of the night we grilled up some dinner and walked winnie again.