Many of you, my gentle readers, know of the joy that I derive from my gnome collection. In fact, most of you have contributed to said garden gnome collection in one small way or another. My good friend Cathy gave me a "sew your own gnome" kit. You, blog readers, my closest friends, know that in 7th grade I took home economics and tried to sew an apron. As my home economics teacher remarked, "Sewing is not your friend Walter, stick to cooking." In lieu of sewing a garden gnome, I did what any respectable gay man would do and got out the gay man's welding torch (aka the glue gun) and voilà...
And now for some random photo sharing: My favorite flower is the Matillija Poppy. I was sure that this sun loving plant wouldn't do well in the front yard. Imagine my joy at being proven wrong.
The poppy bloomed and Rusty managed to snap this beautiful early morning photo.
Another bit of randomness. My nephew Matt, and his partner Julie came through town for twenty four hours with their little baby. He's an absolute angel of course.
As summer approaches, the backyard make-over continues! I've bought a new power tool to take care of that pesky old oak tree. Unfortunately, the oak had to go as it was crowding the other oak. But if the city of Oakland asks, make sure to let them know the trunk was rotting out and it was just a matter of time before it fell over and took out some small child.
After buying my latest power tool and my new best friend by the way, I red-neck-anized that electric chainsaws will be useless during the coming Zombie Apocalypse. Still, no one was injured during the felling of said twenty foot tree (minus sore backs at the end of the day)...no property was damaged either, although it was touch and go for the back fence during three tense minutes.
We recently attended the Walt Disney Family Museum on a Friday night to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Tiki Room. The museum was selling fruity drinks from Smuggler's Cove cocktail lounge and some local foodtrucks were propped out front. Matt, Tyler, Yosiell, Rusty and I marvelled at the model of Disneyland. One had to purchase an "E-Ticket" to get a drink. It was nice to have so many young people around never having had to use "E-tickets" for the best rides at Disneyland...nostalgia! The evening was interesting, and the groovy hipsters were only tolerable after purchasing a healthy three "E-Tickets". If you have not been to The Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, I highly recommend it: http://www.waltdisney.org
Soon, Rusty, Yosiell and I will be flying to Florida and driving a car back across the Grand Ol' US of A. We will be taking two weeks and trying the Northern route. A quick pass through Chicago, to the Bandlands and a few days in Yellowstone. Sounds wonderful, beautiful and fun, but all I'm really hoping for after being trapped in a car is no homicides. I, of course, am worried about being stranded by the side of the road in North Dakota.
Of course I will set up one of my travel blogs to capture all the joy that is summer travel. Keep posted for a wacky, coming of age, cross country adventure, sweeping in scope with a cast of thousands.
