James got "sprung" early yesterday, and I had admin time due to the holiday, but we ended up going out at the usual time for supper. Went to the Hibachi Grill for various Chinese tidbits, then out to the Barnes & Noble on Dallas Highway. I finished reading Billy Boyle and began River of Darkness, an English mystery set in the post-World War I countryside. (You can tell it's a modern book because there's a very modern sex scene in the first part of the story, one a person of that era wouldn't have dared to write. <g>) There was a spectacular sunset when we emerged, all orange and pink lined with dark greys and some midnight blues.

Since we never will learn, we went to bed past midnight and I growled at the alarm when it rang this morning. I was having the most bizarre dream: I was giving the cutest black kitten a bath—and it wasn't trying to scratch me. Ah, a fantasy dream.

So we went to the Farmer's Market and got an absolutely huge cucumber, several tomatoes, freshly-dug Yukon Gold potatoes, chicken salad and cheese spread, some breakfast, two Portuguese rolls, some cookies for dessert this week, a turkey pot pie for Tuesday's supper, and two muffins (a chocolate and a key lime that will knock your eyeballs out) for dessert. Then we stopped at the post awful before going on to Kroger; we figured since we were out anyway...

This worked out very well; we need to just keep doing it during Farmer's Market season. We went to the Whitlock Avenue Kroger, got what we needed, and packed it all up and came home.

To Willow's and Schuyler's dismay, we pretty much put everything away then went out again. We hadn't been to Books-a-Million in ages, and it's next to a very nice Longhorn that is seldom crowded, where it is possible to get a nice quiet meal. We each had a 6-ounce Renegade; I had sweet potato and James had mashed. And we did indeed have a nice meal.

Found some cool books on the remainder racks at BAM, including ones that could be used as gifts, and a Nook guide. Then we walked two doors down to Petco, where I bought Schuyler a new gravel perch, and one of the puppies up for adoption came romping up to James. It was a golden-brown, ridiculously loose-jointed Boxer/Labrador/Golden retriever cross and at two months old was already Willow-sized with big jowls and huge paws. His attitude was "Oh, boy, people!"

From Acworth we drove down to the hobby shop and stayed a little while; they decided to close early due to the holiday weekend, and we came home via Baskin-Robbins, all the while listening to an episode of The Splendid Table. My gosh! when Jane and Michael Stern talk about food, how they do make you hungry. It's like reading A Discovery of Witches—man, that book will make you ravenous.

Finally back home in the cool, smiling at Schuyler, who is giving the evil eye to the new perch. I've held off buying a new one as long as possible, but it was positively grungy and no longer sanitary for her, with very little gravel left on it. It's the same exact perch, but it's blue instead of white. Budgies hate change. In the last few minutes she's stepped on it twice, but with a hurried skitter. I put a millet sprig over it, hoping to lure her, but she's attacking that from the top, still glaring at the perch and the obstruction it's put between her and her mirror. Birds are so funny!

[10 p.m. The millet has done its work. Schuyler is standing on the perch, munching away.]

Labels: birds, books, food, pets, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 5:57:00 PM

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