The past three days have actually been pretty eventful, although under normal circumstances I would separate photo albums from Friday and Saturday, I consider them both integral parts of Fourth of July Weekend this year. After all, I had Friday off of work for Independence Day Observed—and frankly, it was a much-needed day off in the wake of the news of Mom's death on Friday. I got all the pressing work I needed done on Wednesday and Thursday, knowing I would already get Friday off by default, I just waited for that.

Besides, were I to confine it to only photos from yesterday, my full Independence Day photo album on Flickr would have featured all of 21 shots for 2020, making it the fewest since 2002. Granted, I would otherwise have gone out of my way to take more photos to fill it out, but including our day trip to Bellingham on Friday, there was no need: with those shots included, the album features 78 shots, actually the most I have gotten for Independence Day (or Independence Day Weekend) . . . actually, ever! This barely surpasses the record set for Independence Day Weekend in L.A. in 2014, which yielded 77 shots (but 48 shots taken on the Fourth itself, that year).

Anyway. My point here, as I keep rambling on even as I am about to say this: is that I will by and large just let all the photo captions speak for themselves, as I don't feel like duplicating all the details here. Well, except maybe I'll copy and paste just these bits:

Shobhit called in sick on both Thursday and Friday. He merely had a slight tickle in his throat on Thursday morning, but you can never be too careful these days, right? He turned out to be fine. But: he doesn't get to keep all of his sick hours unless he uses them, so he used them for both days. He needed a break.

I already had Friday off myself, making this a last-minute day off for both of us at once, which is unheard of anymore unless he has already put in for time off for us to take a trip somewhere. And since we had forgotten the Discover Pass for Washington State Parks when we went to Long Beach on June 21, I made sure to get that damned thing in the glove compartment as soon as we got back home from that trip. So I told him: let's find a state park to go to!

Shobhit's idea was Bellingham. He may have remembered my talking about how surprisingly beautiful it was there when I went to visit my friend Ivan there in April 2019 (some of you may remember seeing some photos from my Birth Week email last year). Larrabee State Park it is! We brought a picnic lunch to eat in their very large, but otherwise empty, picnic shelter on a day that was overcast and drizzly.

It seems that, this year, the disappointing pandemic-cancelation of all public fireworks displays had a silver lining: we had an evening that was plenty fun anyway, and which we would never have done otherwise. Danielle invited us down to hang out with her and her two daughters at her house in Renton.

Now, just a few points. Granted, none of us are wearing masks here—but, we are all outside, which is a particularly key point. I only went inside the house once the whole evening, and a) I wore my mask to go in and use the restroom; and b) it was when no one else was inside. Additionally, I made veggie burgers for Shobhit and me to go, as well as a cocktail for myself, to have while there (that's what Shobhit is eating in the above shot). Danielle did make grilled corn on the cob which we ate, however. It was delicious. We also had a slice of cake she made later in the evening.

Also: I actually looked up to confirm King County was still in Phase 2 (it is) and whether our visiting Danielle at her house still fell within those guidelines (it does: "Gather with no more than 5 people outside your household per week"). Still, we were even more conscientious than Danielle, herself a nurse, seemed to be: we kept our visitation outside; I only went inside the house to use the bathroom, with a mask on, when no one else was inside; and although we did not wear masks, we kept ourselves spaced apart.

Shobhit worked a full shift yesterday, after taking the previous two days off, and he closed the store at 7:30, getting home at 7:35—he must have gotten out of there a few minutes early—and we were at Danielle's by 7:18. We wound up staying there about three hours, heading home probably roughly around 10:20.

Prior to all that, home alone while Shobhit was working, I actually managed quite a busy day: I did the laundry, I vacuumed, I walked to QFC to get three different products with free coupons they sent us in the mail (I paid for only a juice for which I had a 75¢ off coupon; after getting four items for only $3.94, the cashier said, "Good job!"), I watched the first episode of the Netflix Original series Space Force at Shobhit's suggestion, and I captioned all the photos from Friday. I also took a nap.

And I haven't even told you about today yet! Alexia, my neighbor, and I took a walk—to Volunteer Park via 17th Avenue, and back via 14th Avenue. We had lots to talk about, mostly me talking about the last week. Come to think of it, I don't believe she and I had gone on a walk since we last did on Pride Sunday—a week ago today.

She gave me a sympathy card, which I did not open until after we got back; she left it at my condo door. I was delighted, and touched, and immediately teary-eyed, to see the butterfly on it. I had to text her: How's this for serendipity: you didn't even know that Mom loved butterflies ❤️ She texted back, That is crazy. I jad a different card and put it back when I saw that one. It just felt right.

I've been spending the rest of the afternoon since, with Shobhit at work, processing the photos and videos from last night; writing up the requisite email photo digest for Independence Day (which was far fuller than I might have predicted a couple of months ago); and then writing up this post. I think that pretty well catches us up for now.

[posted 3:59 pm]