Once again, I have gone too far between LJ posts and mother has e-mailed me asking me when I will next update… I kept meaning to update – I wanted to tell about my lovely visit with Amy (my sis) and to go over the books which I read over break and even a post talking about The Bunny Hour. But I just couldn’t get a round tuit for the job. Perhaps this will get some of my writing urges satisfied…

I should first explain the title of this post. As far as I’m concerned, summer ended on August 15th when I reported to work (well to UVMC hospital) for the new school year. As soon as summer break is over, IMO, summer itself is over. However, we’ve got till September 20th for the vernal equinox. So this is some weird purgatory of time between seasons for me. Hot & shitty (which it hasn’t been since June, thankfully) and yet we’re in school. Thanks Nature!

I can’t complain though. I had a fabulous summer vacation. After my trip to Chicago, I headed out the following Saturday to Minneapolis to hang out with my sis. Let’s see how much I can recall…

Saturday: Left the house at 4:30am or so (bloody early), flew to O’Hare and then onto Minneapolis/St Paul airport. I had an Egg McMuffin & hashbrown at O’Hare and Amy had breakfast before she picked me up. So we started our time together at IKEA (like you do). Hey, she had a huge rental vehicle, we were in the area, it was perfect. We stopped at a butcher’s on the way back to her place and got brats & corn on the cob for supper. Home for a bit, then off to Anchor Fish & Chips for… I’ll let you guess. Had a cider with it and it was yummy. We picked up some liquor essentials (and tasted wine & liquor) at Surdyk’s. I think we did a chicken check (the rest of Amy’s Coop Co-op was on a camping trip while I was invading). And Amy’s boyfriend came around for supper, which we grilled and was lovely. Amy also roasted some root vegetables and cooked up some kale.

Sunday: Amy and I took a walk to a nearby park, had cereal for breakfast, and went to United Noodles, an Asian supermarket with a deli inside. It was quite a fun shopping experience, and the lunch was wonderful. I wound up buying a variety of candies/cookies (stuff like Pocky and some other things). I’m still eating ’em! We also had some shopping adventures, but now I can’t recall which days had which trips. See, this is why I should type it up the day of, Trina! Sheesh. I do remember that we had leftover brats & corn Sunday night.

Monday: Rachel joined Amy and I for our walk. We also went to a nice breakfast place in St. Paul (the Buttered Tin) before Rachel had to head off to work. They were also a bakery and had some lovely cupcakes. So I got some for Amy and I to share, and one for Rachel to have when she had a break at work. Supper was more grilling – I mixed up the Miss Chick marinade (similar to what is used at the Poultry Days festival in Versailles) and Amy chopped the chicken (which was finally, nearly, thawed) earlier in the day. We grilled it that evening and Rachel joined us again. It was very yummy!

Tuesday: We had another morning walk which took us by a donut shop (but as none of us brought money, we bought no donuts) and a Cuban restaurant that sounded good. Amy made us egg sandwiches for breakfast. I later suggested the Cuban place (Victor’s) for lunch, so we walked there. Amy got a cubano and I had the “love” Cuban pork sandwich. We split a tropical salad as appetizer and shared beans&rice and fried yuca. It was all wonderful, and Amy got some nice leftovers. Soon, however, it was time for me to go back to the airport. (First I had to ask Curtis, Amy’s lovely cat, to get off of my suitcase. He thought it was the perfect cat bed.)

I was supposed to get back to Dayton by 11:30pm. But before I could leave MSP, I had to have a plane. And it was 3 hours late. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about missing my connecting flight out of O’Hare – same plane. My parents are the most wonderful parents – despite the lateness, they came and got me! 2:30am – bleh! (And this after getting up at o’dark thirty to take me in the first place!)

It was a great way to end my summer vacation. (Well, the next morning was a pool party at mom & dad’s community pool, so that also helped with the end.) Then that Friday, I started back to work! And we just finished our first full week of school. I think this is going to be a great school year. So far, I’m actually caught up in grading – whee! And now a 3-day weekend!