Can you tell I'm sliding into summer vacation mode? My posts are coming later and later! I told Cal this morning that I can NOT believe that he actually had to go to school today. I feel like I had a bit of an ADD kind of weekend this past weekend. We have so much coming down the pike this week that I'm having trouble finding my focus, you know? Much as I love all of Callum's early dismissal days, they really throw me off my game. I feel like I should be able to put my head down and get a ton of stuff done, and instead I find myself wandering from room to room trying to decide what time I need to leave to go and pick him up from school.

So we had some big storms on Friday night apparently. There were storms all around us all afternoon, and we'd offered to let our friend's dogs out provided the weather proved safe to do so, and Cal and I just couldn't make up our minds! Our dogs would be cowering in a corner at a puff of hot wind, so we were hesitant to let these other guys out. Decisions! So hard! And then at one point I step out side and we see that big beauty in the top right photo wandering in a yard across the street, collarless. What a sweetie. We have another neighbor who we all consider a dog-whisperer, so our first stop was his house. Nobody home. So we fashioned a collar out of one of Callum's old belts and Neel took him for a walk around the neighborhood. Folks, it is a hassle to deal with a wandering neighborhood dog. Totally messes up the tenor of the evening, but we always do it. Our dogs escape and always come home, but it's the most terrifying feeling. How can we not help out? And this old guy was such a dear. Mellow like a lazy Sunday, he'd get up and follow us from room to room, just hanging out. Our dogs, in their crates, never even realized he was there! So we sat on the front porch with him for a long time, hoping his people would walk by. We called the Neighborhood Dog Whisperer again. We called the Neighborhood Dog Whisperer's friends. Finally I looked at the dog and said to Neel, "Could this be Rain? The Neighborhood Dog Whisperer's dog?" I looked at the dog again. "Rain?" He slowly turned his head and looked at me. Wag, wag, wag. About that time the Neighborhood Dog Whisperer's Son came home and we were able to verify! It WAS Rain! Happy Endings all around. What I didn't know until after the fact was that Neel had told Callum that if we didn't find the owner, we'd KEEP HIM. That would mean four dogs. Crazytown.

What we also didn't know until after the fact was that a tornado touched down just miles from our house. I told you we had some crazy weather. We have so much water around us that it has always seemed unlikely that tornadoes would be our "thing" (hurricanes and nor'easters, yes, tornadoes, no), but of the nearly nine years we've lived here, there've been tornadoes in three of them. That feels like a lot. Our sky was crazy and we had big weather, both in the evening and overnight, but nothing that violent. And for those that were struck by the tornadoes, no one was seriously injured or killed. Lucky.

The rest of the weekend was focused on gearing up for this week. (Hence my lack of focus.) My mom arrives tomorrow, and my dad on Wednesday. Neel's parents were due Wednesday too, but it looks now as if they aren't going to be able to make it. Neel's dad's health isn't the greatest, and he's in a lot of pain. Flying is out of the question, and a long car ride would be pretty unbearable too. We completely understand, but Callum is so disappointed. He was so looking forward to having everyone here to celebrate his graduation. We all were. And Neel's dad must surely be feeling just as disappointed. They haven't officially decided yet, but we're all moving forward as if they can't come, and we're focusing on celebrating Callum as much as possible regardless of who is here in person and who is here in spirit. It would have been the first time my parents and Neel's parents had seen each other since our wedding in 1995, and I kind of can't believe it's not going to happen. Anyway, there's still a lot to do. The garden looks delightful. Neel did an amazing job. He was in it from sunup yesterday, and we ate dinner there last night. I broke out a campari and soda on Saturday, but had to have a Pimms on Sunday evening to help celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. How could we not.

Guys, I can't believe my boy is headed to Middle School soon. Big times! We're so proud of him. I do an end of year blog post for him every school year, and I think I'll post that on Thursday. Graduation Day. I'm buckling up because it's going to be a crazy week, but an exciting one too. What all have you been up to? Anything fun? Quick! Distract me so I forget I have to clean the bathroom!