My new obsession... in These titles mean nothing.

........ is homemade iced lattes. Leftover coffee, ice and a generous splash of milk. I like to have the coffee at room temperature but sometimes I use hot coffee and more ice. Sometimes I put the little Mr. Coffee pot in the fridge so I"m starting with cold coffee. I put them all in my pretty First Nations insulated cup, the one with the bear section of totem pole.

I like the way the ice cubes click and crack when they hit the warmer liquid. I like the combination of caffeine and flavor of the coffee and nutrition from the milk, and luxe luxury of the ice on a summer's day.

++++++

It's a cloudy humid cool-ish morning . I'm on the deck with Gracie and Hans and Stripey-Butt/Stanley. We are pretty much surrounded by blooming geraniums and begoniaslef and good sized pots of German ivy. The evergreen shrubs - junipers? I forget their names - are beginning to overgrow the deck. There is a fair amount of winter damage to the. They're also being invaded by wild black raspberries.

Hans and family came down yesterday afternoon. Deb and her friend are going to a wedding reception this afternoon. Not sure what other plans there may be.

Katie and a friend are setting up a stand to sell Katie's comic book, The Dancing Potato in Mixup! They are going to be in front of Katie's house one day and her friend's the other day. Katie did the art work, text and lettering. Her father manufactured them at work.

I was thinking of taking deposit cans to town this morning, taking my state tax refund to the bank and maybe buying some groceries. I'm thinking of asking the library to get a biography of John Fowles for me, but that's easier to do over the phone.

I finished Fowles book, The Mantissa, at work yesterday. It was about a novelist's relationship with Erato, the Greek muse. It wasn't the greatest book of his I've read. No Magus or French Lieutenant's Woman for sure. For one thing it was a lot shorter But it made me want to know about the writer's life. This is what I think I'm looking for.

Work is pretty good. We are busy, and working a lot of Fridays. I'm still making mistakes but I'm trying not to let them bother me as much. The sunrises and drive to work are beautiful. Cindy and I walk at noon.

I just discovered the key combination to brighten up the screen when I'm out of doors - function and left arrow (on the little Acer).

I'm assuming everyone knows they can often restore accidentally deleted text by pressing Control Z. I got back the first half of this entry that way after it disappeared on me.

We are surrounded by lush green growth. The pea tree that John and I took extraordinary measures for is putting out new shoots.

I need to take some new pictures.

Meanwhile.

Here are a couple from last week in LaCrosse.