Please excuse my not posting...

I have no excuse, really. But I have had things going on. Like Noah and I planning a visit to Dean and Jim's mid-August. And Janett taking tests to become certified as a Quick Books Pro Advisor. And getting the check in the mail for the reunion coming up on the 15th of August.

Last time (or the time just before) I was an optimistic bear, because of the broken head and shoulders on the S&P and the Dow closing below it's 200 day moving average, I did buy a put on CAKE (Cheesecake Factory) Which then went up a couple dollars. Fortunately because they were cheap I also bought puts on Diodes and Coach which fell a little, So I broke even that week, except I didn't cover my $60 in commissions. And as always I nurture resentment, this time toward the people I envision gorging themselves on overpriced cheesecake, while the malls tumble to the ground around them.

And Saturday Steffie needed to break out of her routine so she and Janett took Owen shopping while Mally and I hung out. "Well, actually" as Mally would say, hanging out with Mally sounds more laid back than it really is. First he came to the office to supervise and evaluate staff performance. A check after your name indicates you did something well, an "X", not so well. Ageo and I did better than Jose, but I sucked up to Mally a lot, to the point where he began to look at me, a little suspiciously every time I complemented a method or manner. Still I got my checks.

Then we walked to the tiny neighborhood grocery where they sell prepared Mexican food (can you say menudo) as well as grocery staples. Malachy selected a big bag of marshmallows, like his mommy used to buy.

We then went across the street to a play park and played at being pirates with the jungle gym being our ship and the marshmallows our provisions. Mally ate quite a few marshmallows. I could see why Steffie doesn't try to keep them in stock at home. But he politely asked if he could have another each time, say every five minutes for the hour we were there.

Then home again, and more pirate play including drawing treasure maps. Mine was pretty good, even including a little pirate ship which Malachy told me looked more like a duck to him. So we began another game. I was the country cousin and lived on a farm, the porch where I could smoke and he was the city cousin and owned a grocery store, which we simulated by spreading groceries on the kitchen counters. Fortunately Steffie and Mom got back about then and Steffie had us put on a movie to watch and we napped on the futon while the movie played. When we woke up it was time for another walk, to the little store again by a different route. This time we picked up a large bottle of Fanta orange pop. When we got home and had a cold drink Steffie was saying it was about time to go home, which would have been OK with me, but then Noah called and said he could drop by. Steffie was happy to stay and wait. As it turned out Noah was a godsend introducing an energy level to the play more agreeable to the sugar-fried Malachy than my depleted enthusiasm.

But the visit was nice and I know how lucky we are to be close to the children, even though I was too tired to blog over the weekend. Dinner time, see you later.