barbeclueless

-
What's Memorial Day without a barbecue? We almost found out, because we couldn't get the two in our back yard to work. The one that came with the place turned out to be a propane grill that lacked both propane and a tank to hold propane.

"So basically it's just a grill that you can put charcoal in," AK explained. "It's like finding a car with no engine and deciding to live in it."

She messed around with upstairs neighbor Alyssa's charcoal grill for a while, but it turned out that the easily-five-years-old bags of charcoal that came with the house were not in such good shape either. Luckily there were stove tops inside.


Alyssa has lived above us for just a couple of months. We love her, partly because she loves our cats. Just look at Ferd strut down those stairs.

All the barbecue commotion was a bit much for some members of Team Gato, and for Jody and Christine too, who were tired from a long day of comforter-shopping. So they tried out our comforter for a while. If they decide to go with a "cat hair chic" motif, we'll know we inspired them.

Joel (not the one from my last post) and Jennifer. Note Jennifer's naturally ketchup-colored pants. This would come in handy shortly.

If we learned one thing, it's that you don't really need a functioning barbecue if you have a functioning hula hoop.

Comments

Unknown said…
this looks like so much fun! but i wish you'd have included photos from the clean-up - that's where the real fun started :)
May 28, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Cheryl said…
It's true, but I wouldn't want people to get jealous seeing how much fun we had washing dishes.
May 28, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Claire said…
"Note Jennifer's naturally ketchup-colored pants. This would come in handy shortly." That's such a perfect photo to follow that with!

Also, yea for hula hoops. I was just talking about those the other day.
May 28, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Cheryl said…
You know what they say, "What's bad for the pants is good for the blog."

Well, they should say that.
May 28, 2008 at 3:34 PM
Laura and the family said…
Normally, we celebrated Memorial Day with a family or friend gathering. But the wind of our plan shifted. We ended up doing our yard work. I'm so envy of you because you and AK were having so much fun.. That's great. You deserve the fun since you soon will have a second publish book.

How long did you do the hula hoop last?
May 28, 2008 at 9:42 PM
Cheryl said…
I kept the hula hoop going for about 20 seconds. I look so ecstatic in that picture, though. You'd think I'd just broken a world record.
May 28, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Laura and the family said…
I just was comparing who did better in Hula Hoops: you or me. guess what? You are the winner :) I ain't going to tell you how long did I last
May 30, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

soleil for a day

-
Image
1. cirque love Since starting gymnastics at age five—or at least since reading Geek Love in college—I’ve wanted to run away and join the circus. Actually, the problem was that I wanted to join the circus but I didn’t want to run away. How fortunate, then, that AK found out about Cirque School , where you can lea rn the trapeze arts without ever leaving L.A. She gave me a class for my birthday, which I finally redeemed last night (after reading up on it, I decided it sounded kind of hardcore, and that I needed to build up some flexibility and upper body strength before going—I’m not sure that happened, but a month passed, I was a little closer to reuniting with my left splits and I was itching to take the class). The classes are held at Absolution L.A. , a small West Hollywood studio walled with honey-colored wood and stocked with pilates machines, trapezes, a climbing wall, red vinyl chairs and other items of expensive-looking fu rn iture. It reminded me, I told AK later,
Read more

seasons of love

-
Image
Everything Cheryl does, she’s totally joking and completely serious.             --AK 2,628,000 minutes 2.6 million moments so dear 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure, measure five years? In new jobs , in boob jobs , in blog posts, in cups of coffee In coffee, more coffee, in coffee, and tea In 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure five extra years? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love Seasons of love 2,628,000 minutes 2.6 million plans gone awry 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure public places I’ve cried ? In grants that I wrote, and novels on the side   Facebook rabbit holes are no source of pride It’s time to kiss Dashaboo Though he’s sticky with jam Let’s celebrate, remember five years Of making people deal with who I am Remember the love Remember the love Remember the love Measure in love Rent rent rent rent reeeeennnnnnt! In diapers, in houses In homies , in couples t
Read more

tops of 2023

-
Image
Recently one of my therapists (plural) told me I talk too much. Well, technically she said that while doing EMDR, she needed to interrupt my highly intellectualized storytelling more, so that we could prioritize reprocessing rather than letting me tip into re-experiencing trauma. And she said it very nicely. But a little part of me heard "You're too much for your therapist, and now you have failed," and of course that kind of thinking is why I'm in therapy. Today I listened to this episode of This American Life, in which Yousef (above, with his family), an incredibly determined, kind, and good-humored Palestinian man, talks about how his two-year-old son wants "a thousand kisses" before going to bed. He laughs and says he doesn't mind. In nearly the same breath, he says he regrets having kids, because what's the point of having children if you can't protect them? I wanted to jump through my car radio and hug him, or some other useless action, be
Read more