Elaine can walk with only one adult hand to help her balance now. As a reward, we thawed out the packages of lady bugs and butterflies -- yellow lady bugs and cabbage white butterflies. The grape vine is growing pretty quickly, despite the heat, so I figure it'll support the little critters okay. I'm not handling the heat quite as well as the grapes...

It's amazing the difference three degrees can make. I'll be fine while the house is 80, but, once it hits 83, I feel like my brains are made of ice cream and they're melting. Fortunately, we keep a lot of ice cream in the freezer, so I was able to replenish my cranial supplies. Today my brains are french silk and raspberry cheesecake. Tomorrow they may be cookie dough and banana.