Rebecca should be brushing her dog.

I had a dream last night that Sara and I were living in a stuffy attic where the walls were black with mold. Loud, obnoxious people were living in the house below the attic, and the only good thing about it was that the kitchen had a make-your-own-sundae bar. I was very relieved when I woke up and saw our nice clean white walls. And I had a craving for a sundae.

Last week I finally got my keyboard down from the shelf where it's been sitting gathering dust all year. I still suck at playing it, but I enjoy it, to the point that I don't know why I didn't dust that thing off sooner. I hope that I can get back into the habit of playing regularly. I have a book of sheet music for a really random variety of songs, and right now I can plink out quite a few, as long as I have the music in front of me. The only one I can play without the music is "Oh! Susannah."

I'm OFF for the 4th of July next Saturday! I don't have any plans yet, but I hope to tag along with CJ & Company, if they're doing anything. I'm thinking about making a dessert. I found a recipe for for a parfait of red Jell-O, whipped cream, and blueberries, which sounds too simple for even me to screw up. It'll either be that, or brownies with icing and red-white-and-blue sprinkles, or trying to recreate that sundae bar from my dream, or nothing at all if I get lazy. We'll see.

This lovely young lady is Peggy Ann Garner, a leading child actress of the 1940's. In 1945, at age 14, she received an Honorary Oscar for her most memorable role, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Sadly, her adult acting career was something of a flop, and she died of cancer in 1984, at age 53. So far all I've seen her in is Jane Eyre (link to a video I posted in my series of child actresses as young Jane Eyre), and I liked her so much that I'm currently on a quest to find another one of her movies. It will probably end unsuccessfully, but I'm still looking. There's something about her face that keeps drawing me back. She reminds me of a latter-day Saoirse Ronan. I just hope that Saoirse's story has a happier ending than Peggy's did.

Grandma has told me that I can make my own air-conditioner out of a box fan and a bowl of ice. Old-school.