sunnnny thurssssdayyyy

yay! the weather in san francisco has been so spectacular the past couple of days - my god, it actually feels like summer here!

i spent the past couple of days in d.c., where it was definitely summer, with everything from heat and humidity to fireflies. having grown up in chicago, i have very fond memories of the magical fireflies lighting up the back yard, immediately after dusk. they only come out for a short while, then disappear - just like their own lighted butts. my niece and i stood on the porch and counted as many as we could. at one point, she ran inside, overwhelmingly excited, yelling, "mom! mom! there are more than a hundred!" :-)

my niece was the reason i went out there in the first place. her 6th birthday was on sunday, and my sister & mom flew me out there to spin fire at her birthday party luau. what an amazing treat! i dressed in my standard luau attire and wowed the girls (and some of their parents) for two sets of fire poi in the back yard.

afterwards, my sister & i helped the girls tie ribbons to glowsticks, and then gave each girl a pair of her own "poi" to spin in the backyard. they loved it! it was so cool to be the "entertainment," but then to let the girls into that world, too. they were surprisingly really good at spinning, but kept giving me glowing, wide-eyed looks of awe. "i really liked your fire dancing," they all said in their little 6-year-old voices, making me absolutely melt.

dave & i took advantage of this burst of summertime wonderful weather and went surfing yesterday... i couldn't make it today, but hopefully will tomorrow!

off to enjoy the last bits of sun on the deck before it disappears into the garden...