Okay, the soreness from Bloomsday is starting to fade away. Thankfully, that discomfort never infiltrated these fingertips because they are hitting the keys at a rapid rate. While I am still in top notch typing form, let’s get to the rundown.

509 Day – Happy 509 Day, friends! As a born and raised Spokanite who now resides here once again after a 15-year hiatus, I have a genuine pride for those three numbers. Did that pride burn intensely in my soul when I left the state as an 18-year-old? To be honest, probably not. But after all those years of being away and noticing from afar that I didn’t live in such an awful place, the digits started to mean a little more to me. I wrote this post on 509 Day two years ago.

I took this photo from my seat window as we flew over Spokane in Nov. 2022. I love the 509!

Crowning – It is the Month of Mary and one way to honor our Blessed Mother is by crownings. Sloan and Beau had their Mary crowning at school earlier this week. Every student was invited to bring flowers to lay at the feet of the school’s Marian statue. Sidney made sure our children were prepared by purchasing flowers at our local grocery store florist and then arranging them into two bouquets. You can view Sloan placing the flowers with her classmate, Mariano, at the 2:10 mark of this video. St. Mary, pray for us!

Beau and Sloan hold their flowers that they used for the crowning of Mary at the St. Mary School (Spokane Valley) 2023-24 crowning.

Kids vs. Parents – Earlier this week, an unfortunate miscommunication between coaches left Beau’s t-ball team without an opponent. Since the miscommunication didn’t become apparent until a few minutes before game time, Team Navy had already traveled to the ball field. Thankfully, we made the best of it. Moms and dads joined forces to play the kids. Although I wish Beau’s team had players their own age to compete against, I had a great time squaring off against my son and his teammates on a gorgeous early May evening. Oh yeah, the kids won.

We weren’t going to let a beautiful, sunny evening go to waste so us parents played them. My son is up to bat and that is me at short stop.

Turning Point – I recently finished up a pretty deep historical documentary series titled Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War. The Netflix series is comprised of nine installments and begins with the rise of Stalin and ends with Putin’s rule and the current conflict in Ukraine. In between those two events you have 100 years of history! The show chronicles Russia vs. USA relations with a particular emphasis on the Cold War. It is quite the investment time-wise but if you are a history buff like me, you will appreciate (and be alarmed by) it. The footage is superb and the commentary on-point. If you want much better context on what is happening in Ukraine today, I highly recommend.

“Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War” was well done.

Blonde Brownie Ode – I kid you not, today is National Butterscotch Brownie Day. Not trying to brag but yours truly can make a pretty mean batch of blonde brownies. Don’t believe me? I made this video of me baking them a couple years ago. If learning off TikTok isn’t your thing, you can reference my top secret recipe (😂) by tapping here. Come on people, who doesn’t love a warm, gooey blonde brownie?! Chef’s kiss.

A pan of blonde brownies I made a couple years ago.

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I can’t wait for the weekend! It is going to be gorgeous and busy as usual. Let’s pray for the innocent people in Ukraine who continue to suffer devastation. Don’t Blink.