Monday

We went backsplash shopping after lunch. We brought some samples home. This is the only sample that we both liked. It has an uneven texture and a nice blend of the colors we like. In the picture above, it's against our interior paint. The backsplash needs to be bold because everything else will be plain. Countertops: white quartz; cabinet doors: flat front, white; appliances: stainless steel.

John also likes the sample to the right, but not the marble pieces.

We both like these finger tip door and drawer pulls in brushed nickel. They are installed at the top of the drawer or door as you see in the picture below. They almost disappear.

I think they will look cool with the plain door and drawer fronts, also easy to clean. On the upper doors, the pulls flip the opposite way and attach at the bottom of the doors, pointing up.

John likes the tile on the vertical so that it looks like a waterfall. He wants it installed on the living room wall under the bar overhang. My eye is accustomed to seeing the tile in a horizontal layout.

He likes it this way in the kitchen, too. I think it's too many vertical lines, but it might grow on me. I'd like to hear what the designer has to say. What do you think?

Horizontal layout. Of course on top of beige and pink, nothing looks very good.

Here is a similar tile in brown on the vertical.

This is the tile we like (in brown here) on the vertical.

Dunedin is not pulling back on celebrating gay pride for the month of June. I copied the events from the city events calendar.

We will definitely attend this one. 

We made it to this one.

On the national pride front, Joe Biden threw the biggest pride party ever in D.C. At the event, he said: 

“So today, I want to send a message to the entire community — especially to transgender children: You are loved. You are heard. You’re understood. And you belong,” Biden told the hundreds of guests.

“My entire Administration stands proudly with the LGBTQI+ community in the enduring struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.”

Dunedin is also celebrating Juneteenth in June. Juneteenth commemorates the day when the last enslaved people in the country were informed of their freedom. Can you imagine being enslaved and someone telling you “The war is over. The South has been defeated. You are free to leave this enslavement and live your life as a free American.” That dream, of course, got deferred as Langston Hughes would say with the imposition of the indignities and injustice of Jim Crow. The racist people in this country don’t give up easily.

I rode my bike to Weaver Park this morning after 8:00 to do yoga before it got too hot. I was there an hour. Afterwards, I rode down to Stevenson's Creek.

I stopped to take these pictures, and I heard the unmistakable sound of mammals breathing as they surfaced the water.

I looked closer and saw a herd of manatees. I counted at least four.

It's been a long time since I've seen manatees.

This creek was polluted from a sewage spill upstream in Clearwater this spring. I hope this means it’s slowly returning to normal.

I like the way the light comes over the lake from our morning walk.

I learned yesterday that Wade Goodwyn on NPR died a few days ago. We went to high school together, in the same class. He was only 63 years old. He died from cancer. He was a great reporter. He was famous for his voice, but his words were often like poetry.