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Drying laundry indoors is tricky in our small condo. We do have a small balcony, but condo regulations prohibit drying laundry outdoors. So, were stuck trying to find the room inside. We have a decent front loading washer and dryer, but they’re small and the dryer takes ages. Life is just easier when we hang things to dry.

I manage to line dry about half our clothes. This over the door hanger is great for drying shirts. You can dry maybe 10 or 12 shirts at a time on it.

Another thing I do, and it ain’t rocket science, is to chuck our pants over the top of a door to dry. Hey, whatever works.

Lastly, I am loving this drying rack. It’s much nicer than the wooden ones of the same style. It also fits perfectly in the bathtub where it’s free to drip away.

[Ed: I would like to state for the record that none of R's unmentionables are visible in the above pic. Also, that yellow, lacy thing on the left is a leotard I bought for our niece. It's delightfully hideous.]

Do you line dry? Outdoors? In? I’d love an outdoor line, but with 7 months of snow per year I’ll probably always be doing some drying indoors…

I think little girls just skip everywhere…

Yesterday, R and I took our respective babysitting charges to the Georgeson Botanical Garden at the University of Alaska. The gardens are just lovely this time of year, and while I didn’t get to spend as much time as I like walking slowly and stopping to look at things and take pictures, I did have a good time.

The girls loved the hedge maze. They’ve been growing this thing for 3 or 4 years now, and you can get plenty lost in it. I may have *ahem* climbed over a fence or two to get out. Good times. I plan to go back soon without running children and investigate things more.

It always seems so much brighter out after the rain. The calm after the storm, perhaps?

The hanging baskets are filling out like crazy, the dahlias are still incredible, and the strawberries are just about ready to eat. I think it may be summer after all.

July, can you hold off just a while longer? Please?

We spent Friday night at the Robert Mitchell Speedway south of Fairbanks, tag line: “Thunder on the Tundra.” You can’t make this stuff up. This is the bomber class who, true to form, started the race with 17 cars and ended with 8. The rest either crashed or started smoking too badly to continue, and one person ended up with a tire bent completely sideways so it was flat against the ground. Good times.

These are the sprint cars. I’ll bet they were more than a bit worried about crashing into someone they couldn’t see.

This guy crashed into a wall in the first race, lost most of his hood, and came back for the second race. He did not finish the second race due to the copious amounts of black smoke coming from his engine.

We just started going to the races last summer. They’ve really become a summer guilty pleasure (like our nightly ice cream cones). Summer rules.

R had the lovely idea yesterday to have lunch at a local cafe located in a greenhouse. It is the prettiest little place, doubly so because it was out of the near-constant rain we’ve had lately. Come on summer! Time is running short here!

I do see things clearing up outside. I’m hoping for a trip to the Botanical Gardens this week and would sure welcome some sunshine!