-We'll have the fries with our salad

[T]he best part about going out to lunch with another lady is the unspoken assumption that, no matter what, we’re going to order French Fries.  Sure… two salads.  Sure… lemonade and ice water. Sure… we’ll browse the menu for other healthy options and then …order the fries, eat them first, and stare rather blankly at our salads.  The particular fries are from the Cresheim Valley Grain Exchange, Philly.

Good morning and Happy Sunday!  I hope this day brings you sunshine and good shade and a tall glass of something fizzy.  The warm days are asking us to take it easy.  I say we relent.

The Internet is big.  Here’s just a bit (big and small, sad and silly):

•  From BBC News, Inside Mosul:  What Life Is Like Under The Islamic State.

•  I read the story of Kalief Browder earlier this week and have thought about him and his family every day since.  “He had been arrested in the spring of 2010, at age sixteen, for a robbery he insisted he had not committed. Then he spent more than one thousand days on Rikers waiting for a trial that never happened.”  He shared his story with The New Yorker and shed some light on how and who we imprison in this country.  It’s a sad and important story.

•  President Obama’s eulogy for Beau Biden is beautiful.

• An interesting read from the NYT.  SEAL Team 6:  “The unit best known for killing Osama bin Laden has been converted into a global manhunting machine with limited outside oversight.”

•  I literally can.not.even. right now.  I can’t.  The never-ending story of how older people can’t understand how younger people speak.  Tale as old as time.  Song as old as rhyme.

•  It’s like 1999 and Serena Williams still reigns supreme.  Just be better than everyone else.  Easy, right?

•  Watch people from all over the world describe how to spot an American.  Apparently we wear a lot of sweatpants and we’re loud, jolly, and jumpy.

•  Weekend reading:  Extreme Climber and BASE Jumper Dean Potter’s last jump in Yosemite.  Lost Brother in Yosemite.

•  We’ve gone too far:  America’s First Certified Organic E-Cigarette Vaping Liquid.  Please, no.

•  We’re shaving dogs into cubes now. Not a typo.  Thank you, Japan.

•  Serengeti Selfies.  I wonder how many followers the Serengeti has on Instagram (no I don’t).

•  Here’s what I’m listening to:  Amos Lee Live At Red Rocks.  It’s out on Tuesday, but you can listen here now!

•  I’ve made this Garlic Braised Chicken two times this week and I’m trying to pep-talk myself into these Barbecue Ribs from the oven.

Have a beautiful day.

xo Joy