Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Miss Bit is on the mend. She has been sick with strep for the past week and not quite her sunny self.

No one else got sick.

H-O-R-S-E

Fresh green beans from my Aunt's garden, this girl for cleaning them and my Uncle for delivering them just in time for dinner.

T. Bone's choice day this week. Camel's eyes for breakfast, a tennis match in the heat of the day, a quick stop at the track so he could run a 7:11 mile, DQ for lunch, a play date with a friend for the afternoon, Monopoly, and dinner out at favorite pizza joint.

Miss Bit's choice day is next week.

Off the grid all the week long. No blogging or blog reading. It was a welcome respite.

How groovy my cats get when I brush them.

New books in the mail for vacation.

T. Bone and Miss Bit played a game of Monopoly all by themselves this week while hubby and I went for a walk. They played for the duration of our hour long walk.

Miss Bit turns 7 this weekend and my Aunt and Uncle are having a birthday party for my best girl.

A gathering with friends tonight.

On My Mind Monday

I saw him on the cover of Life magazine and heard about the wars he covered bravely and other feats –
the world-class fishing, the big-game hunting in Africa, the drinking enough to
embalm a man twice his size. The myth he was
creating out of his own life was big enough to take it for a time –
but under this, I
knew he was still
lost. That he slept with the light on or couldn’t
sleep at all, that he
feared death so much he
sought it out wherever and however he could. He was
such an enigma,
really- fine and strong and weak and cruel. An
incomparable friend
and a son of a bitch. In the end, there wasn’t one thing
about him that was truer than the rest. It was all true.

Paula McLain

The Paris Wife

Saturday Snippets

I woke up this morning after 9 1/2 hours of glorious sleep and found this note on the kitchen counter as I made my way to make a cup of coffee:

Dad or Mom,

Come downstairs and get me if you want to play Monopoly!

Me thinks we've created a monster or perhaps, a tycoon. T. Bone cannot get enough wheeling and dealing. He played twice yesterday with Grandma and Grandpa. I hope Uncle B. Bone isn't disappointed when T. Bone suggests they play board games instead of baseball tonight before dinner. I guess I know what we'll be doing if we get a rainy day at the lake.

Before I finished my first cup of coffee, the doorbell rang and I answered it in my nightie thinking it was one of the kid's friends come calling. I was face to face with a pamphlet bearing Jehovah witness I went to high school with who was almost as embarrassed as I was because he tried hard to keep his faith to himself. He blushed a little when he handed me the material and then instead of all fire and brimstone we talked about life and the past. And even though it was awkward, it was nice to see him because he may just have been THE nicest guy in my class. That doesn't seem to have changed.

Before I finished my second cup of coffee, I received not 1, but 2 campaign calls. Things are really heating up in this state as the election draws nearer.

And speaking of heating up...it's going to be hot again today so I better get out and get my walk in before mid-day.

Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

It's finally the weekend. I am so looking forward to the next couple days and then a return to our regular routine next week. No more 5 day work weeks.

I saw my first Rickie Lee Jones concert last night, and it was so full of heart and soul that I considered driving 3 hours to see the show again tonight. It was worth waiting 3 decades for.

Banana cake for breakfast.

A family game of Monopoly after dinner this week that lasted not 1, but 2 nights.

Darlybird and their sweet accessories. The girls in this family are loving our new earrings and hair clips.

Tomato sandwiches that actually taste like something this time of year.

Silver. Silver shoes, belts, jewelry.

Thunderstorms and gray days.

My step-mother is excited to start a new job in mid August.

I finished The Paris Wife and I almost couldn't put it down despite the fact that we all know the ending. It really peaked my interest in Hem. I haven't read him since high school, but I have already secured a copy of Moveable Feast. Now I'm into Crossing to Safety, which I feel like I may have read already.

And this quote from the novel, which beautifully describes my favorite time of day...the gloaming and the bittersweet bonds between firsts.

Later that afternoon, Paul and I took the long way to the stream and dropped our
lines in just as the insects began to swarm and the light began to change. It
was our favorite part of the day, this in-between time, and it always seemed to
last longer than it should – a magic and lavender space unpinned from the hours
around it, between worlds. I held my reel and felt the line list, and was back
in Cologne with Ernest and Chink. Back at my first fish, knowing there wouldn’t
be any fish without this one, and no love without the first one either.

The Paris Wife

Blame It On The Rain

Blame it on the rain, or our heart-tuggingly nostalgic route to where we needed to be this morning, or the rather tough time my girl has had separating several mornings during what has proven to be another very long week. And don’t get me started on the calendar. We’ve been ushered up to that point in summer where we no longer talk about how hot is, but rather how cold it will be too soon. Heck, the way I look at it there’s more than enough blame to go around as to why I feel out of sorts and even blue…there’s culpability for the choosing to explain my restlessness and unease.

I was up with the birds again this morning planning to take a walk just me and Little Bee. The rain dashed any hope I had of starting my day off the best way I know how. I strongly resisted the urge to crawl back in my cocoon, and it was a strong one. Instead I headed to the basement for a little kenpo and for that I was grateful…as soon as I was done jabbing and hooking that is.

Miss Bit woke up dragging and a little warm to the touch. Her cheeks were extra rosy and her nose was plenty runny, yet she was quick to say she felt fine. Not long after her assurances though she admitted she was dog-tired and down in the dumps. I don’t like to see my sweet girl sad. While I was thinking of ways to bring a smile back to her face, I realized that staying home today was just not an option unless absolutely necessary. It’s been building all week: this little summer cold and the need for a break from it all. I gave her some ibuprofen and reminded her that tomorrow she would be swimming the day away at Camp Grandma. That exciting news didn’t stop the flow of tears no matter how hard she tried…it only made her try and hide them from me. She was being a trooper…a real trooper.

I watched her in the rear view mirror. She closed her eyes and wiped a runaway tear from time to time. I almost turned around to take her back home more than once, but I stayed strong, I stood firm. And although we’ve been taking some version of this route to camp most days this summer, all of its markers suddenly struck me today. Maybe it was because I was really paying attention in my quiet car this morning. Today there were no distractions. T. Bone was dropped off early for a field trip and Miss Bit was not one for words. Silence replaced our usual travel talk about Monopoly strategies or illegal aliens or stories of my old stomping grounds.

No those memories were between me, myself and I today. As we passed good ole SHS, I saw myself on the sunny lawn eating lunch many years ago surrounded by friends playing Frisbee and hackey sack. So many years, in fact, that the vast courtyard is mostly shady now. My how those Maples have grown I thought. I did the math. It makes perfect sense. After that simple calculation, I was wiping my own tear from my cheek and ever thankful for my sunglasses because if my girl saw me losing it too this morning, there's no doubt we'd be homeward bound. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

No Need to Read Between The Lines

Late in the night I pay
the unrest I owe
to the life that has never lived
and cannot live now.
What the world
could be
is my good dream
and my agony when, dreaming it,
I lie
awake and turn
and look into the dark.
I think of a luxury
in the
sturdiness and grace of necessary things, not
in frivolity. That would heal
the earth, and heal men.
But the end, too, is part
of the pattern,
the last
labor of the heart:
to learn to lie still,
one with the
earth
again, and let the world go.

Awake at Night
Wendell Berry

Early in the morning I wake after a mere five hours sleep. My mind immediately jumps to attention...such a good soldier. My head is racing with worry...rue with regret...replete with ideas for tomorrow, the next day, the next month, the next year. I open my eyes only to behold the moonbeams of the night before wax and wane as the clouds fade in and fade out. I feel the cool, yet damp dawning breeze on my exposed skin, breathe deeply, and resolve to clear my head knowing that this is my time to rest. Knowing that the only thing between me and restoration are my very own thoughts. I eventually drift back off to la la land only to wake again with the birdsong at the new day's dawn. I think how fortunate am I to hear such sweet music and also how lucky that I have a window I can close. Another cleansing breath and I sleep some more. So fast this time that I must fight my way back to lucidity when it is finally time to wipe the sleep from my eyes for good for the day. My coffee comes before my cat's food on mornings like this. What does it really matter either for Peanut is holed up on the basemant steps now that the thunder has rolled in and Tigger is busy soliciting his morning love. As I sit sipping and coming to life, I open my book of Wendell Berry poems for a little inspiration. I open my book to Awake at Night randomly, and yet I know that there is really nothing arbitrary about this morning meeting at all. Can I tell you how much I love when this happens? Do you know THE feeling...the one where you know you are doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing precisely when you are doing it because the universe is talking to you and you are listening?

two day pass

we kicked off the weekend with one last baseball game...one last because our team did not win.
they could have if just for a couple more hits.
they played the #1 team and they played their fans proud.
the final score was 6-8.
in the previous 3 games the other team played in the tournament, they only gave up a total of 4 runs and then they run ruled every team so let's just say we saw them sweat in the 6 innings played.
now they are headed to state.
and just like that the season is really over.
there will be no more baseball.
well, not until fall ball starts in september.
oh and football starts in a week.
the boys drowned their sorrows in a teammate's hot tub during a spontaneous post party...actually they were all laughing and having fun.
so were their parents.

suddenly saturday was wide open and we almost didn't know what to do with a free and clear calendar.
i said almost.
t. bone still wasn't home from the previous night's sleepover and miss bit was partying with her friends in honor of a classmate's birthday so me and my man committed to a 6 miler in the heat of the hot day.
no breeze, not enough water, numerous deer and even a fawn later and we made it home.
home to supervise squirt gun fights, runs through the sprinkler and games of wiffle in between games of gin with the cats lounging on the patio at our feet so happy to be out in the aire libre after being cooped up all week.
there were orange slushies for the littles and cold cocktails for the adults.
hubby fired up the grill for some ribs and steak served with roasted fingerling potatoes, olive cheese bread, asparagus and fresh pineapple.
we may not have actually served dinner until 9:00 so the littles were just a little famished and there weren't many leftovers.
t. bone's friend spent the night and miss bit slept in her own bed for the first time in the few nights she spent at camp grandma grandpa.

sunday was pancakes and bacon with fresh cantaloupe and raspberries, a 5 mile walk that was nowhere near as oppressive as the prior day's, an invitation to the zoo for miss bit, a refreshing swim at grandma and grandpa's for the 3 boys, time to bake a banana cake, read and nap for me, croquet at my brother and sil's followed by a yummy dinner, too late to bed.