Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

Making it through the week.  It was a difficult one.  I was on a drastic down yo.  I'm still trying to get back to that happy place of steady contentment, but things are evening out.

T. Bone completed his sailing course and didn't complain this week when he was need an Advil sore after football practice that started Monday.

 Football.  He wasn't going to go out for the team and then he was and then he wasn't and then he did.  There were some significant last minute changes to the program this year that caused quite a scuttlebutt.  We were behaving like lemmings and listening to the rumors here at Casa Wags until cooler, clearer heads prevailed.  After the first practice, T. Bone was deflated and declared he didn't want be on the team.  Instead of lecturing him about commitment (which I really, really wanted to do), I just listened to his concerns and calmly asked him to give it the week.  By Thursday he was enthusiastic about it all and he felt empowered because it was his decision.

A girls night out/going away gathering for our friend Rosebud who is going to California (with an aching in her heart).  We met at the pub at what was the Pabst Brewery.  We drank $2 beers, ate cheese curds, laughed a lot, cried a little and started talking about a weekend in wine country TBD.

Miss Bit had one on one time with her aunt this week.  They went birthday shopping and out for dinner in the middle of the week and it sure made my girl feel extra special.  And last week she had a fun date at the pool with another aunt.  She always sees T. Bone so busy and although she is younger and much more of a homebody, I know she sometimes envies all his plans.

Coach, Miss Bit and I headed to the nature center for a guided evening hike this week.  It was the perfect half moon night for being outside and we all loved being at the center after hours.  Now my Bit has a new passion for bugging.  Just give that girl a net!

The three of us took a walk on a nearby trail tonight and we proudly identified plants and bugs along the way that we had just learned about the night before.  Miss Bit caught a few ambush bugs and glided the last mile of our trek because she was so happy.

Learning.

The Audubon Center.  We love that sanctuary.

Aerial feeding swallows...red bellied barn swallows and white bellied prairie swallows.

Lots of time for reading this week.  I finished Silver Star.  It was a quick, somewhat entertaining, but not very enlightening read.  Now I'm plowing through Flight Behavior and taking my time with Sense and Sensibility.  Lately, I feel like authors are victim to deadlines.  Like maybe they are publishing work that isn't necessarily finished...ready....because it is time, even though it's not.  I sure felt that way with Hosseini's latest novel.  I know what he is capable of, but And The Mountains Echoed fell short.

Pizza and movie night at Casa Wags.

Irishfest is this weekend.