resolve

I will get my garden going again this year. I was busy last summer and lacked the motivation to do it.

But that meant I missed out on so much that I love about summer.

The little green shoots poking up through the soil, the corn that's never, never tasted sweeter. The tomatoes that taste like tomatoes were meant to taste - even the smell of the plants themselves. Watching the girls walk through and eat raw carrots, beans, peas, lettuce, and whatever herbs catch their fancy. Fresh basil to put in scrambled eggs. Seeing order in my little gravel paths and seeing abundance come from dirt and seeds. The peace of early morning when I'm the only one up and I go out in the sun to do a little weeding, to check progress.

Definitely need to get it back this year.

I also have strange notions about trying to run a bit in the mornings. But let's not get carried away.

coffee

I was awakened this morning by the entry of M into the room, smiling and saying "good morning, Mommy and Daddy, I made you breakfast in bed!" Such a sweet start to the day, and she was obviously so happy she'd done it.

On the tray was a glass of juice, two slices of cinnamon toast, a napkin, a glass of Coke, and half a cup of hot coffee.

The glass of Coke was, of course, perfect for D who hates coffee.

"Wow, did you make coffee?" I asked, a little hesitantly, thinking I'd never shown her how to use the machine.

"Nope!" (insert excited, quite-proud-of-herself grin here) "There was some in the machine yesterday so I poured it in a glass, hid it in the fridge to have it for this morning, and reheated it in the microwave!"

Loving foresight trumps fresh-brewed every time in my eyes.

sick

Yep. The annual cold has found me.

It started with A's dry cough last Wednesday. Which my body, seeming to think sounded pretty nifty, decided to pick up on Thursday. It was one of those coughs that tires you out by constantly being there and not actually accomplishing anything. A has mostly dealt with coughing and fatigue, but it rapidly hit the stage for me where every nerve in my skin gets hyper sensitive. If I touched my hair, the follicles hurt from moving. Moving meant clothes sliding over my arms and back, and it was as if my tshirt was made of burlap. To bed I duly went, coughing all the while. Joints hurt, and I had a mild fever so kept tossing covers off only to be grasping them back again, shivering.

The next day R joined in. Hooray! D held out until Sunday when he started with more of a true head cold. On Sunday afternoon I lay in bed and realized that I could pinpoint everyone's position in the house by the coughing.

Side note: a day in bed sounds much more luxurious when you don't actually have to spend a day in bed.

Over the last day my cough has changed to a more nasty sounding one, with lots of loveliness in my throat. I'm hoping it doesn't decide to go any lower.

M, our little nurse who has made and served many pots of green tea, started this morning. It really is nice to do things together as a family.

glee

I saw something today that made me do an entirely unplanned, completely reflexive, scream. It slipped out before I could stop it and I realized when it heard it what it was.

An explosion of glee. Simple, unadulterated, honest glee.

I saw the cover drawing for my brilliant author friend's book. And, to the illustrator who I'm sure will never read this blog: you, too, are brilliant. The faces! The images! For crying out loud (and I almost did. No, on second thought, I did. There were more little glee-plosions, resulting in happy shrapnel everywhere) even the FONT were amazing. This amazing story, which so deserves the light of day, by an author who so deserves all the accolades that I'm sure she will get, is going to be available next December.

I am so happy for my dear Seren. It's gonna be beautiful.

gleegleegleeglee... what a fun word.

home

Home feels new. Three and a half weeks away was a great time, seeing family, meeting friends. Thirteen different states, no idea how many miles traveled. D was his usual amazing self, driving almost all of the distance, and the girlies were fun and much silliness was had by all.

Now it's home, to a house that was clean and intact but for evidence of partying mice. Traps have been set. Picking up Sam today, chickens sometime soon, and a new hamster this weekend (as pet, not for aforementioned traps).