Friday, Friday, Friday - La La La

It has been a lousy week, for obvious reasons and not so obvious reasons. Nothing terrible has happened to me, but it's just been lots of problems, frustrations and general ugh. And it wasn't just me. On Tuesday morning my department decided it would be best to just scrap this week and try again. And it was only Tuesday morning. So, while not particularly upset or distressed this week, I've been moody and cranky. (And I'm sure I've been a joy to live with as a result.)

For some reason I can't quite figure out, my mood lifted yesterday afternoon. It had something to do with getting away from administrative and supervisory headaches to give a training that one of my favorite clients was helping with, getting home early enough to re-pot the plants in the soil I bought almost a week ago, and in doing so being out in a perfect Florida Spring day for an hour or two. I found a baby bell pepper on the plant that has been blooming but not producing for-ever and my plants in general are pretty happy to see Spring come. OH, and I decided no more news. Enough is enough, and even NPR can barely talk about anything but the tragedy in Virginia. My heart aches for them, but listening to endless interviews and depressing myself is not going to help anyone. It's been nothing but Mix 105.1 since yesterday afternoon.

So, when Alex got home I happily took him up on his suggestion that we go out to eat. We went to Park Avenue (where else?) and had a great dinner while we watched the people wandering by. Then we moved down one restaraunt to hang out with the local stool pigeons and continue the people watching. And I ate most of an obscenely huge brownie with ice cream. And chocolate sauce. What a sugar high! When the conversation turned to work and meetings with ex-spouses, we left. (Smart, right? Our Mama's didn't raise no dummies.)

But, it gets better. When we got home, the neighbor was having what sounded to be a great party. So, my shy and retiring husband (ha!) sticks his head over the garden wall, says 'hi' and then ' we were just wondering why you're having such a great party and we weren't invited?' Yes, I'm serious. I may not have remembered verbatim, but that's pretty darn close to a quote! So, we were invited over. Luckily, the neighbor seemed to genuinely want us there, even though he was all but forced in to the invitation.

For the next few hours, we talked, laughed, and produced music. Alex and one of our neighbor's friends played the guitar beautifully. The rest of us sang along. Poorly. I got to know our neighbor, since I'd never said more than 'hi, how ya doing?' (Alex had an opportunity to hang out in the yard with him one night, but I was out of town for work.) And I liked him. Which means we are now friends with the immediate neighbors on our right, our left, and behind us. How cool is that? It was great.

But, I thought today was going to be tough because it was almost 1:00 before I went to bed. (Way late for me.) I did feel a little achy and sleepy when I woke up, but after some stretching and a cup of coffee I perked right up. (And I swear I only had a cup and a half.) It's Friday, so I'm wearing jeans, a linen shirt and slip ons. I have no hearings or meetings, and noone has brought me anything nasty to deal with. I'm slowly chipping away at work that's been hanging around forever and I'm actually taking a lunch hour (right now, in fact). It's Friday. And I am in a great mood. My legal assistant is actually laughing at me whenever I walk by, because I'm bouncing along cheerfully.

What a great way to start the weekend. And there's the distinct possibility of lots more guitar music in my future. Alex has decided he should learn more songs, since this is twice in a week that he's had his guitar out to play for friends. I love, love, love to hear him play, so I'm pretty happy about that.

I hope you are having a great Friday, and if not I am sending some of these fairy sparkles your way!

What Life is About

Last night we had a friend we haven't seen in, literally, years over for dinner. A chance to catch up with a friend we miss dearly, steaks on the grill for dinner and guitar playing to end the night. Does it get any better than this?

Recovering from a Rainy Sunday

What do you do when its the middle of the day on Sunday, but your front yard looks like this?

And your backyard looks like this?

You knit, of course. This Sunday I turned on Garrison Keillor and broke out the hidden motif scarf I'm making progress on. It was a great way to spend a day - warm coffee, yarn, entertaining stories and the sound of rain on the roof. And wind chimes in the yard - it was really windy. Even the sound of the rain couldn't drown out the chimes.

Can you see the hidden motif? An alien? It's really hard to get a picture of it by yourself, but I love watching the alien form as a I knit and purl my way along the pattern's chart. It's addictive.

But, what else is a rainy day for? A three and a half hour nap, of course. (What? You don't call over three hours of sleep a nap?) And then I went shopping for soup ingredients.
Mmmh. Soup. It was good.

Little Punky Woofster

Neither Gwen nor her Mama are particularly punk, but our punk friend from Punky Woofster loves us anyway. So, she made Gwen a stylish new collar from her collection. Gwen said she'd be the mini model for the collection, but she was feeling tempermental today. We'll try again later, and with a collar that doesn't match her coloring quite so closely. But, it's such a pretty collar and I love it on her, so I couldn't resist showing you the first attempts at modeling photos.

Presenting, for your viewing pleasure, Little Punky Woofster!

Happy Easter

I had a lovely Easter.

I rolled out of bed at 6:20 to make it to Sunrise Service. (Easter simply calls for Sunrise service for me, despite my lack of enthusiasm for mornings.) Alex goes with me many years, but I didn't wake him this year since we had such a late night Saturday. So, it's 7:00, 45 degrees and damp, and I'm sitting alone at Easter service. I recently switched churches (haven't even decided if this is a permanent or temporary switch), so I don't know anyone and I've only ever spoken to one of the handful of people who turned out so early. I'm feeling very cold, a little lonely and not very Easter-ly. And then I look up and see a hawk soaring above us and lighting on the Church roof, facing the service. And me. All of a sudden I remembered the hawk when Grandpa died. For weeks after he died, we saw a hawk all over the county. And when we went out on the river to spread his ashes, a hawk followed us the entire time. We associated that hawk with Grandpa, and we said he was watching over us through the hawk. I haven't thought of that in years and had stopped associating hawks with Grandpa. But, when I saw that hawk at Easter service, I suddenly remembered. And I felt better. I felt like I had family with me. It was a lovely, if very cold, service.

When I got home, after a nap, I told Alex about it. A few hours later we went to Aunt Kathy's for the family dinner. Everyone was there, relaxed and happy. We had a great visit. My cousin's family is relocating to Texas in two weeks, so it was particularly nice to have a long visit with them. Several of us sat out back, by the lake and the fire, visiting. And Alex turns to me and says "Look, there's a hawk." Sure enough, a hawk was soaring over head and then lit in a tree by the lake, looking towards us. I couldn't help but think Grandpa was watching over us, pleased to see the family together and happy.

It was a good day.


Happy Easter, Grandpa. I love you, too.

Dear Friends

An open letter to anyone who has ever given my husband their cell phone number:

Dear Friends,
If there's the slightest chance you have photo viewing capability on your phone, I apologize now for the random photos you have received or will be receiving shortly. Alex's new phone is a pretty good camera phone, and so he's been taking and sending pictures with abandon. I know for certain one friend received a photo of me knitting in the backyard and another a photo of the cat lounging on the drive. I know these are random and unexpected appearances on your phones, but you have to understand how much he loves his technology. And we ARE pretty cute.
Thank you for understanding,
Cara

Mmmm....

Today is a good day. We had a cold front last night, and while I can feel it to my bones (literally) it's awfully nice to take a step back from the early summer and actually have a few days of spring this year. The air feels fresh and just barely crisp, and I went around opening all the windows this morning. As a special bonus, the rain that accompanied the front seems to have washed the pollen down to reasonable levels. I can actually breathe through my nose. Well, half my nose, but I'll take it.

And the office is closed today, so I didn't get up until 8:30 and I'm still lingering over my coffee. I have some work to do, but I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want. Not that I actually plan to do so; it's just nice to know I can. This luxury is topped off by the fact that I only plan to do work today because I took off Monday, and I know that I'll have a fully relaxed truly three day weekend if I knock a few things off my to do list now. And since I'm going to work from home, I'll also get laundry and picking up done in between. I love it.

I feel good, and I actually feel motivated to take care of the work so I can be done. If I do that this morning, I think I'll go to the yarn store this afternoon. I just bought the Cece pattern from Chic Knits, and I'm excited to get started.

Happy Easter to me!

Sunday, Busy Sunday

No more time for being wimpy. This morning was Church, bridal shower shopping, a quick watering of the plants and a trip to the dog park to let Gwen burn off some energy. This afternoon is a long-awaited bridal shower who has had to delay her wedding for one reason or another for several years now. It's a good Sunday. Have Kleenex, will travel.