Snapshot

Once in a while, you happen upon a span of time so perfect, so lovely, so precious that you want to keep it forever. My mom taught me, when I happen upon those moments, to take a snapshot in my mind - to really pause and drink in the moment, vowing to remember everything about it, so that I can bring it up and remember it anytime I need it.
This evening was one of those times.

It strikes me that we didn't do anything fancy. There was no china, there were no formal dresses and no candle light. Just spaghetti and garlic bread on paper plates and a sweet glass of wine.

The kids and I went to Becky's house for dinner. Her man is in another state and so is mine, and that seemed reason enough to pool our resources and have a little dinner. We put the kids and their plates at a picnic table under her carport, and she and I sat on the porch in the rocking chairs that were her mother's and grandmother's, laughing and chatting.

I brought my knitting bag and finished (yeah, that's right - you heard me - finished!) Nana's shawl. It needs to be blocked still, but the stitching is all done and all of the ends are woven in. Becky and I both tried it on and, let me tell you, Nana almost didn't get her shawl. It's that soft!

I suppose our decision to have dinner outside at her house had a little something to do with the orange grove on her family's property that is in full bloom. Or else that might have been the actual, whole reason we decided to get together in the first place.

I know I've gone on and on about orange blossoms this year. I probably have every year, I guess. An orange grove in bloom smells something like heaven, I think. Becky grew up right there (her parents' house is just across the corn field) and she and I definitely spent some time out in that orange grove when we were growing up. We had a picnic out there once. Her parents must have thought we were so silly. I know that her sister always thought I was some kind of a hippie, but never held it against me.
So it was one of those moments, tonight. My dear friend and I, taking in one of our favorite times of year in the same place we had when we were 14-or-so years old. Our children were running around the yard, the house and the grove. And we had our noses stuck in the trees, consuming as much of the scent as we could.


Emma picked a cabbage out of Papa J's garden. I don't know why, but she's been asking me to buy a cabbage this week, so she was thrilled. We plucked a few of the leftover citrus from the trees. And I got me a Polk County Pedicure.

We went back to those rocking chairs on the porch as the sun went down, asking easy questions of each other and hard ones and dreaming of the adventures we'd have together as the years continue to pass us by. And I did take a mental snashot of the evening as the twilight faded, but I took these pictures too.

DAILY BLISS: more white chocolate lime cookies!