Feast

It's been raining so much this week! It seems that the rain this year is either feast or famine. We had such a hot, dry spring in which we could not keep our garden wet enough with the hose, followed by a torrent of rain over the course of two weeks during which all my tomatoes cracked under the pressure of the sudden moisture being delivered to them with incredible speed. Then we have had just nothing again - oh, I mean, it tried to work up an afternoon shower here and there, but it was largely unsuccessful. But this week? It's been incredibly rainy, stormy and wet. The humidity this morning was 95%! It's the kind of hot, steamy morning that makes you feel as though you could shower off by simply wringing your hands above your head, squeezing the very drops out of thin air. Tomatoes? Ha! They are so full of blight and fungus by now that they are nearly hopeless. I suppose we will try again in September.
Speaking of feasts, we had our new old friends over for dinner last night. They are in town from Tennessee and have actually been considering making the move back home. Just between us, I hope they make it back here soon. It was a night of good food and great conversation. My cheeks hurt from all the smiling and laughing! And their two precious girls hid away in my precious girl's room, doing the secret things that girls will do, only to pop out now and again in fantastic outfits from the dress-up clothes bin. Andrew, for the most part, preferred to be in on the grown-up conversation, leaving the room when topics turned a bit more serious for his taste. And when the feast and conversation were through, one tiny "fairy godmudder" was found huddled behind our biggest chair, presumably hoping to live out the rest of her days in the frothy pink finery she had discovered.

Beachy

I met my friend at the beach yesterday. She's had a just had a major life change and I really needed to get away, so the timing was just right. I got up early (for a Saturday) and made my way to Siesta Key, singing in the car and feeling like I was really escaping. But by the time I got there, it was raining.


We didn't have to wait long for it to clear up, though, and the sand takes on such interesting texture after it rains, so that was nice.


Conversations rolled past us like the off-shore showers, interspersed with lots of quiet and good music. And the sun finally popped up, so we popped up her beach umbrella.


Two pale-as-vampires girls need all the protection from the UV rays that we can get!


Lots of aerosol sunscreen was sprayed, homemade salsa, blueberries and crunchy grapes were eaten, deep thoughts were shared, shallow thoughts abounded and the day passed. I even got into the water, which I never do. But that might be because I haven't owned a swimsuit in a very long time. The waves were really rough, for the Gulf anyway. It was almost as good as being on the other coast! We took a long walk and found fistfulls of perfect shells and two unblemished sand dollars.
Then the sun went down. It took its sweet time getting there, but we didn't so much mind.

There was a little more rain as the sun set, but not enough to make us leave before we were ready.


When we did finally get out of our chairs, we slung our bags over our shoulders and grabbed our shoes, and turned around. Then we gasped as we caught sight of a perfect, glowing moon that had snuck up behind us. I scrambled to get my camera out of the bag, but a photo just wasn't meant to be - by the time I found my camera, the clouds had rolled over and hidden it.
I am more refreshed than I had expected to be after just one day to myself. But being in the presence of a kindred heart probably has that effect.
And I'm only the weensiest sunburned in a few places.

Daily Bliss: tomatoes from my pitiful garden for lunch

Wake-up Playlist: I was sleeping so hard this morning that I don't even remember waking up, much less if there was a song I was singing!

Psst

Hey!
Over here!
You know something?
You guys are the best.

<3 Me

The Best Kind

Old friends are just the best kind of friends.
I know I've said it before, but my friends in school were almost all boys. Kris (whose wife Mary is a friend here on this blog) and I were best of friends starting in the 7th grade and Shane came along soon after. Jayson (whose parents are now Andrew's English and Science teachers) and I went to prom together one year. Becky joined up with us sometime around 9th grade or 10th, maybe, and helped me take care of these fellas - we gave them all funny nicknames and committed sundry other crimes against them. And Shawn kind of came into the fold around the time that I was leaving those boys for the man who is now my husband.

Tonight, I got to hang out with my boys and their Best Girls, my Becky and all of our children! What a treat! My husband seems to remember that it has been some 10 years since we were all in the same room. If you include Becky in that number, it's been even longer.


Our number has definitely increased since then. Some of us have taken the Biblical mandate of "be fruitful and multiply" very seriously. There are 12 children between us all!

We'd planned to meet at a park and enjoy eating dinner outside and just letting the kids run, but the weather didn't cooperate. We had so much rain today, which was wonderful for my tomatoes but not so much wonderful for a picnic. It's okay, though, we just moved our gathering into this indoor play place that's full of giant inflatables and arcade games. We got no complaints from the kiddos on that one.
It's really cool to search the faces of all the little ones in the room and find glimpses of your dear friends as they were so many years ago.
Thanks go to Kris for working this all out. He always did like to be in charge of things. That used to kind of piss me off because I like to be in charge of things. But now, I'm so glad that he doesn't mind being the Organizer of Great Fun.

DAILY BLISS: A late supper of toast and chocolate annnnd....no fewer than five people stopped me today to tell me they *loved* my dress! Of course, I'm talking about my Easter dress. The one I made.

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!

I'm A Winner!

Julie, over at Red Hen Studios, gave me a sweet little award! Julie, that was so nice of you. It's astonishing to me that someone I've never met would be interested enough in what I'm saying to come back more than once. I'm so glad you did!



So, the deal is, to accept the award, I have to...

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

And here's me, playing along.
My Sisterhood Award nominees are:

1. Mary. Who knew my dear childhood friend would pick a wife that would be such a kindred? It's amazing.
2. Amy. It's such great fun getting to know you and your beautiful, intelligent daughters. I'm looking forward to many more years of sharing our lives.
3. Mindy. My sister. Even though you're technically not.
4. Mom. I know you don't have time to play bloggy games, but still. You're the best.
5. Nana. My other mother. Strangely, my aunt that we call "Nana." It's nice to have another tortured artist in the family.
6. Becky. My bestie. And so much more.
7. Allison. You've been gone from blog-land for a while. I miss you.
8. Kate. New friends are the best! And new friends who knit? Even better. I'm so happy you're part of my life. Well, and part of Mark's life too.
9. Julianna. I miss you terribly. IM-ing isn't the same as a good Coffee Friday. Chicago? Seriously. Why did you leave me?

And honestly? That's all I've got. I can't even quite come up with ten. I read lots of blogs, but most of them I just lurk on and I'm not feeling brave enough right now to ask people I don't know to play this game. And also...don't feel like you have to do this or follow the rules or anything. I'm just passing this on as a way to say you're my girls and I appreciate you.

DAILY BLISS: new makeup - free, new makeup - free, brand name, new makeup that somebody didn't want and I'd never splurge on for myself