Saturday, June 27, 2009

Even the garden is saying 'enough already.' We may have a bit of a break in the rain today -- just itching to get out there and pull some weeds and get things in shape again.
Pom-pom central. It looks like a winter-time scene, doesn't it? June. Crazy.
Ah. My clean closet. Just -- let's see -- five or six others I should also clean out.

Won't be getting to it this weekend, though. Catching up on other stuff today and then tomorrow's the Confederations Cup final. US v. Brazil. It's an odd feeling -- we went in to the US/Spain game believing that the US had no hope and looking forward to seeing Spain continue on to win the whole thing. Now that the US team has done the unthinkable and beaten Spain, we wonder about Brazil (even though we lost to them in the early rounds). Well, even to take 2nd place would be an amazing accomplishment so we'll enjoy the match no matter what. Aside from the bloody vuvuzelas.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Here comes the sun? Please?

I don't live in Seattle, nor anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. This is by choice. Oh sure, there's a lot to recommend the area, and I've enjoyed visiting (my mom lives in Seattle and my sister's in a town outside the city). But the weather. Oy. I'm not cut out for all that dreary rainy misty cloudy weather.

I understand from my mom that they've been having an unusually dry, sunny spring. I think that's because all the rain is HERE. In New England. Where it is not supposed to be. Where I suspect we're having a record for spring rain. And gloom. Have we seen the sun more than 5 times in the past month? I'd be surprised.
Not that there aren't discoveries to be made, walks to be taken, activities to go forward with despite the rain. But really. I could do with a little bit more exposure to the sun.

Meanwhile, Dean and I have been doing our best to take advantage of the lack of other things to do. I (drum roll, please) cleaned out the tupperware/appliance closet yesterday, took Dean's outgrown clothes in to a resale shop, and got the car inspected (we're forced to do this every year in Massachusetts -- a very inconvenient racket). I'm going to vacuum and wash all the first floor of the house today. Really I am. After Dean's done with his computer time. I'm caught up on laundry AND ironing. Wonders, apparently, shall never cease.

I need to take pictures of the pom-pom pet Dean made for Ken for father's day; he talked me into getting him this book
and he's got plans for many more. Good stuff. Every child should, I believe, go through a pom-pom phase -- they are just so easy and rewarding to make.

With that I think I'll put on some music and do a little crafting myself. Before I do more cleaning.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

What's this for?

Ah, the joy of fearlessness on a computer! The moment my back was turned, Dean decided to experiment with Photo Booth -- a sassy little application that came with my new computer. I call this his "Dudley" face.
And of course I had to get in on the fun, too. If only housework were this entertaining. We've also been cooking up Father's Day surprises for Ken, but more about those after they are presented.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Can't call them the dog days yet

Friday was the last day of school. The traditional family picnic at noon was canceled because of the rains that have been hanging here with us for the past two weeks. It felt odd not to have the sense of closure that comes from the picnic, and the opportunity to say our goodbyes for the summer, but we were pretty tired and at least a bit thankful for the early departure. Dean had a fabulous school year, was sorry to see it end, and is already looking forward to September. It was a difficult year for me for a lot of reasons -- lots of personnel changes at school that made it challenging, lots of changes overall being made -- and I'm not sorry at all to see it end.

Dean's got three weeks off until summer camp programs, and Ken and I are sort of a vacation-day/work-day tag team til then. I'll have 6 weeks off this summer (have I said this already?) to fill with some mix of productive time and hanging out time with Dean.

I'm in a weird, just-the-facts-ma'am kind of mood, which I didn't realize until I sat down to write this post. Sigh. I'd better go shake the cobwebs out.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out

Peony Pink Hawaiian Coral

It's just such a strange thing. I keep having dreams, very real, that are small moments when things in my life are apparently just how I want them to be. For example, I clearly had a dream that the old, brown grass clippings that are littering our front walk had been all swept up. I realized that I'd had the dream when I walked out the front door, down the walk, and saw that the grass clippings are all still there. I was so disappointed. I've had other similar experiences recently but I can't remember the details to be able to share them -- but that same feeling of realizing that I'd dreamt something was taken care of and being disappointed to find that it was not.


This toad was very much really living in our mulch pile. Hello, toad.

Why haven't I been here much lately? It's been hard. Just a lot of other stuff going on, taking my time, using up my energy, making me wonder what it is I'd really like to be doing instead. I'm trying to get a clear idea of what I'd like my time off this summer to be about, so that I can make sure that it comes off that way. I think I want it to include more time to be here.

But I've also been occupied by wonderful things, such as Dean's third piano recital.


When we were out walking the dog together last night in a light, misting rain, Dean stopped to investigate droplets of water on a small leaf. "Isn't it beautiful?" he asked breathlessly. Indeed; it always is.