I'm proud that I could use the word cogent appropriately. Perhaps there's hope after all.
Anyway, here are some of my random thoughts for August:
1. Vacations that require four days in a car should come with an extra four days of vacation at the end.
2. Bill Cosby was right. Parents aren't interested in justice; they just want quiet. For this reason, I'm finding our new school schedule a blessing. Nick gets up horrifyingly early, so I get up with him and we have a few minutes to talk while he eats breakfast. Then, Jack gets up after Nick leaves, and we have some nice time together before he gets on the bus. Then I get 6.5 blissful hours of quiet. Nick gets home an hour before Jack, which gives me time with Nick again, and when Jack gets home, I can focus on him. The bickering that drove me crazy this summer is pretty much gone with this new schedule, and the angry mommy face that screamed for quiet has entered hibernation until next summer. Good riddance.
3. If you have a friend who's going through a divorce, please remember that she (or he) is still a person who needs friends and that she (or he) will not automatically try to steal your spouse. I've had several friends tell me that their married friends started pulling away after they separated from their spouses...just when the newly separated really needed their friends, and this makes me very sad.
4. Daisy is currently chewing on a blue ball (yes, please laugh). The ball is hollow and has holes in either end. Now that Daisy has the ball good and slobbery, the open ends make a disgusting noise as she chews. It's very distracting.
5. I wish she would stop.
6. Oh, good. She dropped the ball. It rolled closer to me, so she got up, pounced on it, and plopped down right at my feet to continue making annoying noises.
7. I don't have the energy to take it from her. Does this make me a bad person, or just whiny?
8. My favorite picture from our recent trip to the Newport Aquarium:
Doesn't this matamata turtle look cheerful? Of course, it could be an evil grin. Perhaps he is contemplating biting the hand that feeds him. But I'm happier anthropomorphizing his grin and have added him as the wallpaper on my computer.
9. I bought a stamp set recently that has lots of inspirational Bible verses and quotations. One of them is my new mantra: "In every ordinary day there are a thousand miracles." Don't you just love that?
10. Here's a miracle from an ordinary day:
I bought two pansy plants for my front porch in the spring. They died in June because I kill pretty much every plant I ever own. Since then, the pots have remained sadly on my front porch while the dead pansies rotted in the hot hot sun. But one of them is coming back, without any help from me and despite an incredibly dry month. A miracle.
And now I invite you to share a random thought from August in the comments. Silly or sublime, it matters not. Just share.
Pansies are quite forgiving as are mums. I thought the little mums I planted in flower boxes last fall had died but then early summer they started sprouting new leaves. They are now beginning to bloom bright yellow flowers. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteRandom?
ReplyDeleteJust when you think you're used to summer, you get a very chilly day that makes you put on a sweatshirt. Then the next day, when you are looking forward to a nice cool day, it gets hot again.
Also, having a beer with your 83-year-old neighbor is a very fine way to pass the afternoon.
1) The grass hasn't grown much as it has been so dry but gave it another cut today.
ReplyDelete2) Why does the grass grow longer where Katie (our dog) pees?
3) The apples are ready for picking
4) The Jay and squirrels have taken all the walnuts although I have found a few dotted around the garden.
5) How do the Jays and squirrels know when the nuts are ready especially as they have ripened earlier this year?
6) The blackbirds have realised that the yellow raspberries are ready when they turn a golden yellow.
7) Who taught them that then? The reason we bought canes of the yellow variety was to stop the blackbirds pinching them!
8) the farmer has moved the sheep - bliss
9) there is always one ewe that constantly bleats and it is always the one with the most strident voice
10) Another beautiful sunset this evening
Susan, do you make people laugh in real life too? I love the way you write. I love the extra points on Daisy's ball chewing (I can hear that sound of the soggy ball). I love pansies, they are one of my favourite flowers. I must go and get some for my Spring garden.
ReplyDeleteThoughts on August... August is technically the last month of Winter for us. Here in Brisbane we usually experience blustery, cold-ish, dry, dusty winds in August. We call them "The Westerlies". This year the Westerlies didn't arrive. Instead we have had full-blown, mid-Summer-like, dramatic thunder and lightening storms with SO MUCH RAIN. My swimming pool and water tank are overflowing.
Today has dawned a beautiful, warm, blue-sky, Spring day and the birds are calling sweetly.
I wonder what Summer will bring?
Michelle.
Michelle, I'm much funnier in writing. And isn't it strange that north and south have such different perceptions of the months?
ReplyDeleteI love your writing, Susan :) I had to go look cogent up and now I know a new word LOL! Summer musings...
ReplyDelete1. By the end of summer this introvert who has
had kids 24/7 begins to twitch from lack of
mommy time.
2. I count sleeps until school starts until my
mommy time, but the excitement is tempered
with the fact that I don't get my kids all
to myself until next summer (i.e. no
daycare kids over the summer, just my own :)
3. I covet the fact my kids still want to hang
out with me and haven't reached the point
where spending time with mom isn't cool
(don't know the latest lingo for this word -
showing my age!) daycare kids in the summer,
just mine)
4. My oldest is headed to high schoool (eighth
grade is high school here as we have no
middle school) and I am wondering where
the years have gone...my baby is growing up
and it pains me at times to know I can't
heal all the hurts or have a kiss fix all
things.
5. Mixed emotions about her spreading her
wings and growing up versus being able to
freeze frame her for a few years....the
role of training up your child to let them
go is not an easy thing to do, despite the
joy of seeing them succeed and grow up.
6. Summer finally arrived in BC after 7 months
of rain and cold weather only to have Fall
just around the corner...
7. Murphy's Law: If your water main breaks, it
will not be on the city's side of the line
but on yours so you have to foot the bill
because house insurance only covers
restorative damages that occur in your
house and ours was on our driveway.
8. Water main bills are expensive when they
are your tab!
9. August means Fall is coming and I LOVE the
colours of fall, and our street displays
them beautifully - God's handiwork that
touches the core of my soul
10. Not having water for two days opens your
eyes to how good we have it in this part of
the world and causes one to think of those
who do not have water access the way we do.
11. Why is it I am the only one in the house
that reminds the cat he is a cat and
doesn't own the house LOL!
12. Lots more, but my brain is shutting off as
my energy is dwindling after a very busy
day...darn age thing LOL!
I LOVED (underline & exclamation points galore) comment #3 - I have always said this since getting my divorce 30 years ago. I moved back home - to a great town, albeit a town of very few divorced/single parents - and still have trouble being accepted by new married friends. Hello?? take your husband? Trust me I would never do to you what was done to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Pat