oh Sunday...you wonderful day you.

i feel all mooshy inside,

full of earl gray,

pho,

and affection.

THE REASONS
(in no particular order)

waking up to the sweetest kitty girl
( who has, of late, brought us her shrews and snakes,
and we reward her with her salmon treats. )



taking in the site of  JSL giggling demurely at my counter


passing out hugs


admiring wee debonair Penelope
(who successfully survived the killer cat I call Octavia)


drinking away Saturday afternoons in the pub,
 reading up on all my city has to offer

(side note: jess told me that the three top issues of priority to Seattle voters are:
1. Light Rail  2. Legalization of Marijuana  3. Establishment of a nudist colony
I laughed about this for some time.
Jess said that we obviously want to ride public transit while high and nuked!)



 capturing light and fog


breathing slowly on Sunday morning


finding junco eggs in the garden


enjoying the property


focusing on the columbine blooms


observing abbey's view of the family


lingering over details


reflecting


absorbing their presence
(they just returned from France/England)


holding my sweet niece, Olive


as much as possible


as tightly as possible


catching the saint in the act of beer-making


watching him deftly perform his saintly duties



encouraging even more saintly duties

I am, of late, consumed with the sights and sounds of home.
What is home?
Yes, it's the people you love, the books you love,
the animals you love,
the things you love.
But something more nags at my soul
(per usual)
to define it more existentially for myself.

Answer:
Muffins help.

For now,
that's enough.

Today, everything around me tasted, looked, and felt bland (por ejemplo: the sangria at the Mexican food restaurant was (I KID YOU NOT) made from grape kool-aid and the replacement margarita was little better).   The small mountain of laundry awaiting my Monday felt less like a tangible climb as much as Mt. Blanc ominously looming over my dwarfed, non-hiking frame.

Just a few shots of the last few days...



Joel saving me from the weeds.

Me working out the kinks in my shoulder.
Or something like that...

I am going home tomorrow.

I have so many mixed emotions about the time I've spent here and away from my home.  It truly has been the best of times and the worst of times.  I am a bit lost as to how to explain it, but I told my sister-in-law, it's like a taffy-pull machine on my soul and heart.  I belong in two places at once, and cannot wrap my head around it all.  I plan to return in a few weeks to bring my sister home with me, so it will be very quick that I get to see her and Clara again, but even so...my soul feels like it has jet-lag.

I just love weddings...for a myriad of reasons.

But if I get to attend with my sister, I love them all the more.

And I swear, it's an accident that we steal all the attention on the dance floor.

We just can't help ourselves.



(who raised this girl anyway?)

My sister and I are something of a phenomenon at dance parties.
Many of you have seen me dance, but if Teresa is out there with me...all bets are off.
Most people cannot keep up, but it's not usually because they cannot dance themselves,
but is due to the fact that they are laughing their arses off.
It's a little comic bit we do.

We've been working on routines together
all the way back to those summer days in the pool.

And it shows.
Even in stilettos.
(THESE and THESE to be exact)

It's been too long since we've had this kind of fun.
So thanks for getting married, people of the world.
It sure beats the club.

But all jest aside, it's been a horrible few weeks as far as bad news is concerned,
and I really needed to stomp it out on the dance floor.
Some people have crack cocaine,
I have Madonna.