Sunday, July 28, 2013

Things I Loved This Week

1. After a brutally hot week where the temperatures got up to 45 on a couple of days (that's 113 in American), this week the humidity went away and temperatures got back to a normal summer heat, and not one that made me go, "Oh, uuuugggghhhh" every time I stepped outside (which, the week before, I did EVERY TIME). I much prefer having the windows open all day. I'm not a big fan of A/C.

2. I was working out on the back deck one morning, editing, when I heard a rustling in the woods in my backyard. I looked up, and was staring right at a deer, who was staring right at me. I didn't move, she didn't move... and then I noticed another movement, and looked over to the right of her, and there was our resident backyard rabbit. As soon as I could think, "Oh my god, I'm in Bambi," the deer bounded away.

3. And... welcome to the real-time edition of this blog. As I typed #1, it started to pour rain. And as I typed #2, the sun came out brighter than it's shone all day, as the rain continued. That always means one thing, so I went out to my front step and this is what I saw:


One rainbow is remarkable enough, but the second one above it is just majestic.

4. Today I went down to the beach with my cousin and his wife and three kids, and my aunt and uncle, and my parents, and we all headed over to see the tall ships that had come into the harbour. It was nice to just spend an afternoon with all of them and catch up when it wasn't Thanksgiving or Christmas.

5. My husband is a golf writer who has been working all week for Global Television as their golf analyst for the Canadian Open. While I haven't seen him much at all, I've been able to flip on the TV and my kids delight in seeing Daddy on TV. Today at my aunt's house we all sat around the TV watching his analysis of the day's events, and it was fun to see everyone so impressed with something I probably take for granted too often.

6. He DID come home on Friday night, and while I was tired from taking my kids to golf camp at 8 am every morning and he was tired from being at the golf course at 8:30 am, we managed to get to dinner (my parents had the kids) and it was nice to have one night of adult conversation after a week of mostly just having two small children to converse with. Then, of course, we ditched plans to go see a movie and just came home and crashed early.

7. As many of you know, I tend to read multiple books at once (right now I'm worse than usual, in the midst of seven of them), and I just started reading George Saunders' Tenth of December collection of short stories, and the second one, "Sticks," is just over one page long, and might be the most perfect short story I've ever read. In one page he makes you care about a family, and with the last line he makes you gasp and feel true sorrow and loss.

8. On Tuesday, I took the kids to the beach and we went bike-riding down some bike trails behind the beach, and I haven't been on a bike in so many years I honestly couldn't say how long it's been without a LOT of embarrassment, and I'd forgotten how fun and free and wonderful it was. Later, on the beach, I sat there with my parents watching this giant black cloud move across the water. No lightning or thunder, so I wasn't particularly worried, but after a while of just watching this awesome-looking weather system coming towards us, I glanced down the beach and noticed a wall of water coming our way. The adults packed up chairs and towels quickly, I yelled for the kids to come, and they looked up from their sandcastles and tore across the beach towards me. We ran all the way to the van, squealing and screaming with delight the entire time, and got in the van just in time for the torrential downpour, which is always far more fun when you're not in it.

9. It's the last week of t-ball, soccer, and twice-weekly baseball games. Cue the "Hallelujah Chorus."

10. Speaking of baseball games, I mentioned a while back that my daughter had tried pitching for her softball team and on her very first pitch, she threw a strike. I mentioned that after that, of course, she walked the next couple of girls but hey, that strike was still amazing. This week, several weeks later, she and her teammates have been working very hard, and she stepped up to the mound to face the team's chief rival... and struck out all three girls at bat. It was GLORIOUS!!! I was up in the metal bleachers jumping up and down and cheering. Whatta girl.

1 comment:

yourblindspot said...

On the unchanging weather: it has been raining in Georgia for roughly EVERY DAY SINCE MARCH (give or take an hour, and heaven bless the poor half-drowned TWD crew, who must be having one wicked soggy time of it down there), but despite causing regular septic backups into the bathtubs (my landlord has a weak stomach and really sucks at this kind of gnarly domestic stuff anyway and, dammit, is me) and generally ruining every outdoor activity we've planned this summer, I have to say that the preponderance of rainbows has almost made it all worthwhile.