hat a week! A whirlwind of activity, in many ways. A week with sorrow, joy, love, sadness, anger, fatigue and gratefulness. (You know, a typical week!)This week a dear friend lost a son in a tragic accident. It is so hard to watch someone you care about have such a sudden and final loss thrust upon them, and I know the road ahead is going to be hard. I am so grateful for Sara, though, that she has so much love and support to uphold her in the coming months and years, and that she also knows where true comfort comes from.
Seth just got home from jazz band camp, full of stories, new friendships and a renewed fire for his trumpet. I'm so grateful he embraced this opportunity and enjoyed his week away.
I'm very very grateful that it looks like we are poised for a little family getaway time. That always fills me with joy.
I'm grateful for husband, who prioritizes our family time (see above). Who listens patiently as I catalog my aches and pains. And is kind about the strange noises I elicit from various yard/lawn equipment (I'm not very good with equipment, I may have mentioned one or two times. I break stuff.). And who shares with me his challenges and victories too. I am blessed.
This week I got inches away from finishing the various yard projects I've begun, and it feels very good to be in this place. I could keep going, right up until the car (filled with my men and our vacation stuff) pulls away from the driveway, but I will step back now for a minute or two... well, maybe after one more load of bark. No? I shouldn't? You're right. I am so grateful that my energy has been sustained through this project, and that the weather has been highly agreeable. Not over 100 degrees yet! Whoo-hoo. So grateful for that!
So far this summer we've harvested beets, radishes, lettuce, kale, summer squash, zucchini, a couple puny cucumbers, cabbages, onions and potatoes. Fresh produce is the best. I'm so grateful everything has come in so well after our funky spring and early summer... getting ready to plant the fall garden now. I haven't done that before, but am super excited to maximize our growing season!
I'm grateful this week for a backbone. Ha. You laugh and think that's a funny statement, if you know me at all, but it's true. I can sometimes/occasionally still fall prey to the "good girl" thing where I will acquiesce to things I don't agree with, don't want to do, don't think is right, to keep the peace. Not so much as I am getting older. And wiser. I do love that Maya Angelou quote: "We do the best we can with what we know, and when we know better, we do better." Amen, sister.
I'm grateful for friends, for the variety of people who make up my life. I am a lucky girl to have the friends I do, and I know it.
This week in the yard I was feeling rather scattered and didn't want to start a new book. So I jumped around a lot on my iPhone. One day it was Timothy Keller and Kristen Chenoweth from my iTunes library/podcasts. A couple of days it was comedy off Pandora. Another day I breezed through TED talks. I bounced around as my mood dictated, and was struck more than once by comedy that can go from hilariously funny to right across the line of decency, all in the same joke. Not a few times I had to skip through to another joke, it was that bad. And from people I generally like too... I think I've been ruined by the funny yet clean humor of Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan. I'm grateful for the variety of media available to keep me company while I work outside, always.
And because sharing from Pinterest has sort of become a part of my Friday night tradition, here are a few images from around the site that I've loved this week. I am grateful for the medium that is the internet, and Pinterest seems (to me) to embody all that is good about it. (I listened to a TED talk about internet criminals and viruses--that's definitely the dark side!)
calligraphy (I just love this lettering style.)
creativity (Great list to keep by my desk!)
settee (Anthropologie, where pretty meets overpriced...)
dress (Anthropologie, as well...)
quilt (Love these colors!)
mango gazpacho (So summery!)
cat (Kinda how I'm feeling right about now!)
I hope the weekend ahead brings you joy and peace, whatever your week held. Peace to you.
teak salad has been a favorite of mine for a long time...really, from the first bite I had of one such salad, years ago. A couple of local restaurants have usually served good summer steak salads... until one of them stopped serving lunch and the other had a major chef-changeover, thus new menu, thus no more steak salad...
think I've already mentioned how quickly this week has flown by? That's probably in part because we've had scheduled things to do and that always helps time click on by... but, it's been a good week in spite of the speed...
very day, problems exist. Most days, that information can sit there behind your left ear, just a quiet whisper. Other days, those problems/issues/concerns feel larger, and the whisper grows to a shout. Why is that? I can go along quite contentedly for some time (yes, say it, head in the sand--this week quite literally as we've put down almost two tons of sand with brick pavers), and then one thing or another will wake me up to the reality of issues that need solving, past actions and their corresponding regret, sadness for my own or others' pain (real and/or imagined)... you know, life.
o, with a post title like that, what we'll need, then, is a warm day, right?! That seems to be the plea throughout the Pacific Northwest right now: Where's summer?
had the joy of some serious girlfriend time this weekend. My friend Kate came over from Seattle and she and our friend Megan and I spent most of Saturday talking and talking and talking (when we weren't picnicking in the rain, but even then we were still talking). We covered a lot of ground, and it was most enjoyable. We ate--alot--and chatted about family, friendship, life, love, God, death, birth, technology (two new 
