sew sew crazy

 I’ve come to the realization that I need to be at least a little bit manic to sew. I’m almost the opposite of that today, but I gave it a big try anyway - I only got as far as unearthing bits of fabric and wheeling the machine from its lair. Once I started to measure I was flummoxed. Which fabric to use? Did I have enough? Should I pair 2 fabrics together? and so it went… I escaped to the sofa to think some more. 

The living room is now a mess but I’m almost paralysed, unable to commit to going forward, but also not wanting to go backwards. We’ll live with the chaos for a few days!

What am I wanting to make you may ask. Well, since I have a heavy measure of the ‘matching’ gene passed down from my mother, I want to make a few small outdoor cushions for the villetta. The mismatched patio chairs will be brought together with matching pillows. YIKES! I just read what I wrote. I know it’s crazy but I can’t help it 😨.

It wasn’t quite a frost last night but nearly. Luckily Carm had brought in a few of the more fragile plants but sadly his tomatoes were touched by the cold. It continues to be cool today, a big difference from last week when we were sweltering.

Awesome!

“deciding not to fire up the sewing machine”

“finding a few stashes of outdoor fabric”

“getting the truck ready for tomorrow’s outing”

waiting for godot

 My hands were blue when I came in from watering this morning and I had wished that I’d worn one of my cosy flannel shirts. The temps have been all over the place: yesterday we had a high of 28C and now it’s 11C (at 11:30am). The wind is blowing hard too so there’s likely some wind chill.

There’s a chipmunk frequenting the back deck that’s digging up my pots! We need Bella back there - she was crazy for chippies. She caught one once and I managed to grab her and pry her mouth open. The little creature sat there for a moment then dashed away unscathed except for some slobber. I think Bella was as surprised as it was!

Yesterday was one of those frustrating long days waiting for the reverse delivery person to pick up a parcel that we are returning… the gate was open all day so that meant careful outs with the dogs, plus we wanted to get a photo of the vehicle doing the pickup, so no music and hyper alert to someone coming down the laneway. They never showed up! And are apparently, maybe, coming today… Carm’s got no faith so has driven the parcel into the city for a personal return.

It turns out that we would have waited forever as they’d failed to tick a box somewhere.

My thoughts are turning towards the camper and what we’ll need to do to make it habitable… unfortunately this meant racing thoughts at 4:45 am this morning. Maybe it was random thoughts speeding through my brain that woke me up or maybe it was Spike needing to go outside. He’s getting up earlier and earlier every day - I think it’s ‘old man’ bladder. Nine hours isn’t too bad I guess. He can hold his pee for almost that long during the day though so I’m not sure what the problem is.

I thought he’d be young forever… instead he’s aging more quickly than I ever feared.

Awesome!

“blue sky could be seen in the ½ moon window in the bedroom”

“Carm coming home with a load of groceries from Costco”

“seeing the number of vaccines administered go up while the cases go down”

“Nissa got her vaccine!”

seeing people

The heat petered out two days ago leaving us with seasonal temperatures… brrrrr! From a sweaty 30+C to a shivering 8C overnight has made swimming (for me - Carm is undeterred) unappealing. We desperately need rain though, even the apple trees look limp.

Yesterday we had our first guest since the April lockdown - Pat joined us outside for a visit this afternoon. Finally! An in person visit! Even Spike was excited to see other people. Yesterday was the first time since this all began that I let the dogs out to interact. They were pretty excited, although I feared that Spike was going to walk off the edge of the deck.

Carm celebrated the new freedom by chasing a small white ball around a large grassy area. He says he had fun 😃 

I spent Sunday angry with Google… I had gone back to old posts in my blog to look something up and WTF! Photo after photo was missing… GONE… FOR… GOOD. There were a few issues that showed up on a search but nothing with a fix. Unfortunately it looks like most of 2016 and 2017 have gone missing. I should clarify that I do have onsite backups for many of the photographs.

So, with the fear that the issue will spread like some sort of plague, I found the site that I used to print the blog books and spent $$ to download pdfs for almost every year. For some reason I couldn’t get 2011 to download. These are my ‘photo’ albums and I don’t want to lose them! While I was doing this I accidently selected the whole blog, it failed on the number of photos - well over 4500 in 10 years. It would be crazy to see how many words I’ve spewed.

I’d gone back into the dark ages of my blog to read May’s posts thru the ages to see if a period of blah is normal for this time of year… it is so I won’t stress about it too much but will take special care to not fall into any bad habits. Carm’s out getting the car oil sprayed and I’ve got the music on (not quite) full blast! I’ve got to figure out some things to look forward to over the next few days.

My new morning routine has been to turn on the coffee and then wander around the deck checking the soil in the pots, then I haul out my springy spiral hose and give a good drink to everything that needs it. All of you that are gardeners understand the pleasure this brings.

I’m not a real gardener (I hate weeding) but pots on the deck I can do!

Awesome!

“catching a glimpse of the flowering ‘beauty bush’”

“seeing that I can upload pdfs into Google Play Books”

“Kirsten and Shawn get vaccinated!”

“laughing at 1980s hair bands, still laughing now!”

“biting into a hot cheesy egg bite”

restrictions reducing

 It’s been four hundred and thirty three (433) days since Covid restrictions started. It feels like forever ago and that life has always been day in and day out monotony. I suppose I’ve adapted well. BUT! Starting today we are allowed to gather outdoors with 3 other people! That’s a lot. We didn’t take advantage of the reduced restriction today though - with the mercury in the low 30s (celcius) it is just too hot to be sitting in the sun. Not to mention the risk of being carried away by mosquitos.

The pool has warmed up to a ‘comfortable’ 74F/24C. I even dug out  the noodles so I could float around for a few minutes. At these cool temps I don’t linger but it is wonderful to be swimming!

Adia had a mani/pedi yesterday - we’ve stopped giving her the anti-anxiety tablets and she’s doing great. She’s standing still and cooperating well. Oh, and she had her first sponge bath since she got here. Her first bath was the day we got her and that was a rodeo. We haven’t revisited the interaction with water. Yesterday she had one small freak out but stood still for the rest. I didn’t use the hose, we’ll work up to that.

I originally had these awesomes in my list, but I rambled on so moved them up into their own paragraphs… I have nothing to say but somehow have babbled on!

On my really tired day the bed called to me especially strongly and I was too tired to resist. I stretched out on the cool linen sheets and felt myself sinking into my divot. The neighboring birds got together to sing me a lullaby and as I started to drift off a fly started bumping against the screen with a low buzz - its movements were slow and sultry bringing to mind a hot summer day. I felt transported somewhere familiar from long in the past. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where (were there many times?), maybe a screen porch, or my great-grandparents sofa, or Aunty Rena’s farm, or in a tent - no matter where it was it must have been a good experience as I felt cradled by the sound.

A video of Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye singing ‘When the Saints Go Marching In” was high on my awesome list today. DK’s whole demeanor was of joy and love - I couldn’t help but smile and feel my spirits lift. I’ve always liked DK but didn’t know much about him: he’s a conductor and has conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra among others, he is licenced to fly jets, he’s done tons of philanthropic work. We know he can dance and sing. I’ve saved the link to the video so I can revisit if I’m feeling a bit down. https://youtu.be/nCuLoVI1RP0 

Awesome!

“the heavily perfumed air when I step out the front door”

“hearing that my niece got her first vaccine”

“finding ½ an eggshell on the driveway - the blue was miraculous”

“licking the spatula from the mushroom stuffing”

“crying about something that happened 44 years ago but then remembering how long ago it was and that it's merely a distant memory and holds no space in my head.”

“singing ‘I’m on the Top of the World’ by the Carpenters”

soil

 Despite the awesome weather (an early taste of summer), I’ve been dragging myself around and my head is full of cotton wool. The stodge is hampering my writing but is not totally obliterating the joy.

Yesterday morning I was up early (two hours early!), too excited to sleep… it was planting day! I didn’t even finish my coffee before heading out onto the deck to get busy. I’ll just seque here to mention our friends Trudie and Leo who take 3 (yes three) WHOLE days to plant! My measly garden doesn’t compare but I’m excited nonetheless. The barrels got cherry tomatoes, herbs, and marigolds. I packed some of the excess herbs into pots and distributed the Italian parsley everywhere (one flat had probably 10 plants!). The petunias were put into the pots with the cedars (and parsley too). I transplanted several spider plant babies and hung the mothers on the pergola. I think I need a hanging flower pot as well.

After the hot work we jumped into the refreshing waters of the pool… I think it got up to 22C by the end of the day but in the morning it was hovering around 20C. Cold! But so lovely :-)

And we swam again. And Carm swam again late in the day.

It’s rare that I have an afternoon nap but yesterday I felt sick I was so tired… after a visit with Olaf & Stephanie I went to bed early. You’d think with all that extra sleep my brain would be clear and laser focused… I’m not so lucky.

But it’s another beautiful day. The plants are watered and we’ve been for a swim, all before 11am. Life really couldn’t be much better.

Yesterday, as if on cue, the apple trees dropped their petals. Poof. Gone. But the lilacs have taken their place. Stepping out the front door is the heady scent of lilac and honeysuckle. Oh, heaven.

Adia had her annual check-up this afternoon - it’s a drop off sort of affair where she is collected from the car and then the vet calls to discuss. She got a glowing report! I’ll count that as an awesome as the vet said over and over again what great condition she is in. And she was a cooperative patient. 

Meanwhile, back home, Spike had an accident on the carpet :-( I thought he had gone before we left but didn’t keep my eye on him so I take full blame. The car was parked weirdly in the laneway too which might have confused him.

While in the car we got to hear a summary of the changes to the restrictions. Carm thinks it’s awesome that he’ll be able to golf, while I had a thrill of excitement with the news that outdoor gatherings with up to 5 people are allowed!

Awesome!

“hummingbirds feeding on the lilac that I can see from my indent on the sofa, their tiny bodies darting among the flowers.”

“Baltimore orioles! A male and a female. She was in the same lilac. And again in the Manitoba maple right off the deck”

“a fox in the backyard”

“tucking plants into the soil”

“the metallic blue bodies of the swallows glimpsed as they rest for a short moment”

“icy cold water on my hot skin”

paradise found

 The sun blazed down again today. With a nod to summer the air was soft and warm, not even a hint of winter chill.

Just finished watching a 1978 movie with Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees… it was pretty average except for the great soundtrack. Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band was the main track with guest appearances by Earth Wind & Fire as well as Aerosmith and Steve Martin.

I was down by the barn today enjoying the forest of flowering hawthorns growing in the creek paddock.

Awesome!

“swallows doing aerial maneuvers”

“Grace reminding me that she’s hungry”

polar plunge

 We set a record today! First swim of the year on May 17! It was cold (bloody cold at 20C) but we got in and did a lap for posterity. With the trend for warmer weather it won’t be long until a dip in the pool will feel normal and not like some awesome feat!

It’s fitting that this feat was done on Norway’s Constitution Day as surely my Viking blood made this skinny dip possible. And it proves that Carm must have a touch of the Nordic in him too!

Today might be the peak day for all the spring flowers. The tulips are ratty but still bright, the apple trees will start losing any day now, the hawthorne are fully flowered and I’m already seeing white petals on the ground, the lilac trees are a few days away from their peak, and down in the hollow, the chocolate trees are just past prime. The ground will soon be littered with tatters from the spring celebration bouquets that Nature presented us with.

At the bottom of a little hill in front of the house is one of our brush piles, but this isn’t any old pile, it does double duty as the poop pile - it’s easy to pick a poop up with the shovel and toss it in. There’s a bit of a smell… but walk back up to the house and at a certain point the fragrance of flowers takes over. Against the house I see the trees that I yammer on about, the tulips and maybe a dog or two. A feeling of home and contentment washes over me.

I had a little reminisce of a trip to California that I took with my parents when I was in grade 12. We spent a day at Disneyland and then drove down the coast to Mexico. I don’t remember much but I can recall how much fun it was to bring little kids to Disney. Olaf didn’t remember much from that visit and what he did recall might have been because I’ve told him the story so many times. Memory is funny that way.

Awesome!

“vaccines open for 18+ in Ontario tomorrow - so excited that the nieces will get getting the freedom jab”

“standing with my face shoved into a stand of flowering lilac - so many awesome things about that! Hundreds of tiny perfectly formed blossoms, the fragrance, the beauty of the tree itself”

it's electrifying

 This morning as I flung open the bedroom to reveal another sunny day a wash of joy brightened my day. As I glanced at the apple tree I started thinking how much my Mom would enjoy the sight - they are totally covered with flowers - I would have liked to invite them out this afternoon… but no… all the stupid people who can’t follow simple distancing and gathering rules have caused our premier to forbid all gatherings, even small ones outside. I was mad!

But it wasn’t a realistic wish anyway… I took a chair out to sit for a bit under the apple trees and was swarmed by mosquitos. Swarmed. I snapped a few photos then beat it inside.

I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday… math has never been my strong point, in fact I have a rather large mental block with numbers causing my brain to freeze which renders me unable to do the simplest of problems. Well… facebook had a meme questioning how your brain works when doing a simple arithmetic problem. I looked blankly for several seconds and then suddenly found a trick! I did it and no fingers were involved! Awesome!

Awesome!

“math!”

“the apple tree at the end closest to the house is totally white with blooms”

“getting Spike and Adia to pose for a photo”

“the sound of the generator making us electricity during today’s planned power outage”

“my niece’s bright sunny faces on zoom”

“new leaves unfurling on the majestic palms”

“the crinkle at the corner of Carm’s eye when I make him laugh”

laden with blossoms

 With a seat in the orchestra section I relaxed in the swing enjoying a performance by countless feathered musicians. With a stage lit by an early morning sun their song mirrored my feelings of Joy.

from my bedroom window

Afflicted with a serious case of man-blindness I searched for the shovel that was actually right by my feet… then my phone disappeared… then the fabric for the bottom of the barrels. I eventually found everything but wondered if I was addled from the sun or just distracted by it. But I was outside! In shorts!

The barrels are almost prepared, they just need more soil. The unplanted cherry tomato seedlings are soaking up the sun nearby. A few more days and we'll plant.

Mosquito.

sitting under the apple blossoms this morning

In the late afternoon I brought my little speaker outside to the deck and jived to some AC/DC… I was in the mood for some heavy metal! The joy of life with no close neighbors ❤️

Spike is doing well with only an occasional limp. He still wants help up and down the stairs and on/off the bed. I think I’m getting a bit stronger but gosh he’s heavy! His spirits are up and he spends a few minutes every day running around and he still has an appetite, in fact he jumps around so much when I’m feeding him that I’m sure he’s going to hurt himself again...

Awesome!

“the whole day"

but more specifically

“ it’s going to be a good year for apples as the trees are laden with blossoms - all open now!”

“if I stand in the middle of the laneway I can see 8 different types of flowers, not counting the cheerful dandylion”

“icy cold drink on the swing”

What a strange thing!

to be alive

beneath cherry blossoms.”

― Kobayashi Issa

sprinkle it with dew

 Blue sky greeted my bleary eyes as I lifted Spike down from the bed… oh, it was cold… but my gosh the morning was spectacular. I ambled up and down the laneway waiting for Spike to do his thing, almost (not really), thinking that I’d not go back to bed, instead I’d bring a chair with my coffee to a spot under the blossom laden boughs. It wasn’t even 7am though so thoughts of burrowing myself in a heap of quilts were too strong.

Who can take a sunrise

Sprinkle it with dew

Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two?

~ the Candy Man

We headed out late in the morning, me with gardening gloves, Carm with muscles to do heavy work. Except for the barrels, all the empty planters have had the soil dug up and refreshed and the little cedars have been planted. The majesty palms have been potted into a more permanent home. Their pots are roomy enough for some thyme and oregano around the edge. I’m getting excited to get the plants out and growing! 

We had an over the gate chat with CW, a woman that I knew from my riding days. It was lovely to see her after all these years and strangely - I dreamt about her last night or the night before.

Adia didn’t stop smiling as she went about her day in the fresh air. She was pretty much always at my side although she did do some squirrel hunting at the other side of the trailer. She always came running when I called - I was smart enough to put a few treats in my pocket to reinforce all this great behaviour. She’s evolved into a pretty darn good dog.

We made a terrible discovery today. Shawarma has re-entered our universe at the pizza place nearby. Of course we had to test it out and wowzers - it was a ginormous plate of food. Guess what we are having for supper tomorrow night.  Next time we’ll order 1 and share.

Awesome!

“the heat of the sun on my shoulders”

“when we built the house my vision was to have a row of apple trees along the laneway… we did plant those trees and now a stroll down the lane under the apple blossoms is a dream come true”

“Adia”

“seeing a friend that I hadn’t seen for 20 years”

“garlic sauce!”

“the sudden realization that today felt like summer”

at the nursery

 I often write my post in the afternoon or maybe right after supper but today we were too busy in the afternoon shopping for plants and then after supper we had a virtual meetup with O… so… I’ll kludge a few words together now.

At noon we headed cross-country towards Berwick. We saw some farmers planting but most fields look like they’ve already been tended. It’s dry though, so very dry. We’ll need some rain in the next week or two to help the corn and soy germinate.

Funny that I say we need rain as we’ve been on the cusp of it for two weeks, alas, only the odd raindrop has hit the ground since March. It’s been a weird spring with early hot weather followed by weeks of overcast.

So, back to the nursery. It was right where we remembered it. It’s a smaller operation and had most of what we were looking for - except basil, a few herbs, thankfully there were no plants that made me second guess what we bought yesterday. 

Next nursery in the village had the rest of the herbs we wanted. The covered area filled with begonia hanging plants has emblazend itself in my memory - I know where I’d put the pink one!

Once we got home we brought the dogs out (Adia ran zoomies around us) and puttered around outside. Well, I puttered, Carm did actual work, cutting a bit of grass and digging a new tomato bed. Adia ran hither and thither.

Awesome!

I’m drawing blanks tonight! I know there were lots of things that brought joy, but gosh, I can’t remember them!

“tree branches silhouetted against a brilliant blue sky is one sight that never fails to bring pleasure”

“Adia doing her deek the lion crazy run”

“tulips in full bloom”

golden glow of the early morning sun

 I finally put my phone down near midnight last night and snuggled into the covers to go to sleep. Why so late? Too many hilarious videos… some from SNL (who can forget Martin Short’s synchronized swimming), a funny one of cowboys dancing (so weird), one about a Jellicle cat at the animal shelter. Oh there were more… I couldn’t stop laughing…

I was still laughing this morning at 7am when Spike needed to go outside and with the sun shining a golden hue my smile widened. That didn’t stop me from going back to bed though!

On ‘second wake up’ the sky was grey… my smile wavered…

Despite the showery day (with a tiny bit of hail!), Carm got the board installed and the barrels moved into place. It’s awesome and I’m excited to have a good sized herb garden just outside the kitchen door. We’ll tuck in a few cherry tomatoes with the herbs. Bolstered with our success we ventured into the village to look for plants. We found a few taller plants for the deck but no coleus or petunias. We’ll look at Costco. Or if we can find it, a little nursery somewhere in the countryside.

Ontario is stopping AstraZeneca… it remains to be seen how this will affect us. The talk on the airwaves is that Ford will be extending our stay-at-home order into June… (this does not make it onto my awesome list).

Awesome!

“the golden glow of the early morning sun”

“the staff lady at the Rona was pleasant and helpful”

“finding cheap black planters for the new palms”

“listening to a bit of Marvin Gaye… so smooth… so sweet… so tragic”

we aren't crazy yet

 I could include some of these things in my awesome list but I feel that Carm deserves more accolades for his work on the barrels. He wrestled with the drill to get some screws into the iron rings and then carefully pressure washed them. They turned out great.

Wood is ordered to finish the gap in the deck so the boozy planters will be supported. Maybe our order will be ready today - there are showers on the horizon though.

By 2pm he was home with the gilded hunk of wood… $20.70+tax  for one measly 8 foot 2x6 pressure treated board. WTF!!!! We knew it was bad and put off the redo of the back deck for another year, but holey hockey socks! 

The rest of the patio furniture is deployed but sadly the swing is unswung as the temperature dropped once it was deployed. There is a green haze on the fabric of the ancient contraption but it is too weak to be washed. We've been keeping our eyes open for a new one but haven't seen anything as good as what we have…

Carm thinks there’s a pair of ducks nesting in the spruces by the road but we’ve only heard them and not laid eyes on them.

Awesome!

I missed a few days so my list is long

“realizing that it’s day 421 of the pandemic and we aren't crazy yet!”

“the flowers on the apple trees are just starting to open"

“sticking my nose in a blossom to experience the sweet fragrance"

"long zooms with lots of laughter"

"bacon wrapped cheese stuffed hotdogs"

“hearing a snipped of ‘Old Wild Men’ by 10cc on a car commercial”

“my bluetooth earphones that let me listen to music in a cone of silence”

“not seeing Trump’s face on TV every night is beyond awesome”

reflecting

 The topics on my blog are a reflection of what’s going on in my life and when I can’t think of one thing to say it shows that I’m on autopilot, not thinking about anything, just going through the motions. But really, what else can be done these days? I started to list the things we haven’t done but realized that wouldn’t get me to where I want to be.

Today I let my thoughts plunge into the abyss of what we are missing out on due to covid. It makes no sense to think about it as nothing can be done and it just leaves me unhappy. I’ve been trying to look at the positive things in my days - not as they apply to covid - but in general. 

Being mindful of daily life doesn’t leave room for rumination and if I can find joy in the simple things life seems so much better.

Covid didn’t leave me with any other choice than to find other things to focus on… I know how low I have gotten in the past and I never want to have my finger on the literal trigger again.

All the things that I’ve learned about managing my illness totally came to bear this past year, so in some ways I feel blessed that I’ve had to do so much ‘work’ over the past 17 (wtf) years.

So you see, I’ve been doing not much but still managed to blurp out a blog post. Oh yes, writing my blog has been one of the things that have helped so much. Having a place to share thoughts is priceless.

Awesome!

So many things today even though I felt a little down

“filling a bag with m&m’s using a huge scoop”

“I forgot to give the Bulk Barn guy my coupon so I went back into the store with it to see if anything could be done - he gave me $5 cash!!!!”

“finding an empty glass jar that perfectly fit the spice that I bought, and better still it fit into my spice bin”

“listening to ‘Old King’ by Neil Young and remembering our past dogs”

“getting a text to arrange a meet up”

a barrel of laughs

 The sun was out today but unfortunately I spent the better part of the day in bed recovering from the freak out my body did over missing last night’s meds. I don’t forget often and it’s a darn good thing as I suffer a physical hit that takes almost a whole day to get over.

I did drag myself into the truck to pick up some ½ barrels to plant herbs in. Oh, Carm had to pull over as I thought I was going to puke (I didn’t), but otherwise it was nice to get out for a bit. We left Adia loose in the house while we were gone and nothing was wrecked… fingers crossed that this will continue.

Awesome!

“realizing that it could have been our apple trees treating me with fragrance yesterday”

“pink apple tree buds can be seen from my bedroom window”

“doing a walk-about around the house after supper while the sun was still shining. The trees that we planted by Bella and Kabira’s graves are starting to leaf”

we'll see if the vomiting continues

 I’m not sure why I agreed to the 9am appointment but there it was on the calendar… 9am for Adia’s nails. Even with the alarm clock set I didn’t get a wink of sleep - not sure why but maybe the fear of not getting up in time was in the back of my head. Gosh, I’m sleepy today…

I need to make a correction to a previous post… I said that we visited with Kirsten, and we did, but online. I guess virtual visits have normalized so I don’t even think to specify! What other kinds of visits are there? 

Our big outing today was a trip to pick up some dog food. I stayed in the car while Carm went into the feed store to pay and carry out the bags. So exciting. We did have some happiness at the end of our day with an online visit with Kirsten, Shawn and the girls. It was a great exchange of ideas.

Awesome!

“as I was walking down the laneway to open the gate I could smell the heavenly scent of flowers. I looked around and the closest were way across the street - the wind sent me a gift.”

“Adia was such a good girl while getting her mani/pedi this morning!”

“in the dim morning the lights bathed the sofa in a little circle of warmth”

"and finally this… I've laughed and laughed all day thinking that surely Spike would agree!"

joy in everything

 Carm cut grass for a second day while I languished on the sofa, my stomach a little iffy. I did extract myself from the puffy pillows to make a bunch of meatballs, saute little riblets, and finally to pour some ground tomatoes over the whole lot. We are both looking forward to supper.

The sun didn’t make an appearance today but it didn’t rain either. With the wind a bit cool it was a good day for staying inside and cooking.

Later: the meatballs were good but I forgot to salt the sauce so it was incredibly bland :-(

Today I had a harder time noticing the awesome - it takes time to build a habit - but did find some joy. My legs are a little tired from kicking up my heels to old music as I cooked.

“a big pot of tomato sauce with 2 dozen hand made meatballs simmering in the instant pot”

“the tulips are getting ready to open!”

“the sound of Spike thundering up and down the hall as he races around”

“the B52s”