My Birthday Pajamas

It was my birthday yesterday. I keep telling everyone I'm celebrating my 38th birthday and laugh. I don't know why I'm having a hard time acknowledging 39. I guess it's just too close to 40. Why do we have to focus so much on numbers? I feel so much better about myself that I did 4 years ago! My gift from Mike was a pair of pajamas. REALLY NICE pajamas. Yes, the expensive kind. I think everyone should have at least one pair. It makes you feel special when the day is over. Who cares that there is dust on your china cabinet, or toys scattered everywhere when you have your special pj's on. It's really hard to notice the piles of laundry waiting to be folded when they are on. Yes, they are that nice. Better than the old t-shirt that is like a worn friend. That's saved for the dead of winter when you want comfort. It's not hard to understand why flannel was created. Winter. Cozy. Blankets. Nope, this is another season. Summer. Hot. Sultry. A bra is almost too hot for these mid July heatwave nights. I put on my special pair of pajamas last night and sat outside on the patio in the faint breeze and thought.... well, I guess 39 isn't so bad after all.

Wildflowers

Take time to stop and smell the flowers. I've heard it so many times. Sometimes it seems like such a cliche when you have young kids and an active life. But then I think... why would you spend all this time growing plants from little seeds in the middle of the winter. Why would you spend all this time nurturing those seedlings, carefully planting them after they have hardened-off, weeding around them if you don't actually pick them and enjoy them? Well, a recent dinner with friends made me stop cleaning the house, grab a vase and a pair of cutters and head out into the garden. I was instantly relaxed by the calm outside (it was near dusk) and the beauty of my hard work. I try to think of Erma Bombeck who would say something along the lines of don't let dust keep you from having friends over. And she is right. All that time cleaning the house, they breezed through, we had pizza on the back patio, and then let the kids swim. And the "dessert" was cookies and brownies packed in a backpack and brought to an outdoor concert. A perfect July evening - all the way down to the beautiful vase of wildflowers.

The dog and the buck

An almost nightly occurance has been noted at my house. My dog Diesel is a beautiful, long, powerful Rottweiler, Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. He is 90 pounds of long, lean muscle. He can leap walls that are over 7 feet tall effortlessly. When he runs with me, he trots along happy to be free of his yard and out smelling the good stuff. I am in awe of his raw power and form. The last few nights just at dusk, Diesel has been begging to go outside. Thanks to the miracle of electric fencing, I open the door and let him out. To my amazement, he's been settling down on the pile of dirt near our half-completed stone wall, watching. Watching the neighbor's lawn through the split rail fence. Waiting. And just at dusk, along comes a 4 or 5 point buck. He knows Diesel is there. It's a game between them. The buck pretends nothing is amiss and forages under the crab apple tree where bunnies gathered earlier. Diesel, who tires quickly of this game, lets out a deep, rumbling bark to say "I'm here!" I marvel at the similarities in their hind quarters. They check eachother and inevitably, Diesel barks again. I think to say I want to join you, but I'm going to get beeped at and shocked if I do. Diesel now barks until the buck lets out a grunting noise and bounds away, effortlesly leaping the bushes and headed into the fields. I would love to see them run together, but know it would have a less-than story book ending. So, I enjoy these nightly meetings and think, yes, this is summer.

July 4th - cousin's week

The much anticipated and planned week at the Jersey shore with the cousins from Denver (and Grandma and Grandpa!). We found a campground in North Cape May that also rented out cabins, and Mike found extra bikes for the boys (because while you can fly out bike helmets, it's really hard to fly out your bikes). It was wonderful to see the kids eat breakfast at the picnic table, hop on their bikes and tour the campground! It brought back so many memories of camping when I was young. It was also a relief to have them be old enough to be able to do that! Mike would take them in the morning to go frogging at the pond, I was on duty in the afternoon at the pool. They LOVED the ocean, if it wasn't so cold I think they would still be in there! Oh, and the boardwalk. What fun to be a kid out late at night in the salt air, riding all the rides they could want, eating pizza, french fries with vinegar and cotton candy. We hopped the tram car back home at 10:15, just missing the Friday night fireworks at 10:30. Had we thought a bit more, we could have watched them from the parking lot, but the kids were just done and ready for their beds. The weather couldn't have been better, and it makes me want to go back again!