A Springtime Update

It's been so wonderful to slowly reintroduce "seeing friends" to the activity roster. As an introverted homebody, I didn't expect to find so much excitement in social outings. See what a global pandemic can do for your outlook? Brett and I have been hanging out with our non-related people again and it's so refreshing. Even my folks got in on the action, inviting The Crew over for Sunday Dinner and a handful of rowdy rounds of Pig.  

Here's a picture of Mom blending into the couch.

Just before I caught the Covid, I'd gotten The Spite Garden set up for hopeful success. I moved it over near the garage in an effort for it to gather an extra hour of sun each day. I love our shady backyard, but the veggies don't. This year I've planted a couple varieties of tomatoes, onion, cucumber, cantaloupe, peppers, basil, cilantro, and mint. I had plans to plant even more but then I got sick and couldn't wield a shovel. In the nick of time, I also planted six hydrangea bushes, four clematis plants, some hosta, some spider plants, AND finally (after 5 years) found a place for the succulents that they haven't turned on yet. That was all a month ago and being sickly made me loose my momentum. I've decided I'm done planting things for now - tending to it all has kept me busy enough. 

Here's a picture of the backs of our heads at Hayden and Jenny's wedding. I have no real cause for posting it here but I think our collective hair looks great.

This past weekend, Brett and I stole Papa Clint's boat from our own yard and took the pups on an afternoon cruise. Gracie Girl knows the ways of boat life but Pip has never cruised the open waters before. She was all spastic and slippery and then caught a case of on-board zoomies that resulted in a couple of pup-overboard rescue missions. 

They sacked out when we got home.

Here's a picture of Olivia with her little chucky ankles crossed like a sassy golf cart princess.

About that whole "I wrote a book" thing; I sent it off to a friend to read and I brushed my hands cleans of it. I decided to put it down for awhile - get some distance from it as they say - so I could see it with fresh eyes later. I have the whole thing memorized like a trendy pop song that isn't even that great. When you know the next sentence and it's grammatical notions, you don't really even read the story anymore. You just glaze your eyes over it the way you look at your own face in the mirror each day. You knows what's there, no need to study it. Finally my friend sent back her notes and I read my stories again for the first time. Never mind my friend's helpful suggestions, I hate the stories. I read them with fresh eyes and became humiliated that I claimed a writers status and that I sent it to an intellectual friend to read. I'm horrified that I nearly email queries to professional readers. It's awful. 

So I take it back. I haven't written a book. But don't worry yet. I've got some plans.