Random Thoughts for a Friday Morning

1. The picture is from Wednesday morning. In the morning we all play very nicely together and very nicely separately. I love mornings together.

2. Zeke is a very sweet dog. He does not seem to mind being a part of all the make-believe that goes on around here.

3. For living in the city, there is certainly a large amount of wildlife around here. Last night when I took Zeke out before bed, it smelled so strongly of skunk that I had to breathe through my shirt. Suddenly, Zeke startled at something on the side of the garage and took off at full speed with me trying to keep up behind him. Oh, how I DO want a fenced in yard! What I love about Zeke is that he took off AWAY from whatever it was, not TOWARDS it.

4. This morning I had my coffee on the breeze way with a dog on my lap. Sooooo nice. A squirrel must have been informed that a dog now lives here and came to check it out for himself. He stood on the very very edge of the eaves and stretched until he could see us through the window. Then he made weird sounds which sounded very much like "Oooo. This is not good. No. No. This is not good."

5. Youngest Son is a high school soccer coach. His team is doing fantastic this season. I never paid too much attention to coaches before. Now I am beginning to realize what a lot of work it is. Friday he and his team spent the day in Traverse City playing in the cold rain. I also never paid much attention to any rules besides the ones that actually occurred DURING play. It's shocking how many dos and don'ts and picky little rules one must comply with. And the coach must know them all. And the pickiest of rules may change from year to year. I know this because I was listening to the training video in the background. Someone with even just a wee bit of excitement in their voice should be hired to make the training videos. Or it should be made into an opera and sung. ANYTHING to liven it up.

6. Today I plan to make stuff. First I have to get rid of 25 more things. Then I will need to bring order to my basement studio. Presently it looks like a mess. But, since EVERYTHING now has a place, all I have to do is put it there. And it's not so lonely being down there when I have a little helper who needs occasional pats on the head.

7. Yesterday I went with my up-north sister to visit my down-south sister. They both live 45 minutes away from me, but in opposite directions. At one point on the drive down, we had to pull off the road due to the torrential rains. Besides that we had a delightful time. Lunch was had at Theo and Stacey's, a lovely Greek restaurant. We even had the appetiser for which one yells "Oompah!" (yes. yes i did.)

8. The grand kids are growing so quickly. Of course, I KNEW this is how it would be. But still, it's startling to watch it unfold right in front of you. Wednesday I was consoling a distraught Famke (i still don't know what was causing her distress, but she did get over it) when Kado awoke from a three hour nap (three hours. oh, how i adore that child!). I asked Jonge if he could go in and talk to him until I had Famke settled down. As I left Famke's room, Kado came walking down the hall towards me. Noticing my surprise Jonge announced, "I can get him out of his crib now!" OH. GOODY.

9. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE this time of year? Oh, I have. I know there are places where the weather is summer-like all the time, but is there a place were it is fall-like all the time? I want to go there. I cannot imagine that I would ever get sick of it. And fall smells so wonderful. And since I'm dreaming here, I'd so much enjoy to live across the street from a soy bean field. Such amazing color, those amber waves of grain...

10. Our lunch entertainment this summer has been watching a spider that lives between one of the kitchen windows and the storm window right at the kitchen table. Since it is cool enough to actually OPEN the window now, I thought I'd better clean it out. So, I meticulously vacuumed out what looked to be dozens upon dozens of stored-up spider food. But, I didn't actually get the spider. Later in the evening when I thought about opening the window I witnessed the spider fighting with a moth at least ten times it's size. It's fun to have a 'nature window' but not always appetising to have it in ones kitchen.

11. You know how photo enhancement programs allow you to do things like remove red-eye or adjust colors and such? Does anyone know if there exists a program that would let me remove dirt, stains, and small objects from the carpet in my pictures? Seriously. Sometimes I just cannot crop it all out. (vacuum, you say? such a silly thought.) Instead of red-eye-remover it could be called 'black-spot-remover'. If you've not heard of one, I may need to get on that right away.

12. I've been reading an anthology of short stories lately. Then, in the morning I play a little game with myself. I like to call it, 'Can Judy remember what she read last night?' Sadly, I usually cannot. If I can't at all, I'll open up to the story and see if a name will jar my thoughts. Sometimes it takes the reading of an entire paragraph before I can recall the plot. By then I can remember it all. I'm thinking this means either one of two things. I either need to read something a bit more interesting, or I need to get more sleep. This month I'm working on getting more sleep.

And because it's Friday, I'm off to drop two ice cubes into my orchid planter! (and people think i don't have much going on...)