Post-Weekend, New Week

Lovely gift!

I'm surprised it's been a week since I've written here.

• Our granddaughter that was staying with us has moved into her new apartment - one that'll be theirs when she marries in a couple weeks. She gave me this cute towel that she crocheted - how cute it looks in my kitchen.

• The eclipse came.  And we were pretty much fascinated with it.  Our next door neighbor was kind enough to give us a pair of viewing glasses. The Husband also made a viewing box.  And while where we live wasn't in the "total" eclipse viewing area, we were in the 90% and it was still pretty fun to see.

• I've been for walks in the morning and then often again in the later evening when it has begun to cool off so The Husband can get in his steps.  We've run errands, had follow-up doctor visits, done a bit of yard work, been to a wedding reception, and spent some hard-earned cash at Costco.

• Received a text the other evening:  our next door neighbors have sold their house. Closing early September.  That has me pretty sad.  And of course it starts another round of our same old, same old conversation about what we should do, where we should go.

• We've been looking for a vacation place, feel like we need a bit of a getaway this fall. We haven't really been anywhere just for fun for a year.  Have explored different areas, almost made reservations at our favorite beach house.  Can't decide.  Even the little vacation we'd been working on for January fell through.  Maybe we're just supposed to stay home, maybe we're not supposed to go anywhere! It's weird.

• And apparently around 2:30 or so this morning, our friend across the street had his company truck stolen from his driveway.  Yes, it was unlocked, and yes, the keys were in it. And yes, we were surprised by that. The truck was recovered really quickly but the personal (important) papers and credit cards inside were not. I don't envy him the clean-up from this little episode.

• The hummingbirds are making The Husband happy-crazy.  Most of the time there's at least 5-10 little birdies humming around.  He's filling the feeders at least a couple times a day - so much so that when I stopped in at Home Depot for a wasp/hornet/yellow-jacket trap I also had instructions to pick up another feeder.  (And tomorrow will find me at the grocery getting more sugar!)

• And what is it with me?  Why do complete strangers always want to chat me up?  I'm standing there trying to figure out which wasp trap to get and this couple insisted on comparing stories about which ones work best and the location they work best and don't I know, when you have hummingbird feeders like they do, a trap is a complete necessity.  And on and on.  I'd have been just fine conversing with myself inside my head, like I usually do.

So today starts a new work week.  The Husband will work at work. I'll work at home (keeping things running as smoothly as I can) and hopefully we'll find a teensy bit of fun along the way.  I'm so grateful for the beauties of this world - including this 20-30 foot stretch of sunflowers, their sweet blossoms make me smile.  I'm grateful for flashlights that let me see where I'm going now that I'm leaving for my walks before the sun comes up. I'm grateful for a piano to play, and for a husband who seems to love when I do. I'm grateful that August is on the wane - September is always a much better month.  I'm grateful for young friends that run up and give me a big hug when they see me - it totally made it worth the discomfort of having to attend a social event.