A little Bennett

Cousin Anna is here! My sister, Mary, is breathing a sign of relief that her 14 year old arrived all by herself from England. She is here for two weeks of art and craft camp at Snow Farm. She is a lovely and very fun girl to have around. Really, I should say young woman.

I didn't do much today except drive to Logan and back to get Anna. So here are move pictures of B.

Bennett and BFF Avy chasing bubbles.

Here's the Kitty Cake. It was yummy.

Love to you all and good night. Tomorrow swimming and picking up Cousin Carly, who is also going to Snow Farm. I can't wait to see what she and Anna make.  I love having artists in the family.

Over DId It

Yep, I over did it. I am beat to nothing except a little energy to post. I won't go into the litany of what I did today. Suffice it to say that I worked on the house, shopped at Home Depot, had a shower and a lie-down. Pat and I picked up B from school and went straight to the club. That is not entirely true, we stopped at the local "fine foods" (and I use that term only because it is on their sign) store and got Klondike Bars. Now that is fine food. We swam and ate and chatted ourselves into the evening, and now we are all pooped. I think Pat and Bennett are already asleep. I took Zeus for a short walk after dinner and left the two of them to work out the bedtime thing.

What a good day. I am trying to change my sleep habits because I figures out, with Nancy's help, that my sleep schedule was off. I kept thinking I wasn't getting enough sleep because I couldn't fall asleep until about midnight, then I would sleep in until 9 or so. If you do the math (which I hadn't) that's 9 hours of sleep. What was frustrating me was the lying in bed waiting to fall asleep for two hours. So, it seems that the reason I have been having so much trouble falling asleep is that I have been sleeping too much. Imagine that. So now I have to wake up earlier so I can go to sleep at the time I go to bed. That's a long way of saying, I am pooped, I think I will go to bed and read a little, thank God for the day and hopefully fall asleep as soon as the lights as out. Wish me luck.

Beautiful Evening

It's been a gorgeous hot day here. I did some things, didn't do other things, Pat came home and we went for a dip at the club. Had a snack, Bennett peed on the potty at the club (yay!), came home, ate dinner and B fell asleep in the big cozy chair while Pat and I were having dinner. She just left the table and the next thing I know we ask each other "where's Bennett?" Here she is asleep on the chair.

And to catch you up, here she is on her birthday at the party in the park:

And in her Belle gown that Aunt Mary sent, hiding behind her lollipop:

I will post photos of the bathroom when it is done - Pat is painting the trim right now.  Good night, my friends, isn't my daughter great?

whooped

Happy 4th everyone, I keep forgetting it's a holiday. We had a nice day. I have to say that I have been plagued with thoughts of dying. It could be because I am reading a book called the Hunger Games and there is a lot of death in it. And Bennett is in a phase where she likes to talk about death and what it means to die. Tonight I was able to get out of her that she thinks that everyone dies after a sword fight. She also told me that when I am an old lady, I have to fight very hard with my sword not to die. I told her I would try. What a luxury to think that I will be an old lady.

Perhaps she is watching too many Disney movies?

In between all the thoughts and conversations about death, we went to the Canoe Club to swim, came home and had a quiet afternoon. Pat got some work done on the house, I tried to tidy up. We have a master list of chores, I am bent on crossing off all the chores for the new bathroom tomorrow. I have to finish some trim, paint that trim and maybe five other things. I can't install the medicine chest because we have to fish out the wire for the lights - the drywall guy just drywalled over them so they are stuck in the wall. That means a call to the electrician, so I will not be able to do everything, but I can get close. It will feel really good. Yesterday I installed a storage cabinet and some towel racks - and put towels on them. It was great.

It's really the small things that make me feel great - as you can tell. I always thought that if I was given a big diagnosis, I would end up being one of those people who needed to see the world, but really all I want to do is curl up with my family, read good books, eat fine food made with love, and see my people. It really is the small things that add up to a joyful life.

An Elder Flower Day

I am drinking Elder Flower Champagne that Pat and I made, waiting for the right moment to dig into the Elder FLower and Lemon ice cream that I just made. It tastes just like floral lemon meringue pie. Yum city.

I had a nice day, a perfect Sunday in my opinion. I feel great. I woke up at a normal time and had a great night's sleep (finally), took B to the grocery store where we bought lots of organic things and My Lil Pony treats. I talked to the vet who got robbed yesterday - he is a strong old guy to be back the next day. Pat took B to the flea market this morning and I took the time to try to clean up this mess of a house. It's great that we are all home more, but it's messier. B then went to Aunt Liz and Aunt Julie's house and had a blast. I worked on the new bathroom and Pat worked on her awesome railing she is welding for the balcony.

It's been a lucky and good day. We had a great meal with L&J and now I am going to relax. Just relax and be. I am going to bask in my luckiness and be.

I Want a Cow

Huh? I am knee deep in this book by Darina Allen called Forgotten Skills of Cooking: the Time Honored Ways are Best. It has 700 recipes and chapters called things like Foraging, Beef, Poultry. Ah, but you are thinking every (non veg) cookbook has a chapter on beef, but I am talking keeping your own cow, how to butcher it, how to breed it, how to use the milk. I read somewhere that she teaches a 12-week class and it costs $13k. I thought that was nuts, until I got the book. I swear if I had $13 and didn't have to go to chemo every two weeks, I would be in Ireland learning to cook Snipe and Woodcocks, and I would be happily foraging in the hedgerows.

But I am here and it's pretty great to be here too. Bennett will not, repeat will not, go to bed. Pat is keeping an eye on her while Bennett putters around with her toys. We have not yet figured out a way to force her to bed. She is the most stubborn person I have ever met. My Dad would think this is fitting punishment for a daughter (me) whom he thought was one of the most stubborn people in the world. True.

We had a nice day today. Aunt Ruth came over to play so I went to the grocery store. While I was there some punk kid stole the money box from the ancient veteran who collects money by the front door. I was putting my groceries in the car when I saw him run by. I abandoned my groceries and sort of skip-walked after him until I saw him ditch the money under a car. Some guy (who could actually run) got the money together and then started to walk off with it, until I yelled at him that I could see him and the vet was on his way. Other people were dealing with the kid. I was more interested in getting the money back to the old man. The ironic thing is, I have told this old guy about 100 times that I will give money once Don't Ask Don't Tell is lifted- and here I was worried that he wasn't going to get his money. Who likes to see an old man get robbed? Not me. Stupid kid. I hope he finds some direction and maybe a little love in the process.

After that adventure, Pat, Bennett and I went to the Holyoke Canoe Club. That is our new pool and tennis club. Before you get too excited, I have to say that it is a Holyoke-style club, and by that I mean it's a tad run down. The pool is excellent and that is why we joined (I can't swim in natural bodies of water). There is no snack bar, but there is a toddler pool (which I have dubbed "the Swamp"), and lots of nice people. So we will go there, and I will sometimes look at all the white people and ask Pat "what year is this again?" but we will enjoy it because Bennett was thrilled with a capital T to be able to swim with me again. And I liked it too.

Post 289

Too pooped to post too much. Did some good things today, went to the farm, made dinner, tried really hard not to give in to the poopedness. Aunt Ruth came for dinner, Avy and Sandy came over too. A house full of activity is just the thing for feeling out of it. Grounds me to my humanity and the world.

Another night to get lots of sleep, and tomorrow is another day. Thank God.