A Satisfying Saturday

[ 2 pals, just posing for the camera]

I am amazed when I watch the dynamics of my household. I have a cat that sleeps atop the birdcage, a bird that plays with the cats, whistles for the dogs and generally sings his little heart out any time the Allman Brothers are on the stereo. I have dogs that protect their cats (all 5 of them) from other dogs and from anything that goes bump! in the night. I have cats that take care of each other and me. They will play with the dogs, comfort anyone who's blue, and generally make themselves available to young children and insist on sitting on those freaky people who do not like cats. 2 of the cats play games with the bird, swinging their paw or their tail through the bars to see if he will catch it. The picture up top is the youngest cat and the cockatiel.

Why can't people get along as well????

We had a great visit today, and good food and lots of wonderful conversation. I love my baby brother dearly, warts and all. He is a good man inside, a very good man. He's a loving husband and father, and the best brother a girl could ask for. When he was born, he was pretty much MY baby. I took care of him all the time, and taught him how to read, and we have always had a bond I don't have so much with my other siblings. He's one of, if not my favorite of the other 5 kids. His little girl is 6 and in kindergarten now. She told me proudly, "Auntie, I am in the 100 club!!" The only 2 kids in her class that can count to one hundred are "me and Cole". I adore this child, a late pregnancy that could not have been more of a blessing to her mother OR me. When she comes, I am a little girl again...we pick berries and catch firefllies in jars and tonight we played hide&seek into the dark. Then we sat on the back deck in the sparkly twinkle lights and told jokes. Kindergartener jokes are the best. She hugs so tight I can barely breathe. Tonight she said "You know what?" "What" says I. "I still have the quilt you made for me when I was a tiny baby, and it's hanging on my wall now in our new house, 'cause my new bed got too big for it to fit." I said, "well...it was a quilt for a crib, so I guess it would be too small now." She nodded wisely. Maybe, says she, you need to make me a new one. A BIG one. Big girls NEED big quilts, she says, so they can pull the covers over their heads.

I said "I think you just might be right." So...I guess my winter project has been decided. I was going to make some rag rugs with the loom hubby built for me, but maybe quilt first. Her birthday is January 11th, 5 days after mine. Maybe a birthday quilt is the ticket.

I have a gazillion trillion things to be grateful for, things like:

A five year old hand that holds mine when we skip around the yard.
A loving family.
A serenely sober Saturday.
Friends.
Fur babies.
Perspective.
A stocked pantry.
That I don't feel the need for armament.
That my husband took a five year old girl fishing, and when she caught 2 blue gill in a row, pronounced her "Princess of the Pond".
That my life is relatively balanced today, and full of gratitude.
That this Tuesday (14th) hubby will celebrate 28 years of sobriety!
That God's got a DEAL for drunks that don't drink.



Sweet dreams, bloglets everywhere!