Back, with references

On Sunday, as The Girls and I walked down the sidewalk to the Pilates studio after having been away for two weeks, we group hugged and I said "We who are about to die salute you." It was just as bad as I thought it would be, but this past week I haven't been sore at all, and I didn't fall over during the exercises. Not once. Small victories are still victories. And afterward, as ever, there was gelato. I love my girlfriends.

Then the week went all to heck (the place where people who don't believe in Gosh go). Vivian came back Sunday night with flea bites. Her extreme reaction took over my week, and I didn't end up back in the land of the normal until Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

The upside is that I did finish a couple books, and started a third. I even went through all my clothes and sorted out a big stack of donations to Goodwill, which Mary took on her way to work. The best part of purging is the lightness that I feel afterward. I'm looking at everything in terms of summer, a lens that has very little need of stacks of DVDs and already-read books, so much is going into storage soon, even if all I gain is a few months of streamlined day-to-day. My life is just about on an even keel at this point, but not for lack of other folks trying to bump my center.

Peace is not the absence of noise, trouble or hard work. It is to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

The garden has produced fresh tomatoes already to accompany the herbs, and everything tastes sunshiney fresh. And last night we had a lovely dinner. I had no idea what I was going to cook, and made it up on the spot while thinking through the produce, refrigerator and freezer items that needed to be used. Shrimp appetizer with freshly-made cocktail sauce; tossed salad of farm-fresh lettuce, scallions and tomatoes, with sourdough rolls on and butter; and a main course of herb-sauteed chicken breast with hot penne and peas on the side. It was all delicious and ready in thirty minutes or less.

The knit blanket for me has quickly eaten up the available yarn, and it's no where near blanket-sized. So I'm hoping to turn it into a bolster pillow cover, a neck and back support I have been wanting for a long time. Also on the needle are plans for many a dress for Vivian, who is outgrowing things at an alarming rate; I swear she is visibly taller each morning. (Sorry boys, the blankets aren't happening quite yet. But they will, honest.) And over the summer is not the time to make or buy the boys anything except swim trunks and tank tops and flip flops -- long practice has shown that whatever fits at the beginning of June is worn through and too small by the end of August. (NOAA has their hurricane season and I have mine.)