where have you been?!

Yet another beautiful day... Warm but not hot. Gentle breeze. Sunshine. Birds are going nuts on my feeder!

 

 

 

Yet another breakfast outside, on the porch, with Millie. And with roses clipped from my garden.

It feels so calm, so heavenly that my book drops down to my lap and I fall asleep. It seems that this is the pattern for me: if I let myself drift into relaxation, I get sleepy. Millie doesn't mind. She snoozes underneath my chair, equally feeling that bliss of a summer morning.

My plan for the day requires careful timing. I need to pick up some flowers at the farmers market downtown, I need to drop Millie at doggie daycare, and I need to drop off the flowers and then pick up Snowdrop and bring her home. I then need to feed her lunch, then take her for a haircut and yes, she talks me into purple hair once again. (She asks the hair person to make it more permanent. Thankfully, they dont do "permanent purple." Personally, I like it best on her when it fades a little, but of course, preteen girls have little patience for a grandmother's views in the matter of personal appearance. And then I'm to bring her home and I'll be picking up Millie and then that's it -- I will have done everything I've been tasked with for this day.

Let's see how it all unfolds:

First, the downtown market. 

(Remember when I used to post our skyline views? For the next five years all we get is construction views.)

 

 

The Wednesday one is much much smaller than the Friday one and this is definitely a plus. You go, you shop, you leave. And here's the best part: since it takes place on a wide street with big city sidewalk spaces, they do not ban dogs. This is Millie's first trip downtown and certainly first trip to the market there!

We come right up to my favorite flower vendor from years back. Where have you been?? -- she asks. I thought maybe you moved! I've been thinking about you! 

There is no good response to her kind concern. I tell her it's the dog, that I haven't really been to the market at all (just once, briefly). but that I will try to come to the Wednesday markets going forward.

Especially since Millie seems intrigued by the whole concept of "downtown." The people (who seem to find her to be deliciously cute, so much more so than the suburban types in my neighborhood who are just into their own dogs), the flowers... Well, maybe not the flowers. Millie sees flowers as potential nibbling material, nothing more.

I pick up Snowdrop, pausing to chat with my daughter for a few minutes. And on the drive to Steffi's House, Snowdrop excitedly tells me about her first "real crush" (it's mutual, gaga!), and all about her camp experiences, and it feels like I've finally caught up with her this summer. 

Okay, lunch...

 

 

 

... haircut and color...

then her home, then Millie, and then back to Steffi's.

So, where have I been all these weeks? Doing just this: keeping to a schedule. Moving from one thing to the next. With long pauses, when I can afford them, on the porch. and with my flowers.

with so much love...