Saturday, March 19, 2011

Patiently Waiting....

Mac has an uncanny ability to know when I am talking to my husband or one of the kids on the phone. He also knows when they are soon to be home.  Case in point.... son has been gone for a few days working at a youth retreat out of town. He calls to say he is back in town and on his way to the house.  At some point in my conversation with him, Mac realizes it is Luke and he drops his ball and stops playing and heads for his perch on the couch. Our den door opens onto a covered patio which connects to our garage. That perch provides a clear view to the door and anyone coming in.   Luke has a tendency to give a good bit of notice when he calls.. often as much as 5 minutes.  But Mac, who is normally ADD and a bit hyper, will sit and wait for whomever is returning home. And so he did with Luke:




Mac adores his family. He is happiest when everyone is home where he thinks they belong. If I believed in reincarnation, I would say Mac was my dad in his past life. Daddy was the same way... he would say he liked having all his chicks in the nest.  :-)

Both the chicks in the nest here are young adults. One right out of college and one in college. And both will be flying the coop soon. I use to wonder how I would do once the nest was empty... I think Mac will be there to commiserate with me. In fact, I may end up consoling him more than he consoles me!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Just 'cause....

My sweet husband of 28+ years and I went out to eat Friday night and afterwards we strolled around and did a bit of looking and shopping... among our meager purchases was this...




from Hubby to me.... no special occasion... no making up for making me mad... just 'cause.  "Just 'Cause" flowers (and phone calls and notes and kisses and such....) are the best!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

In like a lamb.....

March most definitely came in like a lamb here. It was one of the most beautiful days. Temps in the 60s, lots of sunshine, soft breezes.... truly lovely. I even saw my first butterfly of 2011 fluttering about the yard.

After being inside all morning, I decided to get out and grab some of this day.  Now normally that would mean something like taking a walk (I had actually done that already) or sitting in my glider to read or at one of our outside tables to eat lunch or read or work on Bible study.. I opted for none of the above. Instead, I donned some jeans and a t-shirt and added a floppy straw hat and my pink crocs .. grabbed a basket and my pink gardening gloves and set out to weed the flowerbed. (Why do we say weed when what we really are doing is de-weeding?)

I have to stop here and say that this is totally out of my nature. I have weeded many times, but I don't recall every choosing to do it!  Normally my husband will say "We need to clean up the beds today"and so I get the task of sitting on the ground and pulling up weeds.  It is not a task I normally enjoy and yet yesterday I did. I wonder what my husband has been praying for me? LOL!

I pulls weeds for about an hour. Here is one area of the bed that is now weedless (ok, mostly weedless... there seems to always be those that turn invisible while you are pulling!)


It may not be the prettiest looking flower bed just yet. We need to add some fresh straw or mulch over the now exposed soil. But earlier in the day you could see none of that brown soil due to weeds. (Should have taken a before shot!)

Here is the result of my efforts:


Not completely full, but about 3/4s.  Pretty good amount of weeds, I say!

I also played with the pups a bit. Mac is getting better at bringing his ball back to me and actually letting me have it to throw again... that is until he is tired of the game or gets distracted.  We played ball for quite a while.  It was a special day for Mac. His 2nd birthday!  He has no idea what that means, but he liked it because every so often I would tell someone "Today is Mac's birthday!" or I would just scoop  him up and say something that included the word "Birthday" and he got lots of attention and love.  So for him birthday means good stuff!

Here is the birthday boy:


And yes, his coat is a soft and silky as it looks!


I love this shot, he seems to be lost in thought. Actually my guess is he is pondering how to catch one of those pesky squirrels that taunt him so.

Miss Mia was, as usual, not interested in posing for the camera. She had bugs and such to hunt:



And finally, here is a shot of me. Oh my!


I decided that I am becoming an Old Southern Woman... hat and all! LOL! At least I am an Old Southern Woman who is choosing to find joy in this journey God has for her.

Barb