barefoot....

 Summer comes around every year, and when you're a kid, it stretches endlessly.  When you grow up, you realize how finite it is.  Our pool is open and clean and swimmable, and we have the whole month of June, then July, then August, then if we're lucky, a few weeks of September to enjoy it.  That's a quarter of the year.  The very best quarter, of course.  Because:  bare feet.   

This fine morning, I didn't have to wake up at six-ish, Miss Charlotte Clare has the day off from school.  I have already decided not to go to water aerobics because it's going to be 90 degrees again here today, and our pool is fine to work out in.  So I slept until 7:38, how nice is that?  Then...a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, no shoes, and outside watering the garden.  I turned on the pool filter and skimmed some of the cotton fuzzies from our plentiful cottonwood trees, hosed off the side walk and deck steps, watered all the flowers...

There is just nothing like the bare feet in the morning.  The windows open, the birds singing, ahhh.

This fine morning, I am in a hurry.  Charlotte Claire has been wanting a specific hair product, was going to order it, and I promised her that I would just take her to the store to get it, we decided on Friday.  Now, Friday has arrived.  Thing is, Margaret is coming over with Wulf and Tennyson to work from here for the afternoon, while I play with the boys.  So Kathryn is coming over with baby Jamison,  Achilles, and Rhys.  I am very excited about this, but it means we have to get going soon.  When we come home, it'll be a zoo, but a fun zoo!  

I made homemade waffles for the girls for dinner last night.  (Paul wasn't here for dinner, he took his kayak up to Duck Lake to fish).  For myself:  chaffles.  The original recipe is:  two eggs, beaten, add one cup of shredded mozzarella.  (You can change this to cheddar for a savory waffle, and add all sorts of things.)  I added around a tablespoon of coconut flour, a bit of almond flour, a dash of baking powder, some vanilla, and a bit of monk fruit brown sugar.  The whipped cream is sugar free, from Walmart in a can, no artificial sweeteners either, just whipped cream in a can.  It was the best dinner ever, the chaffles taste SO GOOD.

My coffee this morning is super yummy, it's blonde roast from Starbucks.  I thought I ordered whole bean from Walmart.com,  but it wasn't, I usually only buy the whole, and grind it right before I brew it, pour over style.  Oops, I ordered already ground, but it's still pretty good.  If I could/wanted to spend the money, I'd get fresh beans from one of the local coffee shops all the time, it's amazing, but too expensive.  

I read a really sad story yesterday about a family that didn't take care of the kids at all...and I've been thinking about all the suffering in this world.  Poverty brings suffering, of course, but there can be happy poor people, to an extent.  Impatience, which leads to rage and anger, and selfishness:  parents see the kids as burdens, treat them rottenly...so sad.  We all have impatience, and we're all selfish, but by the grace of God...  

Anyway.  It hurts my heart when I read these things, and when I go into Walmart.  I can't go there without seeing a mom berating a child for asking for something.  Ha, yesterday we were in Target (I know, how can we still go there?!), and baby Jamison was fussing, so Kathryn was taking care of him, and I was pushing the cart with Achilles in it...he only wants his mama...he does like me though, especially when I smash the cart into the edges of the aisles and pretend it was an accident.  His frown wavers, and he smirks a little.  He was doing a lot of yelling yesterday, frustrated that his mom wasn't pushing the cart, and I almost apologized to a lady who gave him a disgusted look, but you know what?  Achilles is a good boy.  He's unique. He is loved and sweet.  :).   Not sure where I was going with this paragraph, but a lot is going on around here....Camille is up and ready to leave.

Tomorrow, I have to leave here quite early to bring  Char to her SAT.  Then, Emily, Evelyn, Sonja, our friend Janette, and I are going to a few wineries.  The scenery in the Finger Lakes, so nice.  

Anyway...this whole post feels like a mess, but I'm in a hurry, and now I've used all my time typing instead of making myself beautiful, which means throwing on my jean skirt, changing my around-the-house t shirt into a bye-bye t-shirt, and clipping up my hair.  Not wearing make up has it's perks!  bye for now...