Friday, September 24, 2021

It's Friday


After my husband and I moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1979, my Mom called me on Friday evenings to chat. She greeted me with a cheery, "It's Friday." We continued to call each other on Friday nights long after we moved to Lincoln and were only two and a half hours apart. Those calls were a joy after our work weeks. Writing this Friday TGIF post reminds me of her. She would have loved these great grandchildren.

A Nebraska t-shirt in Ct.

Thinking:  I am thinking about our recent visit of ordinary days with my daughter, son-in-law and family. We walked the three brothers to school, played the card game Uno, threw a big ball back and forth over the trampoline net, made chocolate sand pies, walked the cemetery loop on the church grounds, read at bedtime, and watched a squash plant grow in the backyard. We also celebrated Emmett's 11th birthday and Norah's 3rd birthday with their choice of dinners and decor. Emmett requested an "All American barbecue" dinner with veggie burgers, potato chips, dill pickles, sweet corn, watermelon, beans, and apple pie with ice cream. His table decor included a checked tablecloth and plastic ants crawling down the table. Norah had a Minnie Mouse party with a Nacho dinner. Kate made Minnie Mouse cupcakes. We all wore Mouse ears. Pre-Covid, the kids also chose a special birthday event, like a visit to the local nature center, touring a museum in NYC, or attending a major league baseball game. The kids love this tradition and have fun celebrating each other's birthdays. What's not to like about plastic ants topped with marshmallows and Minnie Mouse cupcakes? Avoiding the hoopla of kid-birthday-party-creep is smart.

Grateful: I am grateful we have the resources to travel and return home safely. We all tested for Covid before traveling. We wore N-95 masks on the travel days. Of course, the adults are vaccinated. I am grateful we could provide childcare so my daughter and husband could have a "working" night off. He officiated a wedding but still they were out for a few hours. We fed the kids and put them to bed on time. We had a great time together and no blood was shed. 

I love to visit my kids and I also love to come home. We fall back into our routines easily. Last night the weather was beautiful, so we carried our dinner out to the deck. The tomatoes are still producing although not as prolifically which is fine by me. It's time to collect zinnia seeds for next year.  


Inspired: I am inspired by Kym's September Thursday posts on fall gardening. In these posts, she writes about what, why, and how to take care of a garden in the autumn. These posts are full of good information and interesting links. This morning I brought in two begonias from the front porch. Overnight temperatures have dipped down to the high forties twice. The weekend promises 90 degree highs but fall is in the air. Nature with its gentle insistence on change is comforting. Yesterday I picked up fresh pumpkin pie spice and a can of pumpkin. I don't want pumpkin in all my food but I do like pumpkin muffins. 


Fun: While in Connecticut, I got my first temporary tatoo - Minnie Mouse. Since it is washing off, Norah is sending me another. "Tatoo on Grammy!" Who-boy - I don't think my kids can believe it. Even though I have a pair of socks on the needles, I cast on another pair for traveling knitting. Between air traveling and a busy household, I needed a simple pattern. Here's a bit of fun. I ordered this yarn because I thought the gold and rust speckles on a cream background looked like fall. Turns out the background had a rose tint. Oranges and browns have never been my favorite colors to wear. I tried to order an autumn color but chose rose gold despite myself. The yarn has a lovely hand and I love the colors.  


 Ravelry Link  Traveling Socks

Gentle readers, I hope all is well with you. I wish you beautiful days of early autumn weather and no ants on your picnic tables. Have a good weekend.




 

9 comments:

  1. So glad you had such a nice visit with your family. Those cupcakes and little ants are so cute. I also love those socks you are making. I am finally getting a chance to catch up on blog reading tonight and see that you recently had a birthday. Belated Happy Birthday to you! Hope you have a good weekend and enjoy some cooler fall weather! See you again soon.

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  2. The ants and marsh are so funny. Your fami1y knows how to p1ay and 1ove each other! I am busy now with fa11 garden chores too. I don't mind them It has been a 1ong 1ong summer of watering dai1y. So much water from the we11. we had tons of echinacea and peonies, and day 1i1iies, and co1umbine. So much f1ower success

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  3. Those ants are so fun! And what is not to love about Mouse-eared cupcakes? (and go you "Tattooed" Grammy!!) Have a great weekend!

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  4. I am so glad that you got to visit your daughter and family in CT. My husband and I have talked about our grandparents and we both treasure memories of ordinary days spent with them. Of course my G'ma was never tattooed! The birthdays look like lots of special fun and I love your rose gold traveling socks!

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  5. Seeing and reading about the highlights of your trip made my heart swell with joy. I am so glad you were able to safely travel and spend all that wonderful time with the grandkids. I love their birthday party themes (and the execution -- very impressive!). I can imagine that you went to sleep every night with a big smile on your face.

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  6. Oh, Jane! It sounds like you had a perfectly wonderful visit with your family! I'm so happy for you . . . not only that you were able to spend such a perfect week with your lovely grandchildren, but that you had the extra bonus of TWO family birthday celebrations. What fun. (And . . . we actually overlapped a year of living-in-Cheyenne. I was still in college in 1979 - and had just started dating Tom. Were you there for the tornado???)

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  7. I love Friday posts ... and what a fun tradition for Friday calls with your mom! Looks like you had a fantastic visit with the Connecticut family - and such birthday bounty :-)

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  8. I am soo glad you were able to travel safely and back to see them and to be with them and to share in their ordinary life. I'm so very happy for you!!!

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  9. Sounds like you've had a nice summer! I've had good luck with bringing in my begonias into garage the fall and let them "back out" in the late spring. Very pretty socks!

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