LATE 10 THINGS TUESDAY

Okay folks, we were at Detroit Lake State Park last week and had a blast. We took 8 month old Sam swimming in his first COLD water. He loved it (and was wearing an appropriate life jacket). He is going to be a fish just like his Mom. This was the first time in 14 years (how time flies) that we went camping.

I missed my 10 Things Tuesday column, so here goes for last Tuesday:

1. Wow, it looks like it's going to be warm today

2. I want to go swimming right away.

3. Boy, I'm hungry.

4. Need a nap.

5. Aargh, sun on tent, napper too hot.

6. Why did we swim this morning? We should go now.

7. Mmm. Spaghetti is on the menu.

8. Mmmmmmm. Bob makes great spaghetti.

9. My assigned job - drying dishes.

10. Toasted marshmallows, then brush teeth and off to bed. A fine day at the lake.

The next day we swam in the afternoon and it was fabulous. Snorkeling is one of my favorite things even though I have to override that very strong human law that says, "Do not breathe when the face is in the water - no matter what!!!!!". It is always amusing to me how strong that law is, even though the brain knows that the snorkel will bring the air to the mouth. It always takes me a few breaths to get it regulated. The first few are jerky, untrusting and downright scary.

Sam and I had this fabulous little game of peek-a-boo going one night as I babysat. I loved it. That is his picture at the top. His mother tells me this morning that he has begun standing up on his knees. He wanted to be in the play pen during the week because then he got to stand up. I think he is going to be walking before we know it. He is a real acrobat.

TEN THINGS TUESDAY

My niece who is, by the way, 35 weeks pregnant has posted on her blog a great idea, name any ten things on Tuesday. After all in our city Tuesday is Junk Mail Day, so what am I going to do with my spare time except think of ten things.

1. I am abundantly thankful for good health care for me and my husband.
2. I need to rescue one of those roosters that nobody wants and have it for dinner. This, of course would mean that I would have to kill and prepare it for cooking. It would keep me in contact with why I would really rather be a vegetarian.
3. Having a grandson is the fourth greatest thing that ever happened to me. The others were getting married, having Aimee, getting a son (in-law), and then holding Sam the night of his birth while his parents slept. We whispered secrets all night.
4. God bless this place where I live. I'm awestruck every time I go outdoors or walk on the hardwood floors.
5. Five days of intestinal virus is W A Y too much.
6. When traffic is too heavy, just get off the road and have dinner:)
7. Finding swim fins in August is poor planning.
8. AAA has a great travel store. I've been buying purses there for years.
9. Having somebody to cuddle up next to at night is pretty nice.
10.Third hip injection is over with and it seems to be working. We'll know in three months when the MRI is repeated.

So, that wasn't so hard once I got going. But, there is a #11
11. It's okay for the deer to eat the columbines. We saw the Mom last week and she was really thin. They were here before I was. It's not really our land. The bank can complain if they think the deer will comply.

HOT WEATHER

The weather in the Northwest has been particularly hot in the past two weeks. This week it has cooled down, but here is a shot of what that hot weather does to animals. This little gal had been on another chair in a similar position. Our two cats were watching her and then I joined in to see what was so interesting. The squirrel hopped down and then up to this chair and assumed the "Darn, it's so hot today!" position.
The moon was full last week and we saw it as we came home from our Chinese class. I couldn't resist a quick shot.

Here is the sunset from the building that our Chinese class is at. This was a week prior when the hot weather made the elevator riding up to the place where I shot this a miserable toast of a ride. The elevator faced the sun and it was near 100 degrees out, so we guessed that the elevator was at least 130 degrees. Now I can slightly sympathize with our guys in Iraq.

I continually find the rising and setting sun and moon to be something of a fascination. My attention is held fully in the images I see. Beauty is all around us and I count these little glimpses of life to be small miracles in the bigger miracle of the universe.