The promise of more

This blossom will unfold and reveal its beauty over the next 24 hours. There are a couple of things in my life right now that are like this blossom, but these things will take much longer to open up and reveal their beauty. I am patient and can wait. Some people come in to your life and stay forever. Others barely scratch the surface and then move on. Cheers to all that's in my life and to the promise of more to come.

Danger in my backyard

On Sunday morning I was out watering the backyard garden when a bird flew out of the bushes and was trying to attack my head. I had no clue what was going on, so I squirted him with the hose. I lost track of the baby robin and Jasper came out to help me (if help means playing with his light sabers near me while I water). Then I noticed the robin sitting on the hammock. Pooping on the hammock. And tweeting a whole lot. He stalked me onto the patio, nipping a little too close to my toes for my comfort. Jasper smartly distracted him and got him to come after him. What a great kid. My hero. Okay, maybe he didn't mean to get the robin to come after him, but he did. And he kept the freak bird busy long enough for me to sneak inside to grab my camera. That night I was out front watering my dying plants when a neighbor stopped by to tell me not to be worried, but that there's a robin that some neighbors had been raising since it had fallen out of its nest when it was a baby. She and her family had been feeding it worms and she had seen it eating bugs, so it's doing well. But the warning was so that I wouldn't try to take it to a vet or call animal control to say that there's a wacked bird in the neighborhood. With any luck the bird will stay in the neighborhood--but not attack people when they are least expecting it. :)

Blizzard

A colleague at work heard me mention getting a pet and told me that she was going to be putting her cat up for adoption. The cat and I met, he was sweet as the dickens, and now he's here with me. My daughter, who has known him for all of about 16 hours, told me this morning that she's not trying to be rude, but she loves him more than she loves me. Because he's so cute. An action shot:

cooking is fun!

I'm really not certain why I chose to make chili on a hot day--I think maybe I just wanted to have a beer, and since half the bottle goes into the chili, what better excuse?! I used the summer Blue Moon--which has honey and orange peel brewed in (or something like that). It was good--to drink and to cook with. I added chick peas into the chili. Why not regular beans? Dunno. They're all good for you. The chick peas turned out well and the chili was super yummy. I haven't been cooking from scratch much recently and it felt really good last night to do it.

New York

I can't say that it felt like going home. Illinois is home. It did, however, feel extraordinarily comfortable. It felt like going to a second home, I guess. I didn't really have enough time to do all of the things I wanted--Chinatown, the Village, etc., but I did make it to Central Park. I relaxed in the shade and watched the world go by--one of most very favorite NY pastimes.