June 30, 2011

A week of extremes

Last weekend was a weekend of extremes - extreme emotions that is....
First, since Mr. Wonderful is still galvanting about the country doing his volunteer work, all the house and yard work falls to me. So Friday, the emotions were tired but a good tired and feeling of pride after the yard was edged and mowed and beds were weeded.


Saturday morning, the emotion was excitement, team pride and feeling good by participating.  I did a 5K for work for the Blood Bank. Enter the feeling of exhaustion.  We had a team made up of all the us on the third floor - we were Team Vain - an adaptation from our original name - the Varicose Veins! Here is the shirt we made - our team placed first for theme and second for spirit.  Feeling some team pride!  We felt creative when we unveiled the shirts we sprayed with a faux evening gown look that we each decorated differently. 



The team with the most points at the end of the summer blood drive gets an extra day of vacation. WaHoo! We were thrilled.  We sang Carly Simon's You're so Vain and we "gavotted"  just like in the song. That illicited the emotion of silliness!

Mid-afternoon, the emotions were concern, apprehension, feeling of helplessness. My son-in-law decided to travel from near Boat House Row in Philly to the beach by my house in a one man kayak. It is a thirty mile trip. We were tracking him with google maps from his phone but even with the solar charger his phone lost its charge. All the roaming I think. The emotion of tense entered as I baja'd in a PRIUS behind the local DOD facility. (it was like a comedy episode of  Ethel and Lucy, trust me.  Me in yoga capris and a Vera Bradley visor and my daughter a nervous wreck and my son telling me not to stray off the path because it was a straight drop into the lake!) through the twists and turns of the dirt trails that lead through an abandoned military base on the river. It was a 15 minute drive in. Desperation quickly turned to exhilaration when we saw Mickey round the bend in the shoreline a mere minute after our arrival on the beach. Concern came next when my daughter and I were afraid he would not call it quits and he would wish to continue the last three miles. At the rate he was going, 3 more miles would have been 3 hours and it was getting dark.  He was ready, he came ashore, we deflated his kayak and got him some fresh water.  He was drained we were relieved.
  

Their modes of transportation!  Her bike and his kayak. I caught these crazy two being silly kayaking on the sidewalk.  I am happy there are being safe applying the sunscreen.

 Sunday came the emotion of excitement again - friends with children were coming over for a cookout. We were all satisfied after all the good food.
savored the smell of bacon and onions cooking up for my beans
 
mouth watering berries, yum

beans in the crock pot simmering
  
pasta salad

Little nervousness while Iris pet the fish.   Don't fall in Iris!

The weather was also great and I love the feeling of nostalgia I get when watching the curtains being blown by the breeze. Don't know why I feel nostalgic about the look and the sound of the breeze blowing through the curtains but I am.  I reminds me of simpler times.  It also gives one a feeling of peace and hominess.

And now back to the mid-day Saturday emotions of concern. After months of not knowing what to do; of falling further and further behind in his bills and mortgage due to being out of work 24 of the last 48 months, my son has made the gut-wrenching decision to short-sell his house. Part of the reason is because his wife, his source of love and pride, (mix his emotions with mine) has a huge grant/fellowship opportunity for a Masters/PhD program at Penn State, State College PA. It is too good to pass up and the decision was not made without a myriad of emotions on their part.



Nothing says it better than a u-haul filled to the max.

 So after all the ups and downs and twists and turns of last week, I took to the solitude after everyone left on Sunday evening and had time to reflect and just mellow out under my newly illuminated pergola while I sipped on a nice cup of coffee.  Pergola is not new, adding the lights is.   Enter serenity after a full weekend.

1 comment:

  1. Seeing those beans makes me hungry all over again. So good!!!!

    Mike said he wanted to try kayaking while we were in Jamaica. I swear, he's completely insane.

    Your pergola looks great!!!

    ReplyDelete

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