Gifts

Bram saw this little racoon family today as they trundled along under the footbridge over the spring. By the time I got my camera, one of the babies had scampered away and the mother had retreated to safety up a tree with the other one. I confess I was filled with unaccountable joy at being allowed to see them. It always feeds something deep inside me to see a mother care for her babies even though today, that joy was tempered a bit by my feelings for the mother as she trembled in her fear and determination to keep her young safe.

I am grateful for gifts such as this, for being allowed to see that regardless of how I am feeling or how I think my world is, somewhere there is actually quite a lot going along that is just as it should be. It gives me some faith that things for me will eventually be as they should be, too.

They Have Legs

And they are going home today. It takes a lot longer than I thought for tadpoles to become frogs, and the time has come, though we won't be able to see their complete transformation, to return them to their home. I suggested that we put them in the little creek that runs behind our house, but Bram was insistent about the "environmental hell that would reap."

Is it your birthday, too?

My posts here are getting fewer and farther between. I wish I could say the same for my use of cliche here. Here's my cake, with 38.5% of my age worth of skinny sparkly candles on it. You can do the math. What? Did you think I'd just say it out loud? Je stači až jsem stara, ano? Please note that the cake is outside on the porch. Bram expressed some concern about a fire hazard even with the relative few candles.
This morning I bought a cake to share with my friends at the Pacolet Senior Center tomorrow and will collect my share of birthday hugs and good wishes from them then.
I had lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant and in the afternoon, snow cones made by Bram followed by this lovely tasty cake (with lemon pudding filling). For dinner, either the steakhouse or my favorite Mexican restaurant. Beer or margarita? Decisions decisions.