Weekend stuff...

We had dinner last night with young Miss C and her parents...... L made a baked dish with macaroni, shrimp and feta cheese, and I brought the salad. Huge bowl of salad with lots of vegetables and nuts and seeds and cheese. When we got there, C was sorting through a box of old photographs, mostly of herself and her parents when they lived in Massachusetts. She was very little then, about three or four, but she remembers that old New England-style house as if she had just walked out of it yesterday.

Cute as a button, that kid, when she was a baby and a little girl. And she's still cute as a button. There isn't a person we know who has met that child and not realized there's something very special about her. I can see now, as she's growing up and now driving her own car, that she's sort of confused a little bit about abandoning all the little-girl things and exchanging them for bigger-girl things. There's still so much of a kid in Miss C, and I hope she can find a way to keep that happy carefree feeling as she matures into the young lady that she's becoming.


We went to yard sales yesterday and today-- my husband and I. He decided that he wanted to go with me, so he could look for tools and boat things. Honestly, if anyone had told me that he would be looking for tools, I never would have believed it. He found a couple of things for the sailboat.... two bumper-type things to keep the boat from bumping into the boat dock when it's tied up there. I found a pretty white wicker bookshelf that I can use in our bedroom up at the cottage. I never did buy dressers for our bedroom there.... we really don't need them, being that the walk-in closet is so big, complete with shelves for folded clothes. Between the tables and chairs and bookcases in that bedroom, the room looks just fine and I doubt I will buy a dresser. Unless, of course, I happen to see one at a yard sale or in one of the antique shops for a great price.


Tonight we were at our around-the-corner neighbors' house.... V invited us over so we could see the video-tape her husband made when she was on a local morning television show. V teaches at one of the downtown universities, and they asked her to speak about the literacy (or lack of) in this city of ours. Apparently, Houston was in 55th place out of 70 cities, when "tested" for literacy. V made it clear that she couldn't vouch for that placement...... she made the point that a lot of people may not be buying books from Barnes & Noble and Borders because of the used-book stores and resale shops. V brought some of her own books to the morning show, two of which are books that I had given to her-- "Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil," and "Life is So Good." She especially wanted me to see the video tape because she held up those books to the camera during her interview.

Before we went over to V and S's house, my husband jokingly asked if V was going to serve popcorn during the video. Which, of course, gave me the idea to make some popcorn and bring it over there. I did just that, and put the hot bag of popcorn into a little shopping bag that I decorated for V's new "star status." I cut out a star shape, used my little stick-on Scrabble letters to spell out V's name, and then I had a cut-out that said "Hello Broadway, Goodbye El Paso." We're not in El Paso, but that's the closest city that I could find in my hat-box filled with crafts odds and ends. V was tickled pink with the popcorn and the bag.... and I know she'll be saving that star with her name on it.


AngelBoy is out on the screen-porch, and has been there since early yesterday, or was it the night before? I haven't let him out in the yard, being that he had found his way into our neighbor's yard the other day. Of course, AngelBoy being AngelBoy, he let me know how displeased he was with my new "no-more-backyard-rule." That blue-eyed cat found a corner in the living room this afternoon that he thought would be a better spot to pee in than his litter box........ I caught him in the act, but the act was completed, and when I scolded him, he just looked at me with those kitty-blue eyes of his. Well, out into the porch he went after that, and that's where he's been, and that's just where he's going to stay. No more letting him inside for just a few minutes like I did today, if that's what he's going to do.

There is just no trusting that cat.... and the older he gets, the more distrusting of him I am. I scrubbed the rug, sprayed it with all kinds of cleaners, and it seems to be fine, being that he didn't make much of a puddle at all. But still.... that cat just breaks my heart when he does that. To look at him, and see how gorgeous he is, all blue-eyed and fluffy and cat-book perfect, you'd never think that he could be so ornery. I've said it before and I will say it again-- he's a hard cat to love. But he's our cat. Or my cat, as my husband will tell me, and as with a child, I love him and accept him, faults and all. However..... I can love him and accept him and keep him on the screen-porch all at the same time.