I knew this would be a rough week with Alison leaving for Ohio, yet it's also had beautiful moments. Those have included a get together with Alison, her boyfriend, close friends C. and J., and John, during which I took no pictures. :( Ironically, my laptop scrolls from my previous pictures, and as John, Alison and I were standing there, a photo of Henry and me came up. My reaction: There's Henry. Alison's whisper: You really need to delete some of your pictures. John: Oh, I thought that looked like Henry. (he worked with him at Boeing!) If you think I'll get rid of any photos of Henry, you don't know me very well. I don't want to erase what was; I just want to appreciate the good, and learn from the experiences. We ate well, laughed and played "What do you meme," a not always appropriate game which occasionally confuses me, due to my innocence about various "terms." ;) Then there was the return of Ashley from two months in Senegal!
She first went there in 2009 to stay with a host family, and since then has been back every year, even living in the Casamance for a year on a Fulbright. Diarra was one of her host sisters, and has remained a friend. I love this photo not because they are both so glowing, but also because my daughter matches the wall! :)
THIS is happiness! She is home to Poughkeepsie with Ryan and Zig. Where she belongs.
I love even cloudy views of Mt. Rainier from Highway 410, but the traffic, oyy!! Book Club was spent on a sunny deck overlooking Lake Tapps. We even saw an eagle!
Our dessert was a yummy banana ice box cake. Isn't it pretty? Although we were split on "Circe" (I loved it!), it was still a decent discussion. I've always enjoyed stories about mythology!
When I saw this tee-shirt on Amazon, I knew it was "The One." Now I have to hope that it will be long enough in a men's medium to cover the semi-transparent goat leggings in certain sensitive areas. TMI? And I'm spending WAY too much money for this goat yoga! Yet all of my purchases make me excited for an event that would normally appall me. Yoga. Goats. Need I say more? ;)
John is babysitting his granddaughter today, and you can see how thrilled he is. Such a lovely man! Tomorrow he wants to come to my place to deal with some of my old wood fence panels, Friday morning we'll take off for Portland because he intends to make some big purchases sans sales tax (a road trip!), and Saturday we're headed to the Highland Games in Enumclaw. I'm excited for bagpipes, kilts and the caber toss! Sunday we may go to a library event about the science behind Star Trek; we're both nerds, so it sounds fascinating to us. :) Time (old age?) has taught me about the inevitability of change, and that nothing lasts, but I've also learned to appreciate these joyful moments when they come. Wisdom, right?