What a weekend!

Summer is finally here in New England. Last week was freezing cold and rainy, so I CANNOT DESCRIBE my delight in waking up to two sunny days this weekend. Honestly…there was GLEE!

And the sunshine was just the beginning. Here are some other highlights:

– I painted the dining room blue and got almost none of it on the white trim. Steve could not believe it. My prior attempts at wall painting have been…shall we say…uncoordinated. Paint EVERYWHERE. On the trim, on the floor, on the dog, in my hair (do NOT let paint dry in your hair. It does not come out later, no matter how many times you shampoo. Growing out my last hair/paint debacle took 5 weeks.)   But this time? There is no blue anywhere but on the walls that used to be yellow. This is a miracle and I am celebrating! (Yes, life is calm enough these days that I can truly celebrate little stuff like this.  If you’ve ever had a long season that wasn’t calm, you know what a gift it is to rejoice in a small home-improvement win!)

-We took THIS DOG to the beach for the second time. The first time, she barked frantically at the waves. I didn’t understand why until I looked at things from her perspective: the waves were coming RIGHT AT US, and they were aggressive!  So Bergie barked…and they retreated! But then those audacious waves regrouped and came at us again!  Bergie was born in Tennessee and had not encountered this sort of challenge to her sheep guarding skills before. Let’s just say she was impressively vigilant…and slept VERY well that night.  Yesterday, she took it all a little more in stride.  Somehow she realized that there was a line in the sand, beyond which the water would not go. Like a fence, almost. You could see her calculating it all in her giant hound head. It was pretty adorable and so much fun. I can’t imagine how she’ll respond the first time we try to swim, but we’re taking it one day at at time.

-I read a great book! It’s called THE CHANCE YOU WON’T RETURN by Annie Cardi. I met Annie in my friend Tara‘s kitchen. I’d seen her fantastic book cover somewhere (not sure where) but I didn’t know the story, so I asked about it. After Tara described the book (isn’t it funny how our friends can describe our books so much better than we can?) I came right home and ordered a copy.  It’s a YA novel about a girl who is going through the typical struggles of a high school junior…but whose mother thinks she’s Amelia Earhart.  The main character is endearing, interesting, and spunky, and the compelling story kept me up late last night turning pages until I finished. Definitely recommend! (Young Adult fiction…it’s not just for young adults :) )

I hope you had a great weekend with lots of sunshine too :)