Weekends

More and more I have been appreciating the weekends.This new year, I set some pretty definite intentions. One of them was to take an entire day off. Usually Sunday.

This is quite new to me but not really a novel idea is it? People have been doing this for a long, long time. I did it once back in, what I like to call "the Christian days". And it was very refreshing.

 

I used to use Sundays as a day that I could get a jump on Monday. Change beds, throw in some laundry,school planning.Things like that. But now I have been reading, having an afternoon bath, practice yoga, hiking, skating. We even asked a family we barely knew over for dinner, and it was great! (Although that did take some scrambling to put together a dinner for 5 extras with just a few hours notice!) It has been great. I highly recommend it.  Taking Sundays off that is... and inviting strangers to dine with you.

 

This past Sunday we had Athena's 9th birthday party. Paul took her and her cousins (and their daddies) out for lunch and mini golfing. I went out for lunch with two of my adult daughters (their mommies). It was the first time in 30 years of being a mother that I was not in attendance at the party. And I was okay with that. See? It's the new me! Trying new things. Finding different ways of thinking. I am liking it.

 

 

 

(One of these lovelies is recovering from the flu. One had a pukey day last week and Athena is just coming down with a cold. Poor things.)

 

(Doesn't keep them from being goofy though!)

(Don't I have the sweetest little granddaughters? Yes, I thought you'd agree.)

 

 Did I mention she is 9 already? Our oldest daughter turned 30 (30!!) on the weekend too. (I am 47 years old so you can do the math. ;))

 

(And the new friends we made. Such fun!)

 

The weather turned cold over the weekend. We had melting temperatures just the day before and on the weekend -40C with the windchill. Still, I took the time to go fill feeders and I am glad I did. It was like a feeding frenzy! Chickadees, Nuthatches, Pine Siskins, Sparrows and Redpolls were all gathered around within minutes.

 

And this pair of Pine Grosbeaks was the icing on the cake. New to our feeders this winter and this is the first time the male was brave enough to come around. Beautiful.

 





And the tiny redpolls. So cute and... red. They are one of my most favorite winter birds.



 





 

 

Another thing about weekend is that I am afforded the time to stand at the side door, drink my coffee and watch the sunrise. The color floods the sky and makes a wonderful start to the day!

 

And now a new week has already started. I have a little one with a cold so she is spending the day in the bath tub, on the computer, on the chaise reading and watching some DVDs. She is sick so infrequently that she is unaccustomed to so much resting. She said to me "Oh so this is what we do in our house when someone is unwell? I like it!"