Friday, July 16, 2010

Awesome Things Volume XXIV

Children. It doesn't matter is they are newborns, school age, or adults. My 80 year old mother has a 59 year old son! Let's be honest. Children are a lot of work. Most parents, including me, don't always feel up to the task of raising decent human beings. However, you do the best you can and hope you have instilled some good sense and moral character in them before you unleash them to the world. Despite my inadequacies as a parent, both of my sons have turned out pretty good. I am proud of both of them. I will admit that I am glad they are now adults. However, that doesn't mean I still don't worry about them. I am always the parent no matter how old they are.

I am going to say rain even though I had a leak in my roof earlier this week. One morning I woke up to thunder about 5:00 AM and when I finally got out of bed it was raining hard. I found myself wishing I could simply get a cup of coffee and go outside and sit on my porch since I love the sound of falling rain, especially through the trees. Alas, I had to go to work although I was slightly delayed when I discovered my leak. The sound and rhythm of falling rain is very soothing to me. My lawn was in dire need of watering so I was happy that Mother Nature took care of that for me.

Anything cooked outside on a grill. My apologies to all vegetarians but I love grilled meat. Is there anything better in the summer, or even the middle of winter, than steaks, hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs, or bratwurst that have been cooked over an open fire? My backyard used to look like a haunted forest but now it is all cleaned up and my grill is fully functional. I love to get home at the end of a work day, fire up the grill, and cook my dinner. I can smell the smoky aroma right now.

The Cardinal that seems to have taken up residence in my backyard. I am not talking about a college basketball player. I am talking about the Kentucky state bird. I think Cardinals are beautiful and they are my favorite bird. Their deep red feathers are especially vivid if you see one during the winter when the ground, trees, and bushes are covered in snow. Since the heat index was in the 100's a few days this week I thought I would slip a winter scene into my thoughts. Hopefully, it will cool you off a bit. One of my goals in my backyard is to create a peaceful place, a kind of Zen garden. My next purchase will be a wild bird feeder. I am hoping to attract more Cardinals as well as other types of birds. By the way, there is no chance in Hell that it will snow around here anytime soon.

Getting stuff in the mail. No, I am not talking about bills. I'm talking about cool stuff that you've ordered for yourself. It might be a CD from Amazon, a shirt or jacket from L.L. Bean, or a book from Border's. It's always nice to arrive home and find a package in your doorway. You know it's coming but it's still a surprise because you never quite know when it will arrive unless you are really anxious, or anal, and your follow it's tracking number through the "system".

Sleeping in on Saturday mornings. I have always considered it a luxury that I rarely have to work on Saturdays. I love sleeping in, waking up when I feel like waking up, and then going downstairs for my coffee and a leisurely reading of the morning newspaper. Sometimes I will fall back asleep in my chair but that's OK. It's Saturday, and when it's really great I have no where to go and all day to get there.

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