Countdown to summer...

I'm up early to write and edit photos this morning.  I like this quiet time before the guys (and the world) wakes up.  I can hear the birds starting to chirp and there is a stillness in my house that just isn't here the remainder of the day.  I cherish the few hours of solitude before I kick into mom & wife mode, focusing on doing only the things I want to do - catching up on blogs, journaling and doing my daily correspondence for birthdays, anniversaries or putting together care packages.  The time I spend sitting at my desk feels a little like work, but it's the best kind of work because I am choosing to sit here and do it.  I like it when my day starts like this.

This last week was infused with a bit of creating here and there.  We attempted carving more stamps and mostly played around with our carving tools and figured out how to trouble-shoot some of our designs and fine-tune our technique.  We have amassed a small collection of beautiful, quirky stamps to use on stationary and packages.

I took a quick trip to the Legacy Thrift Store in Sebastopol where I discovered a plethora of embroidery thread in the most beautiful colors!  I only picked up a small assorted bag of mixed threads and quickly left the building.  I knew well enough to step out of that thrift shop until I had a few practice rounds under my belt.

I came home and asked Grady to draw the artwork from Daniel Johnston's Hi, How Are You? CD.  I think he did a great job.  The embroidery on paper part?  Not so much.  We're going to give it another go on fabric just as soon as I track down an embroidery hoop.  This is going to be Steve's father's day present and I think he'll love it, as Daniel Johnston is one of his favorite musicians and he's converted Grady into a fan, too.

I've been focusing on cooking vegetarian meals for our family and it's been working out okay.  It's funny how you think you don't eat that much meat until you really have to cut back.  Kind of like watching television, you think you don't watch that much until you ditch your cable and realize that you most definitely did.  Same on the meat front.

NEWS FLASH :: GRADY ATE A GRILLED PORTABELLO MUSHROOM BURGER AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE.  HAND TO GOD.

The weather can't decide what it wants to do, but we're pretty much into the June gloom now.  Hot inland, grey and cloudy on the coast.  We had a major thunder and lightning storm over the weekend and it's been warm & balmy.  I kind of like it.

I think I have summer pretty well booked for our family.  We're heading to Southern California to see Steve's family and take the boy to Legoland next week.  After that, G has three weeks of science summer school that will have a focus on anatomy.  He's not thrilled, but I am.  The rest of the summer we're home.  I love our home.

Golf, tennis & CYO camp are also on the agenda later this summer with a few weeks of nothing planned in between all of those activities.

We attended Open Studios last weekend and visited the lovely studio of Kai Samuels-Davis.  His new work is really cool and I just love his aesthetic.  Grady was rather shy around his former art teacher and proclaimed that the Pomegranate Study was his favorite piece from Kai's display.  We tried to order a print of same, plus two fishing lures that G had been coveting for some time, but Kai would not take his former student's money!  He said he would gift the prints to Grady.  An artist trade is how we'll make good on this sweet gesture.

I worked with G's 4th grade class to create the above Pollack-inspired painting for the end of the year teacher present.  I think it turned out great and the kids thought it was really cool.

Speaking of cool?  Um, Grady came home and informed us he was performing in the school talent show with Grace next week.  Yes, he would be singing the song Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae.  Who?  Yeah, that's what we asked.  We looked it up, printed the lyrics and downloaded the song for him to practice with.  I'm mildly horrified by the lyrics, but realize it's pretty harmless.  Completely out of character for this shy, quiet boy and I guess that's all the more reason to support him and not make a big deal out of it.  He even had rehearsal over the weekend with the oh-so-stylish, Grace.  It's going to be something else.

And the end is near.  I can't wait until school is out for summer.  I love the summer rhythm we get into. Slow mornings, lots of popsicles, creative endeavors, reading for hours in the sunshine, meals al fresco and no strict bedtimes for the boy.

Three more days...