Lebron to the Heat and other non-news.

I have retreated to the office for two reasons. Reason one: There's a nice ceiling fan in here, and fewer wads of cat hair floating around in the breeze. Reason two: I just watched a bit of the Lebron James show on ESPN, where he announced to the world on a nationally televised prime-time special that he was signing a contract with the Miami Heat, and I could no longer take that nonsense. I had to leave the TV. The whole thing was some kind of major production, and for what? For a basketball player who ultimately wanted to win and win now rather than stick by his loyal teammates and fans in Cleveland. So good-bye, Lebron. I'd rather spend time relaying the tiny details of my life than listen to your blathering.

So, tiny detail un: We're still missing Wyatt, of course, but I think we've moved past the darkest of times. We're able to talk about him without getting teary, and we're able to get back into "normal mode," meaning sitting on the couch, making dinner, watching TV, going to bed and waking up in the morning, without being constantly reminded of how we would do all of those things with him. At least I am. I think what's helping me is seeing him. He's my desktop wallpaper at work, and so I can look at him all day and think good thoughts about him. I'm not the type of griever who wants to rid herself of every memory of the past because the memories are too painful to bear. I like to be reminded of the memories, especially the good ones, and I think photos help with that. This means that I actually like being at work and looking at my computer screen. This could actually be a problem :)

Tiny detail deux: The day after we put Wyatt down I learned that my great-aunt Madeline passed away. She was 96, she had congestive heart failure, and she was tired of struggling, so it was not a surprise, but it's hard nonetheless, mostly because this leaves only one remaining Shea, down from the six who lived in the big, white Colonial across the yard and with whom I grew up. Tomorrow is her funeral. We're going down for it, of course, but being that we're still out of sorts because of Wyatt and being that it's going to be hard to see my 94 year-old great aunt Anna in that big house all by herself, it's not going to be the most pleasant of visits. This is what life is about, though. Dealing with the bad stuff, but trying to see the good. Like that we still have one remaining Shea and that we get to see her again tomorrow. This is a good thing.

Tiny detail trois: Doug and I are done with our fence project! We finished this past weekend with the help of my mother and Aunt Alice, two incredible troopers who came up on Friday and spent the day at our house painting the fence while Doug and I were at work. I got out a little early that day to help with the last bit of the fence, Doug too, and by 7pm we were officially done. What a project! Now I know why Tom Sawyer tricked his friends into painting the fence for him. If I had gullible friends I might have tried the same thing.

Anyway, I know I've posted about the fence before, but here's a brief recap. We had this old, rotten fence in our front yard, and several windstorms and blizzards (and, of course, the elderly neighbor who drove into it) brought it to its end. I was not sorry to see the original fence go, and even helped along its demise a little. So in May we had a new fence put in. A cedar fence with no finish or stain, because having the fence company paint it for us would have added more to the cost than we wanted to spend. We decided that we'd paint the fence ourselves, and requested the help of my mother and brother. After much discussion, we also decided that we'd stain the fence a natural cedar color, which reminds us of the log cabin my uncle owns in New Hampshire. We figured we'd have the whole fence painted with two coats in one weekend. That was an ambitious goal, a little too ambitious, but we tried. We prepped the fence and put on the first coat of stain in one day, but we couldn't do much work on it the next day because a) the first coat hadn't dried yet, and b) we had birthdays to celebrate. My father, sister, brother, and nephew all have June birthdays, so we decided to have a gathering to celebrate. Here are most of the birthday-ers: And here is the birthday cake: Wish I could say that I made that cake myself, but no - I give all the credit to the Stop & Shop bakery (and highly recommend it!).

So, with the birthdays properly celebrated, we could then think about finishing the fence, which, as mentioned, my mother and aunt so kindly helped us with the following Friday. In addition to putting the second coat of stain on the fence that day, we were also very productive with the garden. The front gardens were basically all weeds. Notice in this photo how green and overgrown everything was in the front near the fence: We thinned things out nicely up in the upper right corner of the yard, and it looks quite nice, especially with the painted fence. Now we just have to mulch it. And then water it. And weed it. Maybe that's what I should have done to protest the Lebron hype. Spent my night in the garden. Since it's now cooler outside than it is inside, that would have been a smart move!

Listing again.

There is really no easier blog post to write than a list. And since I'm looking for the easy way out today, I'll post another of my lists. My list of positives. There are so many these days.

Let's start with...

* The new fence. It's great. It's new and sturdy and secure and it doesn't have any gates that I have to worry about flapping in the breeze or driving into as I back out of the driveway. All the posts are intact, and there is no rotting.

Old Fence:

New Fence:

The installation of this sparkly new fence was a hoot and a half. The two guys who came and put the fence in were something out of a cross between Hee-Haw and All in the Family. But even that's not a good description. They were just wacky, and vulgar, and loud, and... wait! Like The Odd Couple. Except one would have been this hard-living, hard-drinking, shrivel-y ex-con, and one would have been the bumbling side-kick. But they got the job done, and the fence is in, and now Doug and I have to paint it. That will certainly be a post unto itself.

Moving on to...

* Flowers. How about this poppy? The weather has been so nice for the past four days... warm, but not too humid, slow breezes, sunny... and the few flowers that we have left in our garden have been flourishing. This giant, red poppy blossomed the other day and I can't get over it's size and beauty. Who knew that we had a poppy in our garden. I'd like more of these, please.

* Friends. I had an excellent, excellent conversation with a very dear friend (I was going to say old friend, but she's not old - the friendship is, though). I have known Tamera since, what, first grade? Kindergarten? I have no idea, even, it's been that long. We were pretty much inseparable all throughout grade school, and through middle school, but because of various circumstances, most of which you can probably attribute to me, we went our different ways. Maybe five or so years ago we started to get back in touch. This was huge. Huge! And last night we talked for an hour and a half. And I realized so many things during that conversation, and from that conversation. Like I am sometimes a judgmental cad, and sometimes I am too quick to take life and those in it at face value. This is all good stuff - really - because lightbulb moments are crucial for personal development. The light went off last night.

* Mobile technology. I will now admit to getting used to my iPhone, and finding value in its convenience. My mother and sister and I went to Portland, Maine, this past weekend (more on that to come), and my little iPhone was so helpful to have. We found the Portland LL Bean Outlet because of it, made reservations at a busy restaurant because of it, and synchronized our summer calendars because of it. Thank you, Apple. For once I appreciate your innovation.

There's more, of course, but it's time to move on for today. Stay tuned for more on our weekend away in Portland... and what a fun weekend it was, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sadly, Thanksgiving has come and gone for 2009, and while I'm late in posting about all the things I'm thankful for I am no less thankful. We've been a little busy this past week, and actually I'm a little sick now (it's been brewing for a few days, or longer... I can always tell when I'm coming down with something - my skin breaks out as if I were back in high school and I feel really sluggish), but better late than never to profess the good things about life.

So, where to begin. What I'm thankful for. Well, I'm thankful for lots of things. Things like cats whose tongues are giant-sized, and cats who will eat their wet-food treats off of plates that are this cute:

I'm thankful for my enthusiasm for baking when everything goes very right when the taste goes right but the look not so much (these are supposed to be cookies) and yes, even when everything goes very, very wrong (if I were a perfect baker I'd be Martha Stewart, and there's only room enough for one of her in this world).

I'm thankful for my husband, who is always such a trooper. He drove two hours with me to the Atlantic Spice Company, helping me stay focused and efficient in the store, and I've never seen a sexier gas-pumper. I'll mention, too, that he's an excellent fence-mender (literally - thanks to high winds, here's before and after).

I'm thankful for family who keep me smiling and who keep me stuffed with good things to eat. Can you believe this incredible plate of food? No wonder I looked like this after cleaning my plate: I was thinking about licking the plate clean, too, since it was all so good, but since I'm thankful for family pets (and for family pets with my name), I let Rose have that pleasure.

Ah, let's see. What else am I thankful for. I am thankful for natural beauty and for tiny, efficient cars that will hopefully allow us to continue to enjoy said natural beauty for many more years to come.

Really, I'm thankful for everything. The people in my life, the things I have around me, the fact that each morning I wake up and am healthy and alive. I'm thankful that each day when I come home from work (and yes, I'm even thankful that I have a good job and can go to work each day) I can pet my cats and give Doug a hug, and wake up and do it all again the next day. We're celebrating two years this coming February, me and Doug. I'm thankful for that. So what else is there to be thankful for? Not much. Friends, family, pets, food, shelter, warmth and compassion. All of it is good, this year and every year.