13 Days

I had a convergence friends. A perfect storm of commitments, deadlines, fun, situations and all that. It was life in the fast lane, everything, all the time.
Here's what I did in the last 13 days.

• I finally DID can the tomatoes!

• I said goodbye to my darling sis and her darling kids. We miss them still.
• I discovered, while uploading photos, that my daughter looks for hearts in the wild. This makes me smile all the way to the sky. It is a veritable family tradition now. This heart is a rip in a rain poncho on the Pionner Trek my daughter was on.
• I've been madly proofing images from three photo shoots in rapid succession. I learned something from every shoot.
  
• I had a birthday that made me feel WONDERFUL. I got good wishes and love from all over the country along with treasures and treats that really lifted me up. Here's me on the original day:
• Corinne and I celebrated our neighboring birthdays by having a party at which most of us were wearing yellow, so those of us that weren't went and changed to get with the program. We ate crabs and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was good for my soul. We also had distinguished visitors in the persons of Generals Lee and Bonaparte.
• The next day we two continued the festivities by going downtown to get tickets to see Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew at the fabulous Harman Hall. It was part of Shakespeare Free For All, and the Man Himself was on hand to welcome us. We bookended the excellent performance (at which we sat right behind the footlights in the FRONT ROW) with visits to two museums: The National Building Museum, with one of the most beautiful atriums I've ever been in, and the National Portrait Museum , which is housed with The Smithsonian American Art Museum. (If you look closely, you'll see that I'm standing next to the Preamble of the Constitution presented in license plates from each state, in alphabetical order!) What fun to browse the wonders of art with a sympathetic friend of similar sensibilities and be able to talk like grown-ups about things that are lovely and praiseworthy. It was a glorious day.
• In between all that , I knitted like mad on two major contract projects, got them finished, mailed, delivered, and in one case, photographed.
  
• I shopped for school clothes and school supplies and discussed schedules and in general got ready for school to start. Eric was a trooper, helping in major ways with school supply procurement and high-school schedule adjustments.
  
• I unpacked boxes over at my mom's.
  
• I ran most every day to get ready for the half marathon in 6 weeks.
  
• I started the process of setting up a professional photography website.
• I got rid of 4 big bags of garbage and 1 big bag of giveaway stuff.
  

And now here I am, on the eve of school starting, ready for that sigh, that deep breath that will come tomorrow at about 10 minutes after 7 am when the last child walks out the door to school. I'll feel that excitement that comes with a new school year-with dreams of what can be for my kids, what can be for me, and how all this stuff I do fits together to make the life that I live, to make me unique. I've been struggling a bit to focus for the last few weeks because the summer has taken me in so many directions, but I feel things coming back to center. I hope you all have a wonderful first day of school!