Rain, rain and more rain. Wait, there's the sun. Oh, never mind. It's going to rain again tomorrow.

It's been a long and busy week, and filled with grey skies and rain. The sun is out today, and it feels like an old friend has come back.

Wednesday, Richard and I went to pup class, and Debbie met us there. She took Inky back for the long weekend...and we miss her like crazy. Very quiet around here. Mookie is moping a bit. I've only heard from Debbie once, and things are going fine over there. We're really hoping that we can do a dual-raise for the rest of the time that Ink is here.

Thursday I got up really really early (like Richard early), and made my way to Barb and Randy's house, where we met up with their son, daughter in law, grandaughter and Barb's mom; we drove up to New Castle, where Barbara was being honored with a Jefferson Award. It was a fun ride, with much laughter and discussions, and giant cups of coffee.

We got there, and there were five people being honored. The Jefferson Awards were started by Jackie Kennedy to recognize outstanding service to community by individuals. There was Barbara, and then there was a lady who was a breast cancer advocate (she lost her mom to breast cancer, and was also a survivor herself), a lady who worked at Delmarva Power who organized and orchestrated a gift drive for needy children and senior citizens who wouldn't otherwise have had any holiday gifts, a doctor who worked with the terminally ill and their families, and a man, who was very involved in his community (not sure what he did, he was rather shy and did not make a speech). The award itself is beautiful and heavy (I told Barb we needed to put it on a big chain and then she could wear it like Mr. T).
One of the highlights of the whole morning was Maggie, Barbara and Randy's grandaughter. She is just so funny, and several hours in, she had warmed up to me, and was shaking my hand and sharing her bracelets with me. Definitely a heart stealer, for sure.

I must admit to being a bit jealous, as Debbie has called Auntie Barbara for a several hour babysitting job for the littlest Maggie; Debbie doesn't like to inconvenience people, and hesitates to ask anyone. Her email to Barbara said something like "I figured I'd ask you before we asked the neighbors". I can just picture Barbara responding with lightening speed (she herself told me it was in all caps...) that she'd love to babysit.

This is the picture I got this week...she's the world's smallest fencer. "En guarde!"

You know I'm going to get around to putting a tiny little fencing sword in her hand at some point.

Goodness, kids are awesome.


Yesterday was my Maggie's 22nd birthday, and she took the night off from work to come and spend it with us...I was really glad! I did figure that she's got Roger now, and she's young, she would want to go out somewhere...but she opted for hamburgers and hotdogs, homemade potato salad, french fries and cake with her family. Roger got there a bit after dinner from Seaford, and it was a really nice nite. I totally slothed out and got a cake from Food Lion, which was good, but just not homemade. I was writing the message on the cake in blue icing, and it all came out in a glob...it looked awful...but we laughed about it. I made a rather politically incorrect joke about it, and lit many many candles. It was a very nice night; Maggie and Roger are on different schedules than us...11 pm for them is just getting started. I could barely keep my eyes open! It was a good night, and it's truly hard to believe she's 22 years old.

Today I'm going to catch up on all that I didn't get to this week...get ready for the weekend. It is Mother's Day, and we're going to Diane and Joe's for dinner on Sunday. All the women don't have to cook...and that's a good thing. It's going to be a nice, low-key day. Joe even made the cake! (I hope it's chocolate chip cake!)

It's now 10:45 am on Friday...and it's getting cloudy. No more sun until Sunday, but that's ok. It's going to be there for Mother's Day (if it knows what's good for it)....