MID-JUNE FAVES

How did we get to mid-June already??

I'll be done with teaching, one week from today for a glorious 2 week break, and my youngest will graduate from high school one week from tomorrow.

Meanwhile, tonight will be her final ballet show!!  (until she's in college, I mean).  I have a feeling the eyes will need kleenex tonight.  How thankful I am to have had these last 14 years of dance shows to watch her perform.....and along with that gratitude I'm listing FIVE of my FAVES from the past week......sometimes it's the little things we are thankful for and that keeps life from being mundane and boring, right?

Join in by linking up over at Susanne's site, our gracious hostess.

• PRETTY PEONIES!  I finally decided it was time to get some of those pretty peonies off my bushes and into a vase for the table.  We don't have an eat-in kitchen so all of our meals, when we aren't on the deck, are in the dining room. I usually feature a seasonal center-piece.  This vase of blooms really brought a smile to my face this week.  They just shout "Summer is almost here"!!

• BIKING!  Saturday morning, early, I went for a lovely 40 minute bike ride.  I went a little over 8 miles throughout my neighborhood and into the next one....down the country road near a cemetery, into the cemetery, and then down another country road.  There were not many people out and about yet and it was so peaceful.  I'm thankful for these early morning weekend bike rides and that is something I'm going to miss when I have to teach summer school this year!

Alyssa on the left and my Claire on the right
Lyrical costumes for "Memories" from Cats

• PRO PHOTOS:  Claire had her last professional photo shoot with the ballet studio on Saturday and I was free to go with her.  This was one of my faves ( the pro photographer allowed the moms to take some pics with our i phones).  It shows Claire and her friend Alyssa in one of their poses from their lyrical ballet piece they will do tonight.  They will be dancing together to the tune of Memories from the musical Cats.  It will be the last thing on the program or so I've been told and I've been told to get the kleenex. Of course the photographer also got pics of the girls on pointe with their Cinderella costumes and Claire is doing a solo from Giselle on pointe.  I'm excited to see the photos when they are ready in July and I'm very excited for her final show tonight.  We have many family members coming and I'm very thankful for that.  And I'm hoping my mom and dad can see her from heaven.

• BONFIRE:  Dave and I decided to have another bonfire on Saturday evening.  It had been another day of errands, lawn work, housework.  So after a late dinner of grilled salmon and salad, the girls were off doing their thing and we sat out by the fire and just talked, read our books, had ice cold rum and cokes....it was lovely.  We also made another dent in the large brush pile we need to burn.  I'm thankful for these lazy, weekend evenings when we sit out well past our bedtime.

• WATERMELON MINT TEA!  Oh.my.goodness.gracious.  THIS TEA!!  Last year, when Claire and I were doing some shopping in MA, we came across this outlet store.  She  bought a couple of gourmet chocolate bars for her then boyfriend, and I bought this amazing tea. I stuck it in the cupboard and kind of forgot about it.  I had made one pitcher of it at the end of the summer last year but discovered it just this past week when I was cleaning out that cupboard.  It's such a refreshing tea....it does need a lot of ice as you make it the "old fashioned" way with boiling water first.  But wow....it really hit the spot on the two very hot (95 and humid!!) days we had earlier this week.  I'm thankful for little things like this.

That wraps up my week.  I will be back next week...or at least that's the plan...and then I will be on a two week break from blogging!  

Enjoy whatever the weekend brings to you.