Yesterday I found a shoe going-out-of-business sale, and got two new purty, comfy pair of shoes! I have gotten to the point where I am less concerned with stylish shoes than I am concerned about comfort. Breaking three toes a while back does kind of affect your priorities! But thse are nice looking and comfy too. Hurrah!

Both Gracie, the Tibetan terror, and I have had left feet that have owies. I have been enjoying a sharp pain in the soft tissue near the achilles tendon, and it seems that Gracie has pretty much the same injury. I took her to the vet who did x-rays, gave her anti-inflammatories, all of which showed no improvement. Took her back, gosh, is that ever expensive! and he gave her pain pills, which have done some good. She only hobbles on three feet some of the time now. Nevertheless, she can still streak across the yard to chase a cat out of the yard! I go to the doctor for a regularly scheduled appointment this week, by which time the pain in my foot will be completely gone. I can count on it!

The Texan went to the funeral of a beloved aunt with Bird Girl and his son RR. Our Pastoral Care Group has been cancelled because it falls on the night of the funeral service for a dear church friend. The Ex is now on liquid morphine because the pain patches are ineffective. It is a beautiful day today with birds singing, monarchs migrating through, and lovely cool nights. The light and the dark exist together.

Happy Birthday, Doodle!

This has been a week of gains and losses. I lost a good friend who died yesterday, after a severe stroke about 10 days ago. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Colleen.

On the plus side, the Texan got up early on Monday, made a pot of coffee and did a load of laundry. That sounds rather mundane, but do you realize how many steps he had to go through in order to carry out those tasks?! I was amazed and thrilled! Of course, he also filled the swimming pool and left the water running for 18 hours! Yipes, the water bill! All in all, he continues to inch his way uphill, which is nothing short of a miracle.

Today is Lawyer Girl's birthday; she was the most beautiful, light pink baby with just a springling of peach fuzz when she was born. And she still lights up my life after all this time. Happy Birthday, Doodlebug!

Birthday etc.

Well, Hurricane Ike has come and gone. Roger and his family were told to stay put in their house outside of Houston. They boarded up windows, had the kids sleep downstairs while Roger and Sheila were awake all night. They lost 4 trees, with 2 of them falling on the house but not doing any major damage to the upstairs. Now they are hot and doing without power, but overall are doing well. Thanks be to God.

Tomorrow is a milestone birthday for me. It is my "I qualify for Social Security" birthday, so they had better play nice with me at work this year! We are going out for dinner tomorrow night; it started out with just Tex and me, then I invited my friend S., then my son's family cancelled out on today, so are also joining us for dinner tomorrow night. This quiet little birthday celebration is getting bigger!