Happy Mother's Day!

Devon, Paul, & Paula - 2002 (before Paul was the tallest in the family)

It has been a bit of an odd mother's day here in the VaughanMiller household. The oddest bit: neither of my sons are here to help me celebrate. Now that is taking some getting used to. But the day has been rolling merrily along nonetheless.

We started the day by calling my mom - the epitome of why mothers should be celebrated: gentle as a butterfly's wing yet rock strong. She kept our home humming and still carries on in fine fashion even though living on her own for the first time in 86 years. I sent her cloth placemats, napkins, and napkin rings in all the colors of the rainbow for use on the new deck she is having built and she has promised me a tea party upon my arrival in Petoskey. Yay!

After talking to ma, Kendall and Jester started their walk and I started my run with the plan to meet up in the CU cross-country property. We rendezvoused right on schedule - just as we were all getting ready to exit the property. But Kendall had a surprise for me. As I approached, he yelled out "He's all yours! He's your dog." I took a look at Jester and he was the grossest looking beast I'd seen in ...well... forever. Apparently he had found a large mound of cow poo and had a jolly roll in it. Yuck! We took him over to the pond that's on the property - but, unfortunately, today was not the day he was going to decide to like swimming. He'll run around at the water's edge, but there's no getting the pooch in there for a full body swim. Rats. Off to home we went where I put on my grungiest clothes then hosed down and shampooed mister Jester over and over again. He's almost presentable.

After dog (and human) showering, it was off to brunch with Kendall's brother, his wife, one of their daughters and her two kids. Very fun being around kiddos on Mother's Day. A most enjoyable outing.

Back to the house and Kendall went off shopping while I hung out hoping for a call from my sons. And yes! They both called. Ahhhh.....

Then I went for run #2 for the day. Sort of a hither thither run just fitting in the miles to get my 100 for the week. Back through the Bureau of Standards trails, over to the grocery store to see if I'd hook up with Kendall (nope), through a couple of neighborhoods, back into my neighborhood, decided to do minute strides which livened me right up, dashed back home, where Kendall had returned, and told him we were going to go deliver the neighborhood newsletter which had just arrived - so it was me running up and down the block and to all the doorways while Kendall rolled the newsletters - a fun sort of relay thingy.

And now it's time for homemade fish & chips. That Kendall is quite the cook. Yum! Like I said:

Happy Mother's Day!