Amazing Best Day

The Amazing Best Family Birthday Girl

Today is special because it marks the annual anniversary of my daughter in law, the fabulous ABFA’s, 21^st birthday.  This remarkable young lady descended on our family a few short years ago and we have been consistently enriched since that day.  She brings beauty, grace, intelligence, and not a little bit of athletic prowess to the family.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with her where I don’t spend a lot of time smiling.  Her most enduring and important trait is how happy she makes my son.  We all bask in the reflected joy.  Happiest of birthday to my amazing second daughter!

We’re definitely into transition time as we leave the best part of autumn.  Most daylight hours are now spent at work with a pre-dawn wake up and darkened descent downstairs to a frost laden lawn.  The trees are rapidly shedding their incredible plumage.  I like to take time each day to just look around and enjoy the death throes of another growing season as the stark reality of a leafless winter looms on the horizon.

Deck Before 

I spent some time on the back deck last night in the invigorating air moving the deck furniture inside for the winter.  Buddy provided squirrel security but even he wimped out after a while and watched from the heated inside.  I was removing the canopy which takes a real beating over the summer from the wind and sun and thought I was going to get one more summer out of it.  That is until one of the hooks caught as I was pulling it off and one entire side of the sun weakened fabric tore.  I took my frustration out on the dozen yellow jackets I found dozing in the folds of the sun screen.  I’ve learned to check these as a couple years ago I folded up a hibernating nest and carried it into the basement.  Neither of us was pleased when they woke up to infest the basement over the winter.  They died well though.

Winterized After - Plants Made a Plaintive Plea for Rescue

I finished up another Travis McGee novel, A Purple Place for Dying, yesterday as I continue my frenzied read through these fondly remembered treasures.  Trav is out west interviewing a potential client when she is brutally killed by a sniper.  This launches him into a confusing trail trying to identify the killer while also rescuing a young lady caught up in the violence.  It was vintage MacDonald, a fantastically scripted, action packed detective story away from McGee’s normal Florida haunts.  

As with all of MacDonald’s work, I am left in awe of his ability to wordsmith:

“Maybe, before we parted, I would tell her-or try to tell her-how she, in her own way, had mended me.  A different fellow had gone out there to Esmerelda, with the bad nerves and the flying twitches, and the guilts and remorses and the feeling of being savagely and forever alone.  No guilts this time.  Not with this one.  Remorse is the ultimate in self-abuse.”