Another Way Of Looking At It Would Be If This Blog Post Were A Venn Diagram, The Part Where The Circles Intersect Would Be Labeled 'P'.

Welcome to Monday!  In an effort to organize my thoughts and to cobble together enough minutiae to qualify as a legitimate blog post, I have decided that today's entry will be brought to you by the letter 'P'.  Which of course is a nod to dear old Sesame Street.  I loved it when the letter was painted on a bald man's head and when it was slathered in mustard onto what looked like a tasty ham sandwich.  So in the spirit of Sesame Street, here is my 'P'.  I made it with mini shredded wheat.

Moving on.  Our first 'P' word is Pigeons.

This is our owl, Hooty.

He is not real and, as you can see, is mounted on a large pole.  His job was to scare away the pigeons who live on our roof.  Over the weekend, he was relieved of his duty.  He was not very good at it totally ineffective.  The pigeons are mildly annoying to me, but Geoff borders on obsessed at times.  Along with Hooty, he's tried snowballs, Snap-Its, and good ol' clapping to get the pigeons to find another hangout.  He'd wave Hooty over the edge of the roof while standing on our balcony (often in his pajamas) in an effort to freak out the birds.  For a while, it seemed to be working, but I think they either became numb to the surprise attacks or just moved a little farther back from the edge of the roof.  Anyway, the pigeons haven't gone anywhere and having a plastic owl mounted to a broomstick on our balcony was getting a little trashy.  I don't know what Geoff's next avenue of attack will be, but I'm glad to have Hooty gone.  He lives in our closet now and seems happier.  I think it was getting to be humiliating for him to be so openly ignored by those he was charged to intimidate.

Our next word is Patio.

Because even though all the snow and chilly temps are making us feel like summer is a long way away, we know differently.  And if the warmer months are to be as fabulous as we anticipate at the High House, we need need to spiff up our patio.  One of our goals is to find replacement cushions for these chairs.

They are antique lawn chairs.  From the 1920s - very Gatsby.  When we bought them we thought how charming and funky it would be to have vintage lawn furniture.  That was before we realized there are no replacement cushions made in this century that are a perfect even a close fit for the chairs.  We have tried everything.  Big box stores, online cushion retailers, you name it.  To no avail.  It appears now, after a weekend of searching, buying, failing, returning and repeating, we will have to have custom cushions made.  They are not cheap and so, because the list is long for patio expenses this year, we may just have to find some way to block out all the horrible thoughts of almost 100 years of sweaty people sitting for a spell on our seat cushions.  I'm not sure it's possible.

Our third word is actually a twofer - Peer Pressure.

You would think, at 46 I would be able to withstand pressure from others to do things that are out of character for me.  Not so.  Apparently, I need to take some lessons in personal strength.  While we were on our quest for cushions this Sunday, we stopped by a Whole Foods for sustenance.  We saw a truck in the parking lot that JD, because he is 13, loved.  Geoff was mocking JD's fondness for it and all cars like it, and I was enjoying the banter (I personally do not care a bit about cars and could not tell a Ford from a Toyota to save my life).  Anyway, the boys thought it would be funny to take a picture of me in front of it giving a thumbs up - I guess the comedic value of juxtaposition is hard to ignore.  I didn't want to do it, but I also didn't be a stick in the mud so I gamely jump in front of the truck and this was the result.

What you don't see here is that, unbeknownst to me, the owner of the truck was about 10 feet behind me returning with his groceries.  As soon as the shutter of the camera clicked I could feel his presence approaching.  I put my head down and scurried away in shame and Geoff offered a "Thanks for letting us borrow your truck" platitude before he too ran away.  It was horrifying.  I want to apologize for being so weak, Mr. Truck Owner.  I don't understand why you'd want such a kooky looking vehicle, but it's not my place to judge.  I. Am. Sorry.

And finally, Par.

The last three Sundays have all ended with a family golf outing and I'm loving it.  More importantly, it appears everyone in the family is loving it too so I guess we may have a tradition or something starting here.  The boys make a tee time for nine holes at about 5:00.  While they play, Eliza and I follow them in the cart.  After the round, we have dinner at the clubhouse.  There are no TV's, no computers and we're outside enjoying some golf course loveliness.  Together.  Of course, Eliza still texts and yesterday she napped, but we're together and relatively focused on each other.  We'd like to get it to the point where Eliza and I could play along with the boys, but that may be a while.  I have an issue with the length of the club and the tiny ball size causing it to be nearly impossible for me to make contact with the ball more than twice in a row.  But I remain hopeful that with a little work we can make it happen, eventually.  Meantime, this Sunday night golf and dinner at the course is a truly wonderful way to end a weekend.  I am perfectly pleased.

So I'm wearing this today.

It's plaid.  I have no shame.

And once again we find ourselves enjoying another Meatless Monday.  I had big plans to whip up something new, but I am feeling rather unmotivated so today's dinner will be Salad Sandwiches.  I grew up eating this, my parents had something similar during a trip to London at one point and it's been part of our family menu ever since.  It's super simple, just make a sandwich of sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, sliced red onion and sliced cheese (I prefer colby-jack).  Slather on mayo and dijon mustard.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  So good.

gratitude:  the smell of the outdoors in the morning, time to pull things together, music, a good book

thanks and love.