Summer Scattered

I'm feeling more scattered than usual today, so here's a random assortment of thoughts rolling around in my head:

R and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary today.  Hardly seems like that many years!  We will celebrate in lavish style this week with a nice dinner out with friends in San Diego, but today is the actual day and we have had a lovely time.  Our celebration dinner tonight was take-out Chinese food.  Yum.

I am totally smitten with Gareth Malone.  You don't know him?  Check out BBC America's show "The Choir," in which a young and charmingly enthusiastic choir master sets out to bring choral singing to some of Britain's low-income comprehensive schools.  It's entertaining and fascinating and actually uplifting.    

Aren't puppies the best?  Our nextdoor neighbors have a brand new puppy, a cattle-dog mix from a rescue organization, and she is adorable.  Floppy ears, loose wobbly tail, black freckles on her white muzzle...just adorable.  Makes me want another dog, much to R's chagrin.  Gemma would love it, though.

Miss C and I have had some lovely time this weekend playing with our Nintendo DS's together...Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver to be precise. Yes, I'm a cool mom with my own Nintendo and an understanding of what makes Pokemon so interesting.  It really is very multi-leveled and amusing.  (I've been wondering whether I can find an original version in Japanese so Miss C can play for Japanese language practice.  Hmmm.)  I'm glad to report that the Nintendo developers must be aging because they've made the new version with a much bigger screen and much clearer visibility.

I just finished a lovely lovely novel, called The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek.  Wonderful reading, makes me want to read The Great Gatsby again.  I loved that book.

We are thinking sad and loving thoughts for our dear friends Diane, Eric and Abby this week as they have had to say goodbye to their beautiful yellow lab Molly.  They are the dog-lovingest family I know, and Molly had a wonderful life with them.  I know she is romping in a big field in dog heaven.

We are packing to head off on a trip to San Diego for a few days.  Another reason I prefer car travel to air travel?  You can take as many pairs of shoes as you like, and then some.  Deciding which shoes to bring is always the hardest.  I have reduced my assortment to 3 pair but I am planning on a shopping excursion to get those perfect flats I don't yet own.

I told you...Random.  Here's hoping the week ahead is full of summery fun for all!  (By the way, if you have applied to the Artful Quilters Blog Ring just lately, I won't be around to deal with it so don't worry.  I'll catch up when I'm back.)