A busy September

I guess I should start with an apology for my silence. This blog doesn't have many readers, but for those of you who do read it regularly, I'm sorry for the sudden and complete absence over the last month.

The truth is, for the past few weeks I've been busily running around like a crazy woman. It all started at the end of August, with a trip to Seattle for work. Work trips are always fun anyway, but all the better when you can combine them with meeting the Cos, her hubby, and their pink, asquidgy new squealer.

"Do you want to hold him?" the Cos asked me generously. But I was too scared. I shouldn't even by allowed near anything more fragile than a brick, let alone to hold a baby. Just as well that I declined anyway, because right after that the little critter let out a yowl and a holler, and I'm sure (although they'd never admit it of course) that right then he must have pooped himself.

Of course, as soon as he'd sorted out his own GI tract quibbles, the kiddo started smiling at us beatifically and wiggling his little pink toes, and even me, hardened as my heart is to all things baby-like, I felt myself melting just a little.

And then, when I'd just got back and barely had a chance to catch my breath, began Delta's month of retirement. Yes. A whole month without work. Can you imagine that? It was like a month of heaven, except better because he didn't have to wear white robes or shiny things on his head.

"What are you going to do with all your time?!" I asked him in vicarious excitement, as the month stretched before us like an unending summer vacation. "Imagine! A whole month off!"

"Oh, I have lots of goals," was his peremptory response.

"Like?"

"I want to learn to play the guitar like Bono."

I tried not to visibly fall off my seat, but I couldnt' quite conceal the look of outright surprise.
"Erm. Anything else?"

"And learn to speak Spanish. Fluently."

And I guess I'd say, after the month's over, that he didn't quite master either of those, but we managed to pack in a bundle of goodness anyway.

There was a weekend on the shore at the Cranes', where we got to spend time with the motely crew, the three kids, and their crazy cockerpoodledoodle dogs. And Delta and I got to watch the Labour Day fireworks on the beach, sifting through the silky sand with our toes as the fireworks burst in brilliant splendour across the skies above us.

And then there was a weekend in the Catskills, where Delta and I set up camp for two days, to go hiking through the woods. And every vista, every escarpment (and sometimes just the uphill scramble!) took our breath away.

And of course, there it was a special month for Queen Jaffa too. She learnt that in September, the sun is at exactly the right height for a direct shaft of light to hit a corner of our living room floor, for precisely half an hour each morning - the perfect nap situation for a cat. Only for September though - I wonder if she'll remember it again next year.