A bountiful harvest

Monday was kind of an interesting day. When I woke up in the morning I would never have imagined it... But at the same time, I wouldn't have traded it in, either.

Just as I finished getting dressed, the phone rang. It was a friend of mine from Howie's mission. She and I started writing when she was in his English class in Italy. Later, she visited Utah and I had the opportunity to show her around Temple Square at night. I've visited her once in Italy as well, but mostly we've just written letters and talked on the phone.

She called to let me know that she's in Florida visiting a friend for the next three months. This is especially significant because she has a cell phone with free nationwide calling, and we'll have the chance to talk more often. This is very good for my Italian and good for her English... not to mention the friendship.

We talked all morning while I did chores around the house. I also was able to finish a weekend-long job of refinishing and assembling a storage chest we bought at Ikea on Saturday.

Later in the day, Max and I got the chance to do some work in the garden and enjoy a perfect afternoon. The weather gets cooler every day and I needed to harvest as much as possible before it could get any colder. While I dug up carrots, Max enjoyed the chance to run around in the garden and eat whatever he wanted without fear of punishment. He really loves playing in the garden, but only in fall do I let him eat anything I haven't picked.

Of course, the tomato cages are his very favorite thing.

I decided to make chicken pot pie with the fruits of our harvest, so I put it all in a pot to start cooking while I taught piano lessons. As I finished the lesson, though, my mom and sister pulled up. They explained that they were in the area and my dad and other brothers were nearby, so they decided to come see if we'd like to go to dinner together for home evening.

So - I finished putting together my pot pie and put it in the fridge and we all went out to eat. With such a big family, we don't often get much time with just my parents and the siblings who are still at home... So we had a great time visiting and catching up on some of the exciting events in their lives. As an extra treat, mom and my sister stayed late and played Quiddler with me.

It was nice to have a day that was productive and spontaneous. The weather was perfect. And I got to do some of my favorite things with my favorite people.

Now... while I was getting Max's picture from my camera phone, I found this other of Maxie that I just had to throw in.

Every once in a while, I leave him on his cage with the door open while I run quick errands. He doesn't usually go anywhere... But every once in a while he gets startled or adventurous an I have to go find him when I get home. Finding him has gotten quite easy lately, though. Most often, I'll find that he decided he was tired and flew off his cage, climbed the stairs, and climbed our bedspread to take a nap on Brian's pillow. Have I mentioned that this bird is spoiled? Anyway, just had to share the picture.