The last few days in CA, soaking up the cuteness of these kiddos -
Striking the model pose...
One of my favorites from the trip.
We spent part of an afternoon, looking through binders of my Grandma's recipes and reminiscing. And making ourselves hungry, naturally. (Of which Grandma would have thoroughly approved.)
Trying to get pictures before good-byes the last night I was there -
Clearly it was an ordeal.
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When Ava tries to take pictures...
I held her every chance I got, and it still wasn't enough.
I don't know what he was doing, but it sure made for a hilarious picture!
Avers and her eyelashes.
Sigh.
The last supper of my time in CA: a Senegalese dinner of marinated chicken, french fries, onion sauce, crudités (fresh veggies with vinaigrette), and baguette.
You know how sometimes you eat something, and then you keep trying to duplicate it? That's how it is with most of the Senegalese dishes I love. Both ingredients and cooking tools are different here (obviously), so it's a bit of trial and error, but every time brings me a little closer to the gold standard - Angèle's cooking. I think she would have quite approved of this last attempt.
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Last Thursday I flew back to my own little place.
It was sunny (for a few days).
Work was stacked up high. I have no hopes of being "caught up" anytime soon, I just keep chipping away at all the piles. What else can one do?
Tamara left a surprise in my cabinets while I was gone (she knew I'd really been admiring this mug...).
There were no mice in the mouse trap, though apparently they did catch one while I was away, and I can hear more in the walls. Or, at least, I can hear something in the walls. Maybe it's a bird's nest. Maybe it's a squirrel. Maybe, heaven forbid, it's an actual rat. (Unlikely. Thankfully.)
Good coffee beans, Grandma's wooden spoons, and clementines.
Happy sigh.
A brief quiet moment, all the more lovely because of the current schedule.
Also - coffee tastes extra delicious in a pretty mug. Who knew. ;)
Grandma's mixing bowl and a Christmas gift from Mom found a home on top of my fridge. I like looking at them there.
Free plants are the best, because a) free and b) plants!
I've been wanting to get a bigger/taller plant for the dining room for a while, but just hadn't looked hard enough. Then, poof! Free plants in the maintenance office today. Exactly what the room was begging for.
I started reading Psalms last week. This book never gets old. I've underlined so many verses over the years, and I still want to keep coming back to them. Their comfort. Their perspective. Their truth.
When life seems just a bit too much, when low-grade anxiety hangs around like a pesky fever, I need reminders about calling on the Lord. I need reminders that He hears me.
He's acquainted with the ebb and flow of life's demands, and enough for all of it.
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Tomorrow is more piles to tackle in the office, work to do in the newly-painted guest apartment (pictures to come eventually), and a mini-reunion of friends from my Missouri days (some of whom I haven't seen in several years).
It will be busy and full and good and grace-full...
And I should turn the lights out and get some shut eye soon.
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No place like home, indeed.
