I was in the hall bathroom hanging up a new picture when my son Alex walked in. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Hanging the picture your Aunt Lizzy gave me.” I finished tapping the picture hook into the wall then picked up the 5×7 white framed picture. It had three pieces of sea glass that were made to look like shore birds standing on a piece of driftwood. I placed it on the hook, adjusted it to make it level, then stood back to admire it. “That is so stinking cute!” I cried. I looked over at Alex. “Isn’t it adorable?”

“Sure, adorable.” Alex answered not sounding nearly as thrilled as I was. He picked up the tool I’d used to hang the picture hook. “But why are you using a meat mallet instead of a hammer?” Alex looked confused.

I shrugged my shoulders as I took the mallet from him. “I haven’t used a hammer in years.” I confessed. “No matter how many times I’d buy a new hammer it would be missing whenever I went to use it.” I held up the mallet and smiled. “None of you have ever thought of using this!”

Alex shook his head and laughed. “I guess as long as it works…” he went over to the vanity and opened the bottom drawer, I watched as the knob turned in his hand.

“How long has that knob been loose?” I asked.

“I’m not sure.”

I looked inside the drawer, at the screw that was holding the knob. “Perfect, it’s not a Phillips head.” I looked up at Alex. “I can fix this for you in a second if you go into the kitchen and bring me a butter knife.”

“Okay.”

While he headed for the kitchen I looked over at the picture I’d just hung and noticed it was lower then I wanted. “Can you bring the metal tongs, too?” I called to him.

Alex came back with a butter knife and the tongs. “Okay, I get the butter knife.” he said as he handed it to me. “But what are the tongs for?”

“You’ll see.” I took the butter knife, tightened the screw then closed the drawer. I took the tongs from him and clicked them together. “Pliers!” I took the picture down and using the tongs pulled the picture hanger back out of the wall. Putting the tongs on the vanity, I grabbed the meat mallet once again and ‘hammered’ the hook up a little higher. Hanging the picture once again I stood back to check. “Perfect!”

I gathered up my tools and headed back to the kitchen.

“So what else do you use in here for your toolbox?” Alex asked as he looked around the kitchen.

“I can’t tell you that.” I opened the dishwasher and placed my tools in it, then walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m afraid I’ve already given up too many of my secrets.”

I was walking past my living room window when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a squirrel scurrying across the telephone wire carrying something in her mouth. I squinted my eyes to try and get a better look.

It has always amazed me that a squirrel’s twitching tail could take the place of the balance pole high-wire artists use. But no human, no matter how talented they are, could cross a wire at the speed that she was moving.

My squinting seemed to finally pay off because I couldn’t believe what I saw. “Oh my gosh, she’s got a baby in her mouth!” I cried.

I heard my husband Steven running into the room. “WHAT?” he cried.

I turned to see the panicked look on his face and was a little surprised by his reaction. “There’s a mommy squirrel with a baby in her mouth.” I said pointing to the telephone wire.

“Oh, for God’s sake!” He sat down on the couch trying to catch his breath.

It took me a second but I finally realized he thought I was talking about our across the street neighbors who’d just brought their twin babies home from the hospital the week before.

“Sorry about that.” I smiled and shrugged my shoulder. “I guess that did sound kind of weird.”

“You think?” he shook his head then got up to look out the window. We both watched the squirrel race back across our yard, up the telephone pole onto the wires and leap into the neighbor’s tree. Moments later with another baby in her mouth she did the entire obstacle course all over again moving another one to the new nest.

“I’ve never seem a squirrel do that before.” I looked over at Steven. “I wonder why she’s moving them?”

Steven was still looked out the window. “I bet it’s because of the Cooper Hawk.” He turned to look at me. “I heard it in the back yard this morning.”

I grabbed my phone and headed to the front door. “I’m going to try and get a picture.”

“You’re going to scare her!” Steven called as he stayed by the window.

“She’ll never see me.” I reassured him. I got outside just as she was going back to the first nest for another baby. I tried to get a picture of her on the telephone wire with her carrying a baby but she was so fast I couldn’t get the shot I wanted.

I thought I’d wait for her to make the trip again but when she came down from the new nest she didn’t just race back to the first nest like she’d done before. Instead she frantically followed her route, seeming to be looking for a missing baby. I hadn’t seen her drop one so I could not understand why she was acting this way. After checking the old nest once again she made the same frantic search on her way back to the new nest and her babies.

I came back into the house. “Did you see her drop a baby?” I asked.

Steven shook his head no.

“So how come she didn’t know she’d gotten them all?”

Steven started to laugh. “I’m not sure if squirrels are known for their counting skills.”

“Oh, that’s just great.” I sighed as I looked back out the window. “Now I feel like I need to go out and double check that she got them all.”

I was outside filling my bird feeders when I looked down on the ground and saw something strange. It was perfectly round, the size of a golf ball and had the colorful look of a jawbreaker. I put the lid back on the feeder, tucked the bag of birdseed under my arm and scooped up my new found treasure.

Back in the house I placed the colorful ball on the counter and went to put the birdseed away.

Alex came into the kitchen. It seemed it was time for his hourly forage in the cabinets to see if anything new had appeared. He looked over at the ball. “What’s that?” he asked.

“Not a clue.” I picked it up and began to examine it further.

Alex was opening and closing cabinets, clearly disappointed that nothing new had appeared.

“It’s really pretty, don’t you think?” I held out the strange little ball in the palm of my hand for him to see.

He looked over and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess.” then he continued his search in the refrigerator.

I put the ball down on the counter and took out my phone. “There’s only one way to find out.” I snapped a picture of it, then opened my Facebook page. “There’s a group I belong to that’s just about plants.” I said as I began typing. “I’ll post it there. I’m sure someone will come up with an answer.”

I looked over at Alex and could see the confused look on his face. “You belong to a group that’s just about plants?” he asked.

“Hey! Don’t judge!” I put my phone down on the counter.

Alex was still searching the refrigerator when my husband Steven came in. “What are we doing?” he asked then pointed to the ball I had sitting next to my phone. “What’s that?”

“Alex is searching for an unknown snack and I’m waiting for an answer to that very question.” I picked up my phone to check, and sure enough I already had an answer. “Hey look, they sent me a picture of exactly what we have.” I held out the phone for them to see. “They say it’s an oak gall.” I looked over at Steven. “Have you ever heard of that?”

Steven shook his head no. I looked at Alex, who gave me a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-look.

“I’ll just Google it.” Typing in “oak gall” I tapped on the first site and then began reading it aloud, “Okay, it says here that these things happen when the oak tree reacts to a non-stinging wasp that’s layed its eggs on it’s leaves or branches. The insects inject a hormone into the plant tissue which causes it to grow abnormally and encloses the developing wasp larvae.” I looked up at both of them my mouth twisted in a grimace. “Wow, that’s gross.”

“Are you kidding me!” Alex cried. “You just brought a giant wasp egg in the house!”

Steven picked it up, opened the kitchen door and tossed it into the yard. “There!” he said as he closed the door and looked at Alex. “It’s out of the house.”

Alex looked disgusted as he stood there just shaking his head.

“I’m sorry.” I cried. “It was so pretty, how was I to know?”

Neither of them said a word, they just looked at each other and left the kitchen.

I couldn’t help but feel awful. “Dinner will be in an hour!” I called out to them, hoping that would make it all better. When there was no answer I added, “I’m making chicken parmesan!”

That seemed to do the trick.

“Are we having pasta with it?” Alex asked.

“Of course!”

“Sounds good to me.” Steven called.

I let out a sigh of relief. “And then all was forgiven.” I whispered to myself.

It was after dinner and my son Alex and I had just returned from a walk in our neighborhood. We each grabbed a bottle of water and headed to the back porch where my husband, Steven was sitting.

“You two have a nice walk?” he asked as I sat down in my rocking chair and Alex sat down on the glider.

“Great.” I said taking a sip of water. “Oh my gosh! There it is again!” I cried pointing to a small white feather gently floating down and landing on the deck in front of me. “Alex, I told you a spirit was trying to let us know they were thinking about us!”

Steven looked over at Alex who shrugged his shoulders before answering. “Mom’s talking to dead people again.”

“I’m not taking to them. ” I reached down and picked up the tiny white feather. “It’s just a nice way to be reminded that someone’s who’s passed is watching over me.” I placed the feather on the table next to me then looked over at Alex. “How many feather’s did we see on our walk?”

Alex shook his head. “Three maybe four?” He looked over at Steven. “I told her I thought it might be molting season.” They both started to laugh but quickly stopped when they saw I wasn’t joining in on their joke.

Steven cleared his throat. “I thought you said it’s when you see a cardinal?”

“That too.” I nodded in agreement. “It’s also dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies even pennies.” I added.

“Well…” Steven shook his head. “I’m pretty sure you can’t leave the house without seeing at least one of those things.” Steven looked skeptical.

“I disagree.” I took another sip of water. “Days can go by that I don’t see a butterfly or a cardinal.” I looked over at Alex. “And I haven’t seen a ladybug in months.”

Alex looked over at Steven then back at me. “But aren’t you the one who pointed out that our front lawn always has dragonflies buzzing around on it?”

I waved my hand dismissively. “We’re not talking about dragonflies right now.” I leaned over and picked up the tiny white feather and held it up. “We’re talking about feathers right now.”

Just then several more feathers floated down from the trees. Steven and Alex both looked at me.

I watched as they landed in a small pile in the grass and had to cringe. “Okay maybe that’s not a loved one trying to get my attention.” I said sadly.

Steven leaned forward and looked up in the trees. “Okay I’m glad you realize that.” He sounded relieved. “Because I’m pretty sure those are from whatever the Cooper Hawk just snagged for his dinner.”

“Well, that was disgusting.” I said as I grabbed my water bottle and headed for the kitchen door. “Maybe you should check the front lawn for dragonflies.” Steven suggested.

My sister Liz sent me a picture of a waterfall. “Just checked into our hotel! Here’s the view from our terrace!”

There was no texting back for me. I picked up the phone and called her. “Where are you?” I cried. “It’s beautiful!”

“I booked a quick weekend get-away. We’re up along the Hudson River in New York.”

I was happy for her but envious. I loved the Hudson River. There were so many mansions to tour, so much history to learn, so many shops to explore. “What are you planning on doing? I asked.

“Well, we’re in the car headed for a two hour boat ride.” She said, I could hear her leafing through some papers. “It will go past a few lighthouses, under some really pretty bridges and past a bunch of mansions!”

“What a great trip!” I looked out my kitchen window to double check the weather. “It’s beautiful here. How’s the weather there?”

“Perfect! A little overcast but not too hot.”

I was really happy for her, she worked hard and deserved some time away.

So, even though I was standing in front of a sink filled with dirty dishes and looking over at the huge grocery list that needed to be purchased, I decided I was going to go on the trip with her. Not literally but vicariously.

“Send me pictures every step of the way!” I cradled the phone against my shoulder as I began running water in the sink, rinsing the dishes before stacking them in the dishwasher.

“Hey, it sounds like you’re near a waterfall yourself!” she paused for a moment. “Eww, please tell me you’re not in the bathroom!”

I had to laugh. “No, I’m rinsing a sink full of dishes before I head out to the grocery store.” I turned off the water and wiped my hands on the dishtowel. “Please snap pictures of everything you see on the boat tour.” I asked. “Especially the lighthouses!”

“Of course!” she had to laugh. “It’ll be just like you’re here!”

“Exactly!”

We hung up the phone as I grabbed the keys and the shopping list before heading out the door.

I was unlocking my car door when my phone dinged. I had a text from Liz. It was another picture, this time of the boat they were about to get on. “It’s called the Rip Van Winkle!” she wrote. “How cute is that?”

I climbed into my hot car, started it up and turned the air conditioning on high. “Wish I was getting on a boat right now.” I grumbled to myself. But instead I texted back. “Adorable! Keep the pictures coming!” I added three smiley face emoji’s just to let her know how happy I was for her.

I put the car in reverse and began backing out of the driveway. “Pictures of her trip are going to be the only thing making grocery shopping on a day like this even slightly bearable.” I sighed.

It was late in the afternoon when my husband Steven walked in the front door. “I’m home!” he called as he dropped his keys on the foyer table.

“I’m in here!” I called from the living room where I was sitting on the couch, still in my pajamas with my laptop propped up on a pillow on my lap.

“What have you been up to today?” he asked picking up the pile of mail from the coffee table and leafing through it.

I was busy scrolling though some news-feeds. “Did you know Jim Carey was also a painter?” I asked as I turned the screen around to show him some of his paintings.

Steven looked confused. “Jim Carey? You mean the actor?”

“Yup.” I turned the laptop back to facing me and began tapping on the keys again.

“What made you look that up?” He dropped the mail back on the table and sat down next to me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “A friend of mine posted a video on Facebook of him painting. At first I thought it was a role he was playing but then I realized it was his work.”

“So you’ve spent all day looking at paintings he’s done?” Steven looked at my pajamas. “When I left here this morning you had a whole list of things you wanted to get done.”

“Not just paintings he’s done.” I pulled a blanket over my bare feet. “Once I saw what he’d done it got me thinking if there were any other actors who like to paint.”

“Really?” I could hear by his tone he wasn’t impressed.

That didn’t stop me from sharing more of my new found knowledge.“Did you know Sylvester Stallone likes to paint in the nude?”

Steven shook his head, giving me a look of disgust. “Why would I want to know that?”

“No reason.” I said shrugging my shoulders again. “I’m not a big fan of his work but I thought the nude thing was pretty interesting.”

Steven laughed as he took a pillow and placed it behind his back. “So who else paints?”

“See…I told you it’s interesting!” I went back on the site I’d found earlier. “Did you know Anthony Hopkins started painting when he was in his 60’s!”

“I did know that one.” Steven said.

“What about David Bowie?”

Steven nodded his head. “Knew that one, too.”

“Well…” I scrolled through the site. “What about Johnny Depp? Or Stevie Nicks?”

“Nope didn’t know about either one of them.”

“See!” I smiled as I as I shut off my computer and placed it on the table. “Now I’ve given you some useless trivia you can feel free to share with friends and family!” I stood up and stretched.

“Thanks.” Steven got up and headed into the kitchen. “What’s going on for dinner?” He opened the refrigerator and looked inside.

“Well…I got so busy with my research that I didn’t get a chance to go to the grocery store.” I admitted.

“So we’re ordering out?” Steven was headed for the drawer we kept the take-out menus in.

“Nope!” I opened the freezer and pulled out the frozen pizza I liked to keep on hand for just such emergencies. “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes!” I turned on the oven. “Once I get this in the oven I’ll have just enough time to jump in the shower and put on a clean pair of pajamas before dinner!”

Our son Alex came out on the back deck carrying a bowl of cherries. “Look what I found in the refrigerator!” he said placing the bowl on the table between my husband Steven and I. He looked over at me. “Did you get these today?”

“I did! I picked them up at the farmer’s market, don’t they look good!” I popped one in my mouth and pulled the stem off. Spitting the pit into my hand I got up and went into the house coming back out with a few napkins. “Does anyone else need a napkin?” I asked placing them on the table next to the bowl of cherries.

“For what?” Steven asked as he took another cherry from the bowl.

“The pits.” I said.

Steven and Alex looked at one another before they began to laugh. “We don’t need a napkin.” Alex turned his head spitting the cherry pit over the rail and into the yard.

“Nice!” Steven said then spit his own over the rail. “But I think mine went farther!”

They both turned to me. “You want to try?” Steven asked pushing the bowl of cherries closer to me.

“I’ve never been very good a pit spitting.” I said popping another cherry into my mouth, taking the stem and placing it on my napkin. When I spit out the pit it tumbled unimpressively just a few feet from my chair. “Told you.” I said picking it up and tossing it into the yard. “I’ve never been a gifted pit spitter like you two.” I grabbed another one from the bowl to try again.

“You’ve got to tip up your chin up a little more…it helps you get some distance.” Alex demonstrated what he was saying as I watched another one of his pits go sailing over the railing and landing in the yard.

I tipped my chin up and spit. The cherry pit dribbled out of my mouth, down my chin and landed on my shirt leaving a red stain where it landed. “Oh, great!” I said flicking the pit with my fingers. “That’s going to be a stain I’ll never get out!” I complained.

Alex looked over at Steven. “She really can’t do it.” he sounded almost amazed.

Steven shook his head. “Nope, she really can’t.” He shot another pit out of his mouth and we all watched it sail over the railing in a perfect arch. “It must be like the tongue curling gene. You either have it or you don’t.” He curled his tongue and looked over at Alex.

“Oh yeah! I can do that too!” He curled his tongue and they both turned to me.

I stuck my tongue out, of course without a curl. “Nope can’t do that either.” I sighed as I took one last cherry, popped it in my mouth and spit the pit into my hand before dropping it on my napkin.

“Maybe if you practiced.” Alex tried to sound hopeful.

I looked down at the cherry stain on my shirt. “Nope, not worth it.” I shrugged my shoulders, “Besides, it’s not really very ladylike.” I sat up a little straighter, brushing an invisible speck of dirt off my pants.

“Really?” Steven turned his head, spit out another pit then looked over at me. “That’s what you’re going with?”

I smiled as I placed another stem on my napkin. “Yup! That’s exactly what I’m going with!”

We’d invited some friends over for pizza and Steven had made some appetizers. As he put the plate of tomato, mozzarella and basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the table he proudly announced. “This came out of Kathy’s garden!”

“Oh, the tomatoes!” Nicole asked as she scooped one off the plate.

“No, the basil.” Steven said and smiled at me.

“The tomatoes came from the grocery store.” I admitted.

“But she’s growing some great looking cherry tomatoes!” Steven said. He looked over at Nancy. “Would you like to see her garden?”

“Um…Steven there’s not really much to see.” I said passing the plate of olives to Nancy’s husband Frank.

“Oh, come on…you’re not giving yourself enough credit.” Steven got up and tapped Nancy on the arm. “Do you want to see?”

“Sure.” Nancy got up and followed Steven out the back door to our deck where five pots of cherry tomatoes were tied along the deck posts.

I handed the plate of cheese and crackers to Nicole’s husband Jake before following them out to the deck.

I opened the back door and could see Nancy patiently standing next to Steven as he proudly pointed to the dozen or so cherry tomatoes ripening on the vines. “It’s a pretty nice crop she’s got coming in!” he said.

Nancy nodded and tried to look impressed.

“And her basil’s right over there!” Steven pointed to the pot of basil next to the rocking chair. “Oh that’s nice.” Nancy agreed.

“Hey, Nancy! Can I get you a glass of wine?” I asked as I stood in the open doorway.

“Oh, that would be great!” She came back into the house with Steven following her. I let Nancy in and stopped Steven at the door closing it quietly so the two of us were alone on the deck.

“Didn’t Frank and Nancy have a huge garden when they lived in Connecticut?” I whispered to him.

“Sure they did.” Steven looked over his shoulder. “It was probably the size of our whole deck. They grew everything! Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers!” He shook his head trying to remember. “I think he even tried pumpkins or watermelons at one time.”

I groaned as I smacked my hand to my forehead. “So do you really think Nancy wanted to see my five tomatoes plants and a container of basil?” I groaned even louder. “I can’t believe you even called it a garden?”

Steven patted me on the shoulder and reached for the doorknob. “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. Last year you only had two tomato plants and this year you have five. I’m proud of you!”

I laughed. “Thanks.”

“Hey, just think maybe next year your garden will be in the yard and not on the deck.” Steven gave a hopeful smile.

I just shook my head. “Let’s not go crazy. I can barely remember to water the five plants I have.”

As he opened the door we heard the knock at the front door. “Pizza’s here!” we called in unison.

I walked into the laundry room and saw the laundry basket overflowing with clothes. “Oh come on! I thought I caught up with the laundry yesterday!” I cried as I began sorting the dirty clothes into piles.

“Are you talking to me?” my husband Steven called.

“I am if you’re the one who dumped all the dirty clothes in here!”

Steven came to the door. “I only threw in what I used when I showered this morning.”

By now I had three separate piles. I held up a pair of my son Alex’s shorts. “I’m pretty sure I know who did this.”

Steven backed out of the doorway and headed to his office. “Hey, I’m just glad it wasn’t me.” he called over his shoulder.

“ALEX!” I called up the stairs.

“What?”

“Didn’t I ask you to put your dirty clothes in the laundry room yesterday?” By now Alex was at the head of the stairs.

“I did.” he stood there looking confused.

“Yesterday?”

“Oh…um…maybe it was this morning.” He gave me his most charming smile. “Sorry.”

“Nope, not going to work.” I said motioning for him to follow me. “I would have done it for you yesterday but now you get to do it yourself.”

I was pretty sure I could hear a slight moan behind me as Alex followed me. “I don’t want to hear any complaining.” I cautioned. “I’m tired of having to do laundry everyday. It’s about time you did your own.” By now we were both walking into the laundry room.

Steven was already there taping up a sign on the shelf over the washing machine. When he saw me coming he pointed to the sign. “I made this for you.” he said than smiled.

In bold print the sign read: HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED AT THE LAST FEW LOADS OF LAUNDRY AND CONSIDERED JUST THROWING THEM AWAY?

“Amen to that!” I said looking at Alex, then down at his three piles of dirty clothes. “That’s exactly what I was thinking when I came in here this morning! I adjusted the sign so it was centered on the shelf. “I think I just might go out and get this thing laminated!”

It was noon and my son Alex was just coming out of his bedroom.

“Want to go down to the beach and grab a hot dog for lunch?” I asked him as he came into the room rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Alex looked out the window. “It looks like a perfect beach day.” He began to stretch. “So, I’m going to say no.” He stifled a yawn.

“What?” I was confused. “But you just said it’s a perfect beach day?”

“I know.” He wandered into the kitchen and I could hear him rummaging though the refrigerator. “Do you know what the traffic’s going to be like getting down there?” he called out to me. He finally came back into the living room. “Do you know there’s nothing here to eat?”

“I know. I didn’t feel like going grocery shopping this morning.” I explained. “That’s why I’m suggesting the hot dog.” I smiled at him.

Alex stood there for a moment thinking about it.

“What if I told you I could get you to the beach without hitting any traffic?” I added.

Alex didn’t seem convinced. “How?”

“Your Grandmother was the original back road warrior and she taught me all her tricks.” I got up and grabbed the car keys. “It’s time I passed this knowledge down to you.”

We were in the car backing out of the driveway. “Knowing all the local shortcuts is the best thing about living near the ocean.” We were stopped at a traffic light of a major highway that led to the beach. “Now, off season we’d just go straight to the beach.” I pointed to the highway that now looked like a parking lot as cars jockeyed for the better lane. “If you go that way now, you’re talking about getting to the beach in about an hour.”

“I know, that’s why I don’t go down there in the summer.” Alex grumbled.

“Well, that’s just sad.” I said. “We live by the beach we should be able to enjoy it too!” By now the light had turned green and I crossed over the highway. “We’re going to weave our way though a few towns, take the roads less traveled and be eating a hot dog in less then fifteen minutes!” I looked at Alex and smiled. “I promise!”

Cutting through two developments, and taking roads parallel to the direct beach route we were pulling into the parking lot of Windmill Hot Dogs in less then fifteen minutes.
“Wow!” Alex said as he got out of the car. “I didn’t think we’d be able to find a parking space.”

I smiled as I pointed to the sign on the light pole. “That’s because this lot is only for customers, and they really do tow you if you park here and go to the beach.”

“Did you know that before we got here?”

“Of course, or I never would have suggested coming down.” I pointed to the line of cars driving up and down Ocean Avenue looking for parking spaces. “You think I want to be one of them, waiting to see if someone’s pulling out soon?” I shook my head no as we headed into the restaurant.

Once we ordered our hot dogs we sat outside to eat and listen to waves crash against the beach.

“Isn’t this nice.” I said looking over at Alex and taking in a deep breath of ocean air. “This is how locals enjoy it here.” I sighed.

Alex laughed. “So after the hot dogs do you want to go get some ice cream?”

“Sure.” I smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure I know a short cut.”