on the shoot

a squeak and a bounce and a few dollars (of course) and we've the ultimate in cowboy gear. he's been fed and watered and covered in a blanket to sleep. he's been named scout.







he's galloped from "bad guys" with a gun toting unmasked rider who is shouting, "look at me!" and, less frequently, other cowboy lingo, such as "whoa!" and "heigh-ho, silver!"







two can ride but one falls off and there is always a fight for the front-most spot -- grasping reins and mane are better than tail, apparently.






we discovered a delicious cookbook to enjoy with henry (and jude of course). the illustrations are terrific and the food (thus far) is delicious. henry loves to cut and shred and pile and smear and butter. and jude loves to watch and listen to henry's running commentary while munching on pieces of sweet red bell pepper. this food slump dissipates and i buy food that takes longer than twenty minutes to prepare. a re-read of certain chapters in laurel's kitchen and the discovery of the fantastic crescent dragonwagon has inspired and has pulled me out of the "i wonder what my mom's making for dinner" (read: "let's walk down and see if we can eat with them.") funk. henry made quesedillas with spicy beans, cheese and peppers. he assembled. i cooked and flipped. we all ate it. it took about eight times as long to make lunch as it would have had i done the work but he loved it and wanted to help came dinnertime, too.

the sun backs off a bit and the night air chills the house. the green pants were giddily pulled from the bottom of the pants pile in the closet to wear this morning. the coffee was perfect. the cats are not annoyingly sticking their fur to my arms when i pet them. the boys wear jeans. the water in the shower is twisted into the hot position. tempers mellow along with the temperatures.

the school bus roars by and i pour more coffee and settle in with something new to read. something little and pleasing to hold in the hand. barnes and noble has a whole collection of books in this size and shape. they even smell read-worthy. and for under six bucks can one go wrong?