FALLING FEATHERS

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.

VICARIOUS VACATION

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.

USELESS TRIVIA

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!”

THE ART OF PIT SPITTING

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!”