Ten Good Things—Week Lucky 13

Oh, no! I’ve been so busy, I’ve blown off the "Ten Good Things!" I’m here to remedy that…but I’m so damned tired, I’m going to make it as short and as sweet as I can possibly manage. Okay…here goes:

1. I’ve been enjoying the antics of a family of song sparrows that hatched somewhere nearby earlier this season. We usually have one or two of these little guys hanging around. Lately, we have a whole brood. And the fledglings are so funny. They are too stupid to be afraid of me, so they just sit on the fence a couple of feet away and go cheep! cheep! cheep! and cock their heads when I talk to them.
2. The honeysuckle on the arbor over the gate between my front and back yards is blooming. It smells absolutely marvelous. I’ve been able to enjoy it as I run back and forth between "Big Red" the concession trailer in the back yard, and the garage where all my traveling restaurant equipment is located. I’m working my butt off, but at least my world smells nice.
3. Made our first appearance at the Tillamook Farmers’ Market. It wasn’t a huge success, but we DID at least do the sales I had projected for the day. That’s the first time we’ve hit my projection all year. And it didn’t rain, and it wasn’t cold. And there was only the occasional whiff of the ever-present Tillamook dairy cow smell carried on the breeze J
4. Pretty much locked in the deal on the café… yay!
5. Drove out to Vernonia on Sunday… Vernonia is the major town in the central part of the county (the rest of the larger towns are strung along Highway 30) Because of its isolation from the rest of the county, people round these parts call it "Ver-nowhere." But it has a lovely little lake that you can walk all around in about twenty minutes, and this great old abandoned mill building that has turned into the grandest indoor arboretum. Thirty foot trees grow through where the roof once was, and the inside walls are decorated with some remarkable modern spray-paint art. (And I forgot my camera. Sigh!)
6. Had the initial meeting with Ms. Emotional Manager, and it went well. I mostly smiled and said nothing. Aren’t you proud of me?
7. Found a great gift to give the husband for his fiftieth this July. I’m shipping him back to Illinois to a reunion with his family (and hinting they might want to give him a little party…) He will love the heck out of it, and I can stay home and work myself to death at the new restaurant without feeling guilty.
8. I’m finding I am much more efficient when I am busy. I am the personification of the theory that a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to remain at rest…
9. We’ve been eating out a lot because we’ve been so busy. Bad for the diet, but good for "competition shopping." And we found that the one little rinky-dink restaurant in St. Helens is our favorite place. Because we see the same waitress every time, she knows our order, she plunks our drinks down in front of us within seconds of when we walk in the door. Something to emulate in our own venture…
10. I haven’t gone broke, lame or crazy…yet.

I think these are getting easier. At least it didn’t take me two hours this time! As my life gets more hectic, I suspect my writing will become a little less over-thought and a lot less tediously edited. And that might be a good thing, as well…