Late to the Game

It's mid morning on Friday and here I am, sitting around with the fam.  I just realized, "It's Friday morning!  Friday Fave Five!  I've missed it!"  But, you know, there isn't a time limit on gratitude.  Thankfulness and gratitude should be part of every day, every hour, every minute of our lives.

What am I thankful for this week?

1. My drive to LAX* was UNDER AN HOUR.  That's a minor modern miracle.
          *Los Angeles International Airport.  If you don't live or drive in Southern California you have NO.IDEA how slow traffic on the freeway that runs past LAX can be because THERE.IS.CONSTRUCTION happening right now in the Sepulveda Pass.

2. My husband is home.

3. My son is home.

4. My daughter and son in law are here at Willow's Cottage, enjoying the stories, and photos**, and Indonesian coffee.

   ** One of my favorites.  Can you do this?

Indonesians have the world's best attitude toward napping.

5. Someone else made my coffee this  morning.

If I don't get round to visit everyone for  Friday Fave Five***  I hope you'll understand why.  I'll be out on the porch.  Drinking Indonesian coffee.

***click there to get to Susanne's blog and link to FFF.

#102

Susanne says that this week's Friday Fave Five is #102!  For one hundred and two weeks, we have been sharing our best memories and favorite events.  Thanks, Susanne, for hosting us at your blog!

If you are interested in joining the fun, click on the link and post your own Fave Five.

Reunited with my computer, internet connection, and camera this week, I am able to post photos of my San Diego adventures.

1. What lovely delectable days we experienced, eating spring rolls and peanut sauce at the local Vietnamese restaurant

and completely throwing diet and cholestrol count to the winds with cheese burgers, fries, onion rings and the best chocolate milkshakes in the world at Hodad's in Ocean Beach.

2. I stole borrowed these beautifully crafted beads* made in Uganda from MamaMia.  Somehow, they matched almost every outfit I brought with me.  It pleases me to know that my girls have a heart to help and support women and children of the world.  The cost of this necklace went back to the original designer to help establish a cottage business in Africa.

*edited to add in response to questions--yes, these colorful beads were made from colored paper!  The tiny separator beads were glass.  Being so light weight, the necklace simply 'floated' on my neck and was hardly noticeable at all.

 

4. Taking time to do a little useful crafting was delightful.

5. Having several pairs of eyes, hands and running feet made it possible to share the joy of chasing this little one from swimming pool

to ocean pier

to the Egyptian Room at the Museum of Man

in Balboa Park.

Now I can carry these precious memories with me and look at the photos any time I want.

What memories did you make this week?  Please share them!

Awol in San Diego

I have been spending the past week with my daughters in San Diego.  Due to the ever malignant internet-connections-that-hate-Willow, I have had nearly non existent time online with my own computer.  Unfortunately, that also means there can be no photos posted online from my computer until I exorcise the internet demon or return home on the weekend to the internet-that-usually-cooperates-with-Willow's-laptop.

Fortunately, I must have raised my girls properly because they both regularly offer to loan their laptops to me.  So, this evening, while The New Boy is being snuggled to sleep, I am using a borrowed computer with internet access (that modern mystical miracle!) to post a Fave Five.  Thank you, Susanne, for hosting this community of thankful bloggers every Friday.  If you want to join us, link up at Living To Tell The Story.

1. The Professor and our Grad Student are thousands and thousands of miles away from home.  They are spending August in Papua, Indonesia where they are making contacts and researching opportunities for projects related to the Grad Student's areas of interest in his graduate studies.  What makes this trip especially exciting is that they are staying in the town where we lived for several years and renewing friendships with many people we knew then--students, storekeepers, neighbors, coworkers.

2.  Again, the technology that allows me to have daily contact with them makes my Fave list! Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Skype.  They're all my best friends right now!

3.  How I treasure my days with The New Boy!  He is growing so tall and strong.  His vocabulary expands daily, his laugh makes me laugh, his morning greeting of "Meema! Meema's awake!" melts my heart.  He has experienced Ocean Beach Pier, Hodad's for lunch, the dog park with 'Puppy Bailey',  Gaslight District, the neighborhood swimming pool, Balboa Park's museums, lots and lots of coffee shops because after all, Mama, the Aunties and Meema have lots of chatting to do.

4.  Speaking of Aunties, there have been several on hand to entertain and amuse The Boy.  I'm not sure who has more fun, the Aunties or the New Boy.

5.  On Tuesday, I had a solitary day. During vacation. I know. Crazy.  I contemplated my options and chose to quietly hang out in Coronado and - whispers - {work on lesson plans for next year}.  The work needed to be done, and I decided that it was best to find a beautiful spot to do it.

So, that was Willow's Week.  How was yours?  I'd really love to hear!

Hangin' out Here

Just enjoying San Diego at its finest.

Lunch and coffee at Panera in downtown Coronado.

I Love Technology

All week I have been constantly aware of how much technology aids and helps me in my daily life.  Therefore, this week's Friday Fave Five is dedicated to technology.  If you are interested in joining Susanne and dozens of others in voicing your gratitude for events in your life this week, go to Living To Tell The Story.

1. I could never be a Luddite now that I know that I can follow the progress of The Professor's plane flights across the Pacific Ocean. During those long hours and layovers, http://www.worldtimezone.com/ helped me convert local times there to local times here.

2. I love the short emails in my inbox that inform me that he and the Grad Student arrived safely at their destinations.

3. Isn't it great when you can look online and found out whether your local library has the book you want to read so you don't have to use up precious gasoline and even more precious time to drive over there only to discover that, no, the library does NOT have the book?

4.  I can send a flight schedule from an email directly to my printer and have the information right in front of me on a piece of paper so I can remember exactly when The New Boy is going to show up with his Mama. AND I can check their flight status, too!

5.  Thumb drives are the best!  My friend and I can share teaching files without my having to rescan every page.  All I need to do is download those files, move the thumb drive to my computer, and put them in to my folders.  Moving information this way is going to save me uncountable hours.

Whoever thought up all these ideas, whoever knew how to take those futuristic ideas and make them a reality, THANK YOU!

These five faves are only a few of the many, many ways my life is made simpler and easier,
What technology has helped you this week?