Our Bountiful Joy

051810: Tomatoes. Lettuce, peppers, homemade salsa, picante sauce & guacamole. More lemons than you can ever imagine. Loaves and loaves of hip-lovin' Schat's Bread. Wine, beer, champagne, soda, Saturday-water, apple martini's, BBQ'S (& BBQ'd food.) Strawberries, cherries, oranges & nectarines. Oh hell, all kinds of fresh fruit. Two boat trailers, fork lifts, buoys, and a catamaran. Homemade cakes & pies (from the blackberries in our own hills!) Parties, celebrations, dinner out, dinner in, meals-to-go, just a hair more than a few hangovers, compliments & gift certificates. Launching boats, cleaning sites, cleaning our bathrooms, watchful eyes & helping hands. Fish. Lots & lots of fish ~ canned & fillets. Tools, tool chests, rolls of electrical wire & propane bottles. Washable tattoos, T-shirts, hats, & polished stones. An old boat for a garden, orchids, daisies, irises, petunias, pansies, roses & just last week: hybrid geraniums. The other day: 12 glorious jars of an annual jam supply. Today: Candies (for moi!) & one dozen fresh brown eggs. Laughter, love, hugs, smiles, support, advice, encouragement, shoulders, sounding boards, security and truck loads of memories. Good stories, sad stories and the kind of stories that make you say, "Are you kidding me?"

And one day when I'm old n' gray I can sit back, smile and fondly remember all of these odd, delicious and generous gifts bestowed on us while we lived at Topaz Lake.