I am grateful for the opportunity to see my father in law’s investiture to the Order of Canada this morning.
I am grateful for time spent in the studio.
I am grateful for all the people who teach and support my kids while they are at school.
I am grateful for my folks, who brought over take out and took care of the boys while Julie and I went out for dinner and took in the camas now in bloom while we walked around Uplands park.
I am grateful for time I spent with Coop today. We got some board games in while he was home from school.
I am grateful for time spent in the studio.
I am grateful for Farley. I just am.
I am grateful for my folks, who came over for bbq’d burgers in the backyard today. They also bequeathed me their old iPad, upon which I am typing right now.
I am grateful for lots of time spent with Julie in the hillbilly hot tub this last1last couple weeks. We are getting behind on our TV shows, but it’s nice to converse instead.
I am grateful for time in the studio yesterday morning.
I am grateful for family fun night: Julie’s pick. We went to a Persian place that we discovered recently, and we both agreed the kids would love it. Turns out they didn’t, but we both still thought it was delicious. Then we went home, and watched the Tribbles Episode from the original series of Star Trek.
I am grateful for the hillbilly hot tub, where we unwound for a good long while after the kids were asleep.
I am grateful for time in the studio yesterday.
I am grateful for our hillbilly hot tub. I have used it every day except one since we got it; and it was missed that day.
I am grateful for Farley’s Little League Baseball. That kid loves to run around.
I am grateful for an impromptu improv knock knock joke competition that the boys and I had the other night. It was hilarious and well saturated in dad humour.
I am grateful for success in a project Julie and I devised on our way home from our getaway last week. We’ve dreamed of installing a hot tub since before we got into our house, but it’s never been the right time for us to invest in one, and it’s also always seemed like it would be one more thing to manage if we did.
At the place we were staying last week, one of the big draws was a private 2-person outdoor bathtub, and it was great. We realized we don’t really need jets, we just wanted a big warm place to soak. A bit of googling revealed a solution, and on our way home we purchased a 180 gallon stock tank from a farm supply store in Langford. This is the thing you’d typically use to hold water for cows and horses to drink from, but it turns out, it’s a very comfortable place to be, even for up to 3 of us, when filled with hot water, and in our backyard.
I am grateful as all heck for 2 nights alone with Julie at the Sooke Harbour House while my folks-in-law took care of the boys. It was sublime. The weather was great. We took in the sunset, at several of the most amazing meals I’ve had in my entire life, went for a walk by the Sooke Potholes and the river, and puttered around town for a bit. It’s been a long time since we’ve had so much time together without all of the constant distractions of our real lives.
I am grateful for time spent at the studio. First time I was in there for a while.
I am grateful for a tidy household. Everyone pitched in, eventually, and it’s a more pleasant place to be now.
I am grateful for a swim with my lads this evening.
I am grateful for some art sales today.
I am grateful for a fine Easter. The bunny came, and left a record number of treasures in our front and back yards for the lads to collect.
I am grateful for my kids, who were kind enough to take a good portion from each of their piles of Easter loot to put together for a basket for a buddy of theirs, who was injured recently, and spent time in surgery and was recovering in the hospital where we visited him today. I’m also grateful it wasn’t worse for that poor kiddo; from what I hear it could have been.
I am grateful for a festive dinner at our place tonight. We had a good friend over, and feasted like kings before playing a card game called Rat-at-at Cat.
I am grateful for time spent with a contractor, replacing the railing on our front step. I love doing projects like that, when I have the time anyway. Not so much when it’s a rush, but it wasn’t, today.
I am grateful for a visit from my brother-in-law who arrived today, and is reading the lads some bedtime stories as I write this.
I am grateful for Efron Quiroz, who has a Youtube channel that he fills up with brief interviews and statements as well as a quick video documentation of pretty much every art show in town. He interviewed June Haynes and myself for the Spectrum show we have up currently at the Gage Arts Collective Gallery.
I am grateful for Coop, who made a chocolate cake with ganache icing from scratch, with very little help from anyone. It was delicious.
I am grateful for Farley, who has taken to disassembling his Lego models and rebuilding them as he clicks through PDF documents I download from the Lego website for him.
I am grateful for Julie who made tea with leaves she grew in a teapot she made that she drank out of a mug she also made.