Thanks to all of you who have been checking in over the last three weeks in my absence! All is well, we have moved on from the hurt over the job rejection. It's disappointing on many levels, both from a career and personal satisfaction level for my husband, and our family's bottom line (I hate that I always have to be thinking about that, but it's the reality), but we remain hopeful that someday the right opportunity will present itself.

I didn't intend to take a long break, but it was a good thing, too. Sometimes it's easier to "do" stuff without feeling like it needs to be written about.

But I did "do" some stuff that want to share with you, so here is some of it. (Plus an announcement at the end of the post if you are getting bored wading through all my photos.)

I met someone. We were able to spend one treasured day together while she traveled for work. It's so hard to put into words what it was like to meet Sarah and spend that day with her. We had so much to talk about; a lot of what we talked about was blogging -- our motivations and feelings about the whole thing, the ups and downs, pressures, and genuine pleasures. And not because we had nothing else in common, but because it really is a part of our real lives and it's so good to have someone who "gets" that. I haven't had the opportunity to meet very many bloggers face-to-face. This is due, in part, to the fact that I don't live within close geographic proximity to any of the bloggers in this particular corner of the community (crafty-photo-mama types), and even more, of course, due to the fact that opportunities to travel are very limited given our income. It's just the reality. So, having the opportunity to sit across the table from Sarah, at one of my favorite local restaurants, and take her to my favorite yarn and fabric store, was a real gift ... not one that I'm likely to repeat very often, and I really soaked it up. It was a beautiful day. Thank you, sweet Sarah.

I finished a lot of knitting projects. (And started a few new ones.) More on those to come, very soon! I think I overcame a huge knitting funk that I had been in!

We played, and played. Indoors and out, with kites, and kitchens, and more.

We had the first (and hopefully only) summer injury, hereafter known as the Red Rover Incident of 2011.

Swim team season is officially underway and I couldn't be happier! It's my favorite time of year, I think. (I know, I know ... in October, I'll be rambling on about my love for autumn. Let's just go with it.)

The sun, the sun! I'm so happy, here on the cusp of summer.

I will be back TOMORROW with another post! Yee-haw!

uncommon grace