hey y'all

it's saturday morning, and i'm sitting in the middle of my kitchen, surrounded by what will soon be the makings of a party. flowers. tea lights. a dozen tins of rolls made yesterday afternoon, just waiting for some juicy pork tenderloin to find its way inside. two large glass vats that will soon house sweet tea and lemonade. 


the wine and beer are in the outside fridge, cooling down. the husband is in the yard, putting some touch-up on the lamp post. the vacuum is in the middle of the family room floor, and sheets we took off the bed two hours ago are gently tossing in the dryer. the dog sleeps pretty close to my feet.


the pioneer woman is talking to her viewer (me) about how easy it is to make her family's favorite pot roast and blueberry cobbler while homeschooling and driving her suburban across the wide plain toward the lodge she and her marlboro man renovated. i stop my party prep because she was cooking in one pretty kitchen and after the commercial break is taking steaks out to grill in another, more rustic spot and i just can't for the life of me believe she keeps up two houses. but apparently she does. 


i can barely keep one, so it's a good thing nobody saw fit to give me two.


and so the next thing i know i'm exploring her blog and click on the link that says 10 things i learned about blogging. so i go there and the number two thing is blog often, which tells me that not only do i not have two houses, but i don't write in this space nearly enough, nor do i thank you wonderful folks for coming back to see if i have taken the time to say hey. 


so hey. and thank you. i have no idea how many people read what's here or if it's just my mother coming back every day for 40 times but somebody is. and i thank you. my purple room friend said to me the other day that her husband said: we haven't heard anything from writemuch lately, and she hears me talk in person every day ad nauseum no doubt. 


maybe i have been waiting until i felt i had something to say and i haven't thought i did. believe me, husband out there would disagree mightily with that statement.

just an ordinary saturday

one of the things PW says on her blog (in addition to no typos, which i obviously have yet to take to heart) is to write about daily life. so you have before you my kitchen, on a busy saturday morning. in a few hours, my back yard will be filled with people, many of whom i don't know but all who come to celebrate the engagement of a beautiful young woman i have known since she was an itty bitty. neighbors and friends have planned for weeks how we will make it a special evening, and my job is to provide the space for it.


so as the dog sleeps and the laundry tumbles — which is pretty much every day at my house — i wanted to take a minute to tell you that my hydrangeas are about to bloom and one of my oak trees has something called slime flux which is exactly what it sounds like and there is no cure. and that though i don't have bluebirds for some strange reason this year, i do have two families of cardinals and at least two baltimore orioles and even a couple of rabbits. it all reminds me of the Paul McCartney song, "just another day." because that's what it is, just another day, and i am thankful for it.


this morning mothers i know are cheering as their children walk across the stage to accept diplomas. they are helping daughters set up rooms in new apartments in new cities for new jobs. they are getting ready to celebrate their first Mother's Days as grandmothers. they are missing mothers long gone and giving mothers still here the daily dose of whatever they need. and one of them is coming to my house in a few hours to toast her middle daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law as their family expands. just another day.


and a moment to say hey. and thank you. really, y'all.for reading and letting me know when you like what you find here. and to the PW, for the nudge to fill the blank space with what's on my mind on this saturday morning as i watch the world stretch.

oh, and happy mother's day, to my mama, most of all.

writemuch.blogspot is the original work of author susan byrum rountree. all written work and photography is copyright protected and can only be used with written permission of the author.