AJ: (dancing around like a whirling dervish shortly after breakfast)

Harriet: AJ, do you have to go potty?

AJ: No (continues dancing)

Harriet: Are you sure?

AJ: I don�t have to. Sometimes I just have to dance.

� � � � �

I almost felt like dancing while working in the garden today. I have a very immoderate garden in the month of July. Everything is in bloom, from firecracker red Monarda (bee balm) to cheery pink echinecea, multi-colored delphiniums, bright yellow coreopsis and rudbeckia and yellow cone flowers, pale pink plumes of Astilbe, hosta flowers of purple, pink and white, and the cool blues of the campanula (Canterbury bells) and Petrovskia (Russian sage). This week the plants seem to have exploded in size as well as color, so after a little just pruning, I am left with large and riotous bouquets all over the house.

We had the perfect Saturday morning. Last night�s party was great fun. The guest of honor was very surprised, although we missed it. AJ was beside himself with excitement at the prospect of spending an entire evening playing with his cousins at their house. I had many pleasant and interesting conversations with assorted members of my husband�s family. While I am regularly amazed at how kind an fun they are as individuals, it is even more overwhelming when they get together in a group. How 50 (give or take a few) members of extended family can get along so well is amazing to me. My own extended family is just about as large, but most of them are barely speaking to one another, so I hardly know them.

The party was in a banquet room at an Italian restaurant in the northwest suburbs. The food was basic and delicious � pizza (both thin crust and stuffed), pasta with marinara sauce, and salad with the requisite three desserts (in this case birthday cake, coconut cream puffs and chocolate �clairs). Wine and beer were plentiful and a good time was had by all. I did a few extra laps in penance this morning.

We didn�t get home until midnight and AJ was still awake. The late bedtime, however, did not quell his usual early-morning exuberance. He came tearing into our room ready for action at 6 a.m. We spent much of the morning lounging in our room with all three of us watching cartoons in our bed. The perfect Saturday morning.

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