The Chocolate and The Cheese

The last forty eight hours have been the kind of serendipitous summer time that I dream about all through January and February.  Perfect temperatures, light wind, sun and a casual, laid-back schedule.  It all started with a lazy afternoon outdoors.  The Little Lady chased bubbles, then we laid out our blankets and read our books.  LL read hers and I read mine.  At one point she looked at me and said, "Your book good mama?"  Seriously, this kid just keeps getting better and better. The next morning we had an impromptu coffee date with some friends.  We sat out on the patio and chatted while the kids ran around and entertained each other.  Besides that one window licking incident, the coffee was great and the pastries delicious.  After, we walked a few blocks to a new, great park.  Let the kids run off some of the sugar they had just ingested before walking back and heading home.  Then to cap it all off the LL and I went t...

There's always a man or a woman at the corner when I drive up. Doesn't matter the time of year; they're out there rain or snow or hot, humid day. I think they take shifts. I drove by one day at "shift change", I heard one say to another, "The pickin's aren't so good today." Sometimes I drive an extra five minutes around, just so I don't have to pass them. Their signs say different things. "Homeless, anything helps." "No job, no money. Please help." I can't look them in the eye as I drive by. I tell myself that I want to help the world, but I can't even stop to help these sad, desperate people. It's not like I drive a fancy car and give the impression of money. I'm pretty sure that my yellow, rusty, missing one mirror, 2001 Ford doesn't put me in the "has it all" category. But it still gets me from Point A to Point B, warms in the winter, cools in the summer and carries the things I ...