G'day.
TM, I'm glad the pool party went well. The weather sounds like it was just right.
Toni, welcome to the morning thread.
smallworld, the puppy sounds cute. I hope the return to school goes smoothly for you. And for anyone else going through the school return this week.
We had a sunny day today, pleasant after the last two (cold!) days. We've only got sun for another couple of days then it's going to rain again, they said. And turn cold again. Yuk!
husband had another open day at his train club today but with the weather still a bit unpredictable, he was the only one to go. difficult child 1's car looks like it has a blown head gasket, so with the car in for repairs he couldn't go to his church with girlfriend. So he came to church with me and difficult child 3. We haven't been for weeks, we've either been away or busy (easy child 2/difficult child 2's birthday, for example, when we took her to the city). It was good to get to the church for a number of reasons. Afterwards we stayed and chatted for lunch (as often happens). difficult child 1 decided to catch the boat to go meet girlfriend (and borrow her car to drive to work tomorrow). Someone at church mentioned being offered some furniture - a family is selling a house and needed to get some old furniture out today, so they could finish house repairs before the agents bring in any customers. With difficult child 1 & girlfriend in mind, I went round after church to have a look - and came home with a queen-sized bed, some chairs and a coffee table.
Meanwhile difficult child 3 had met up with some friends and their family at the beach (our church is beach-front) and went with them to the park to play some ball games. He had a wonderful afternoon playing with neighbourhood kids under supervision (so no problems). All in all, a happy, successful day.
When we finally got home difficult child 3 & I got some gardening done. I'm sore and stiff from helping move furniture as well as doing some heavy weeding. But with difficult child 3's help I now have one salvaged (and valuable) pot plant potted up safely, and another salvaged plant in the process of striking some roots. It can take time, but when people throw away plants they've either dug up or chopped down, I like to rescue them if I can. I can always find somewhere for them to go. The one we potted up today was a Dracaena marginata chopped off at ground level by a neighbour about a year ago; it was two metres high/long with a number of 'heads' on it, which had been snapped off by neighbourhood kids before I could fetch it home. So a year ago I brought home what looked like a dead, leafless stick and stuck it in water. Today I planted it because it has grown plenty of roots, and five new heads. These plants cost hundreds of dollars here, at that size. I feel very smug!
Tomorrow it's back to schoolwork again for difficult child 3, and back to me job-hunting for difficult child 1. At church today I talked to a few tradespeople about the problems difficult child 1 is having with his employer and the advice was, "Get him out of there, they are exploiting him and lying to him."
difficult child 1 is 24 and still needs someone to be an advocate for him. He's a good person, more easy child in so many ways, but will need a high level of support for many years. It really does sometimes take a community to raise a child. It's taking a community to continue to raise this young man.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg
