Sometimes it's the small things

That keep you going. Bring sunshine to yet another rainy day. Help you to count your blessings.

It is still raining here. Unbelievable. But, as I tell people who ask me, "how do you stand all the rain?" you put on your rain clothes and go for a walk and do your best to live your life. And for the record, this amount of rain is unusual even for Portland. I know people in other parts of the country think it rains here all the time, but really it doesn't. Really. May is usually exceptionally beautiful. We just got a run of bad weather this year. But there, above, is my sunshine for a cloudy day. My granddaughter spends a lot of time here with me, while her parents work. She goes to daycare two days a week and hangs out with her buddies, but on the other days we hang out. She cooks for me. This is a sausage, one of her specialties.

She offers me a taste of her ice cream.

This is joke ice cream. There's a little button to push on the back of the cone which makes the "ice cream" ball fly out on the end of the string you can see there. "Want a little taste of my ice cream, Grandma?" Then I get it—in the face. It is very hilarious. Every time.

I am tired at the end of the day. Keeping up with a three-year -old is not for sissies. But I am so lucky. And I think she is too. I never got to spend this kind of time with any of my grandparents. Three years have sped by and soon she will be six and then twelve and , and, and ...

Tomorrow I am heading to Central Oregon with the STASH group for a couple of days. We were hoping to escape the coastal rain, but the forecast over there is for rain. Oh well. We will have fun regardless of the weather. I have wine. I have snacks. I have handwork to take—sleeves for three quilts. Now just add friends and the recipe for a great time is complete. I'll have pictures when I get home.