bronte, birds and boys

It's 8:21 p.m. and my people are all in their rooms. Here's a little photo essay I've put together as I drink my Spindrift lemon sparkling water from Costco. I'm pretty sure this is what they gave Jesus on the cross when he was thirsty. Word to the wise.

I've become a bit obsessed with Jennifer Garner's Insta feed...enough to copy her felt board and laugh over and over at her posts of her reading to her dogs.  She also cooks! But enough about Jennifer Garner.  Doesn't my board look good?

Ben's reading Jane Eyre as part of summer reading for AP Lit, and I decided to get a copy myself.  Mine came from an old bookshop in Salado, and looks like leather.  Ben's paperback copy is a bit beat up and from Half Price.

I've been carrying my copy up and down the stairs. I get distracted by the Nordstrom's app and wonder how I can justify buying the $148 Free People embroidered tunic that I want. I have read exactly a page and a half of Jane Eyre - just to the point where Jane picks up a book to read. Ironic.

I've been doing a few gardening projects around the home. 

My tiny Kumquat tree from Costco is blooming with these tiny white flowers.  

I thought, what would Jennifer Garner do if she had an old wheelbarrow?  

The doves sit in this like they are statues. I would love to know what doves are thinking about most of the time. 

The guys have been helping Steve trim trees. This is how they fill leaf bags. We have a surprise for the trash collectors!

I planted these morning glories from seed in April I believe. They are now 2 inches tall. I don't want to say I'm a master gardener, but this picture speaks for itself.

As May winds down, Ben landed his first summer job as a pool monitor for some neighborhood pools. We have a week of 100 degree temps on the horizon, so I mentioned to Steve that Ben should take salt tabs. You would think I suggested poisoning him! I guess things have changed since the 70's and shucking corn in North Carolina.

Syd got a job cleaning an inn in Wimberley for the summer! (Don't worry - this is just a picture of his room.) 

Steve: "Are you wearing gloves when you clean?"  

Syd: "Why? For what?"

I'm raising boys who are now young men. Young men who eat my groceries as they help put them away. Who frolic around the house late at night (and by late I mean 9:30.) They play Chopin and watch the Cartoon Network. They read poetry and graphic novels alike.  They smell like sweat and sunscreen and Pantene shampoo and conditioner in one, because who has the time?

Someday soon my house will be quiet. I will study and create. I will eat peanut butter out of the jar when I miss them. And I will lay on the floors of their bedrooms and cry. Clean floors. But right now it's the summer of Swayze, so I need to just remember that, and be glad.