This morning is breathtakingly gorgeous. And! Ossie and Jeff just took off in the truck to run some errands. And! Matilda is sleeping. Which means! I am alone in the quiet. With coffee. On Saturday. Perfection.

Our new dog, Cowboy, is a chewer. He's still a pup is my guess, and he likes to eat things like toys and shoes and pacies. Ossie adores him. He says, "Cowboy is sweet" and "Cowboy is my friend" and wants Cowboy to sleep with him and sit next to him and share his food. Cute.

We walked down to the creek this morning--something I haven't done with the kids and dogs in a while--and it was great in spite of the spiderwebs (and, I fear, the ticks--I know they are on me! I just can't find them. Gulp). We made peanut butter sandwiches and I had a mug of coffee and the three of us (Ossie & Matilda & and me) munched and slurped our way through the woods while the dogs flew this way and that and Minnow, the adventurous cat, came too. Ossie is getting pretty good at rock throwing (into the creek, I mean), incidently. An important skill for a kid to have.

Last night we went to the co-op for a barbecue and everybody and their kids were there and it was great fun. I drank beers and ate my vegetarian barbecue and talked to people and let everyone else hold Matilda. I must be coming out of the darkness of the last year and a half. I'm not pregnant or post-partum any more and my mood is back to being my own and I'm not so scared of people and I'm not getting my feelings hurt every minute of the day and I'm sleeping some and maybe, just maybe, I could be happy here. That's what I think this morning. I love North Carolina and I love Pittsboro and I love our place in the middle of the woods.

We finally started our family blog. Here: http://www.chathamcountyline.blogspot.com

Only two short posts up yet, and the pictures are lame (better ones here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77758375@N00/

Now I must have more coffee while I enjoy the view. I love Saturdays.