Thank You London!

Am I the only one who will be having trouble adjusting to "real life" this week?

The house is once again silent, the tv remotes are back in their customary postion, and I'm blogging instead of being glued to the screen of my television. Wasn't it absolutely fantastic? From the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony there was so much beauty, strength and creativity all in one small corner of our world. The piece from the Guardian sums up a lot of my thoughts.

However, if you thought I was going to leave it for someone else to say, you thought wrong. Perhaps I'm a bit biased because the Games were held in the country, more particularly, the city, my first born has called home for the last five plus years, but I don't think so. You could spend a week just talking about the creativity of the costumes used during the ceremonies. Plus, didn't you think it was super cool how the performers went around the track? I thought that was such a generous touch. Speaking of both motoring around the track, and fantastical costumes, how about The Pet Shop Boys?

Not a great shot of my television screen, but you get the idea. I'm pretty confidant that I won't be riding my bicycle anytime soon while wearing a triangle on my face, but it sure made for some great theater! Lord Sebastian Coe's remarks closed the Games so eloquently, tears welled in my eyes, and not for the first time while watching the events!

Of course everyone is talking about how the women dominated the Olympic medals with much speculation on the how. and why. this came to be. Who knows, but it was exciting nonetheless. I, for one, am not for a minute going to speculate nor criticize anything. Grateful and happy is how I am going to remember this Olympics--grateful for NBC, despite any shortcomings, for allowing us to witness such brilliance in the comfort of our homes. Grateful for the British people for funding the Games, and grateful for the athlete's skill, determination and dedication to their sport. I will say, although Usain Bolt is getting so much attention, I'm not any more impressed with him than I am with the rhythmic gymnasts who work every bit as hard and what grace and beauty they bring to the competition!

Although Bruce worked from home last week, he is on his way to LA, the city which is now the home to our best Orlando Magic player, Dwight Howard. What a shame that he left us, however most of Orlando is at least glad all the drama is over. Wonder how the crowds will react when the Lakers come to town in the upcoming season??? Basketball, now that's one of the few sports I watched very sporadically during the Olympics because I can see that for months and months.

Did anyone watch team handball? Sort of a looked like water polo on land! According to Matt, who ended up attending 13 events, team handball was the most exciting, perhaps because there is loads of scoring, and boy is it fast-paced! You know how much I love volleyball, and the Men's Gold Medal match between Brazil and Russia did not disappoint. What a comeback! Plus, I didn't want Brazil to win following their stomping of our women Saturday night! Going to bed around 11:30, I figured our women would win it in three. I figured wrong!

Between making meals, and watching the Games, I did pick up my camera, which for sure, doesn't surprise you in the least. Because Bruce's office window faces directly on my flower garden, when not totally engrossed in his computer screen, he has the pleasure of seeing the many butterflies who now get their nectar from our garden. It bears repeating that if you want butterflies, plant pentas!

The bees like them nearly as well!

Angela returned last weekend bearing gifts, including this set from a local artist in Wickford, RI, where she spent the last month. As well, I now have a gift from her visit to The Breakers in Newport.

While she was away, her house and plants became my responsibility, so what better gift than a necklace with tiny pressed flowers?

I've still been trying to create something with the "latest and greatest" color scheme, yellow and gray.

And I've been cooking. Have you ever seen a recipe, bought the necessary ingredients, sliced, diced, chopped and when it came to the final stage, wondered how in the world to finish it?

That's exactly how I felt about this tomato pie. Pictured so beautifully in Southern Living, when it came time to spread the cheese and mayonnaise top on, I thought how do you do that without making a mess of it? I mean, look at all the chopped herbs??? Carefully my friends, very carefully. Mine did not look like theirs, as you can imagine, however it was pretty tasty. Last week I also made their latest recipe for cream cheese ice cream which is quite good. In fact, it froze better than any I've made heretofore.

While looking for photographs to include with this post I realized that I've been taking a fair amount of sunset pictures in the past week. With all the talk of gold medals I couldn't help but notice that the sky was turning gold as well.

Not to mention the street. Taken after a pretty heavy rainstorm on Friday night, we've had a few days now without. Yesterday, when Dana said we were, once again, closing the market early, I bet her $5.00 it would not rain before 5:00PM. Guess who won that bet? At least it allowed me to come home early and finish out my Olympic watching feast!

Indeed it is time to get "back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now",  however it is not without sadness that it all has to end. What I think most affected me was how proud, and happy people appeared, both the spectators, and the athletes. Constant bad news and negativity can get you down; setting that aside for 17 days was like a breath of fresh air. Let us all breathe more freely, think more positively, and perhaps, with hard work and determination, our world might just become a better place.

Please feel free to join me in thanking London for a magnificent 17 days!