1.  I called my mother this morning and wished I hadn’t.  She was all wound up and told me she didn’t know how long they could stay there and that she was more stressed out than when she was at their house.  Was I sympathetic?  NO.  I should have been but honestly I just felt so frustrated that I wanted to scream.  I just need a break from this.  You know how at some point when you have babies and toddlers you all of a sudden understand why people hit their children?  I mean, you don’t hit them, but all of sudden you understand the frustration that makes people with, I don’t know what—-fewer reserves maybe?—-want to lash out.  That’s how I felt this morning.   Even though I KNOW it’s not about me—-it’s about them—-I just felt like I had reached my limit.

2.  So I took a nap.

3.  Then Ernie and I went shopping—bought stuff for my parents and started buying stuff for the trip to Maine and tossed in a few school supplies along the way.

4.  I miss Eileen.

5.  I miss my  neighbor Dave and his family.  We need to coordinate vacations next year.

4.  I hope I’m more coherent sometime soon.  In the meantime here are a few pictures from my garden the other night.  Gardens help.