Full flower

I just finished my 1,000 words for today, 1,246 to be exact. I am closing in on 4,000 words in the new book project. The first chapter and an outline are due at the end of May.

On Saturday, all my grown-up babies came over. It was all very impromptu, and I loved it. My husband had promised to teach my daughter's boyfriend how to make smoked brisket. He had been asking for a lesson ever since he tasted my husband's brisket a year ago. We had given him a stovetop smoker for his birthday last year, and the first time he made smoked shrimp, he and my daughter brought over two plates for my husband and me to sample. It was delicious. But brisket was his main quarry, and he wanted to know how to make it exactly as my husband does. This thrilled my man no end, and Saturday was the appointed day of the lesson.

My son and his girlfriend also came over, because his girlfriend is doing a photo project and had planned a session with my niece, and they were supposed to meet at our house. Which meant my niece and her boyfriend showed up soon after. The young women, along with my daughter, left to wander around the neighborhood in search of good backdrops for portrait photography, while the guys hung out at home with my man and me. Presently the girls came back and started on a jigsaw puzzle while the brisket making game in the kitchen was going strong. It was the loveliest, easiest, most companionable time, and after everyone went home at around 10 PM that night, my husband and I looked at each other and agreed that it had indeed been a wonderful day.

On Sunday the man and I took our own stroll around the hood, to see how the trees and plants were blossoming. Spring has arrived in the city. By the end of the week, everything will be in full flower.