Sundry gratitude

• Thanks to Desiree, Tuesdays or Wednesdays are volleyball in the park night. Because I am an old crippled girl, I sit in the sidelines and read the New Yorker or hold babies. The last few times, volleyball has been followed by terribly festive potlucks at the house. Last night, it was too festive, and I shot Woodford bourbon out my nose. Now I know the feeling of snorting fire.
  
• The poor boy's blood glucose numbers on the whole are good, but his high morning averages are of concern to us and to his nurse at Childrens'. It could be his stomach doesn't empty fast enough (going back to the GERD symptoms) or it could be he's got a bunch of growth hormones surging in the early morning hours. I am hoping it's the latter. We are trying different fine tunings in the meantime. I saw that one parent of a diabetic named his or her blog "Your diabetes may vary" and it's funny because it's true. At least Wyatt doesn't have Celiac.
  
• Wednesdays are 15 percent locals' discount day at Mahogany Smoked Meats, makers and purveyors of perhaps the best streaky bacon in the world. At least, that's what one tomato grower in Ohio, who was crabby that the shop could no longer ship interstate, told me. Old Earl said his BLTs were never the same again.
  
• I am very much looking forward to being in South America in less than a month. I am grateful that we can introduce Wyatt to life outside of the Valley which doesn't have anything to do with a suburban shopping mall (the default when we visit certain grandparents). Yes, frequent flier miles are getting harder to redeem, but I turn the whole thing into a big game and plan very far in advance.
  
• I am enjoying the sound of song birds out the window...if you can call our garden variety of small singing birds here in California songbirds. I long for a trip back to New Zealand to hear real songbirds.
  
• My hips are useless around my menstrual periods. For a few days I can barely walk across the room. But, stairs are not a problem! Biking is not a problem! Skiing is alright! I am psyched that I can do certain things that don't hurt and that the pain isn't (knock wood) constant. I am rather surprised about how philosophical I am about my revised mobility.
  
• We are going to Reno tomorrow for my mother in law's auspicious 8-8-08 birthday. Some of us call it the "princess party." Hey, at least my mother in law is healthy enough and enjoying her life up there.

In ungrateful news: I am dragging my heels finishing Graham Greene's "The Heart of the Matter." It is so very well written, but I know it's going to end in tears (sorry, Bibi, I peeked).