Gratitude - 04/18/2009

Today, I am grateful for these things:

1. Knives.  Even though our detox attempt was an unmitigated bust, we did pick up a very nice set of knives, which made me happy.  I’ve been wanting a decent chef’s knife for a long time, and when we had our private cooking lesson the chef’s comments only amplified my desire for a proper blade.

When we realized just how many vegetables we’d be chopping for the detox, we finally pulled the trigger.  To my considerable bemusement, we ended up going with the Martha Stewart set.  I would not have listed myself among Martha’s fans, but the knives were decent quality and the price was right.

Within about twenty minutes of getting the knives home, Elizabeth and I had both cut ourselves, which either speaks to how sharp the new knives are, or how dull the old knives were, or how very, very clumsy we are in the kitchen.

Diggory has, so far, avoided impaling himself on the new weapons, though it’s just a matter of time.  The handles rotate slightly in the knife block as he walks by, always keeping him in their line of sight.  They have a taste for blood now.

2. Summer.  The weather is starting to turn warmer here, and the sun is showing its cancer-causing face, which makes me happy.  Diggory and I spent much of yesterday afternoon out on the lawn in front of our house, throwing a baseball around while Samantha read book seven of the Harry Potter series.

3. Shrubs.  My throwing arm has not wintered well, and I sent Diggory chasing after more than a couple ill-aimed throws.  Fortunately, the shrubbery at the edge of the lawn stopped the majority of these errant pitches, which allowed us to maintain a more reasonable throwing-to-chasing ratio than might otherwise have been possible.

photo credit: zenobia_joy