Early this morning, I padded through the house, barefoot and wearing ratty old sweats. My husband was still sleeping, and dogs were out back, basking in the morning sun.

I went out the front door to water the garden box. I set the sprayer on mist, as all the other settings are too strong for the stuff I planted, and communed with the flowers for several minutes, breathing in the clean smell of wet earth and growing things.

In the distance, I could hear the faint sound of church bells, though I don’t know what church. I think we’re too far from St. Leo’s to hear their chimes. Above my head, the birds were singing and twittering, already well into their day, and from another house on the block, I heard organ and panflute music, a not-quite-new-age blend of the two. I think I recognized “Amazing Grace,” which is a favorite song of mine despite any formal religious beliefs, the rest was less distinct – I couldn’t even tell when one song ended and another began.

Still, standing there barefoot, in the cool mist from my garden hose, and the still-soft morning breeze, listening to the chimes and the music, my heart expanded, and I was, for a moment, in a place of perfect peace, and at one with the universe.

All days should begin this way.

* * *

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I had this cool journal entry all planned, and did I manage to get it posted before I got distracted and lost it? You know the answer to that, already.

Instead, brief news: I bought a new domain name. YouMe.Us

There’s nothing there right now, but I think the name is catchy enough. Don’t you?

I had a long conversation with my aunt, over the phone, yesterday. We talked about her book, and the beach, and how she’s far too young to be thinking about marrying men with grandchildren.

We talked about her ex-husband. He was a seminary student when they mat, and he left to marry her. She went on to get her doctorate at Stanford, and he worked in construction, and as a painter to support her. In the 13th year of their marriage, they buried five family members, had a miscarriage, and were building a house – enough to strain any marriage to the breaking point. She mentioned that her one regret is that in severing their marriage, he severed his relationship with me.

I explained to her that I didn’t mind. I have great memories, and if they’re both at peace with each other, that’s what matters.

My favorite memory of him: He taught me how to play with a yo-yo. I was never very good, but he had amazing, strong, brown hands, and he was so patient, explaining the physics behind the winding and unwinding of the string. I never learned the really advanced tricks, but I was passable at a couple.

I miss yo-yos.
I had a Duncan Imperial, and I loved it.
I’ve played with modern yo-yos and I just don’t like them as well.

My wish is that everyone has a chance to spend five minutes learning something silly and innocent, like how to make a yo-yo work.

And now, to bed…

(Oh, wait, you were expecting something about the cello and Yo-yo Ma for this entry, or a reference to curling up in bed watching Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood again, weren’t you. Well…sorry to dissapoint.)

::Yankee Doodle Dandee::

Onesome: Yankee- Hey, this is the 4th of July weekend here in the States; do you have any plans? Fireworks? Watching the Boston Pops? Hiding under the bed with the dog?
I like fireworks, but we seem to always be involved in something major around this time of year. Like, this weekend, we’re working on the outside of the house, preparing to list it for sale in another week or so. Still, my personal observation of Independence Day involves surfing the airwaves for the annual airings of the musicals 1776 and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Twosome: Doodle- Is there any paper safe from you, or are you a doodler? If you are, when are you most likely to doodle and what do you draw?
I have not once ounce of drawing talent, but I doodle anyway. I’m very good at reproducing panels of Calvin and Hobbes comics on poster board, as well (free hand, not tracing). But, yeah, I doodle.

Threesome: Dandee- Or dandy. It’s one of my favorite words. How about you, do you have any favorite words that you like to use, just because you like the way they sound or just because you can?
“Spiffy.” I use that word a lot because when I worked in tech support at Gateway (in another lifetime), someone wrote a letter to the company newsletter complaining about the over-use of the word “cool.” So, I adopted “spiffy.” It’s fun to say, and people don’t expect it. I also like the word “quirky,” because it is, and then there are the ever-popular susurrus and tintinabulation.

The Thursday Threesome is a regular feature of The Back Porch. Play along!

* * *

I’m tired, and I’ve spent half the night setting up MT on my new server, and getting the blog back in shape, so this entry is really quick.

X-ray vision: We’ve been watching Smallville seasons one and two on DVD, and I love the way the x-ray vision is actually an animated x-ray, and not see-through-anything-but-lead vision.

Xylophones: I had one of the Fisher-Price one’s with the colored keys, and don’t know what happened to it. I miss being able to pick up a mallet and plink and plonk a tune.

The blog doesn’t look any different, I know, but it’s been moved to a spiffy new server with a bigger faster account.

We won’t talk about the extra domain names.