See that girl, barefootin along,
Whistlin and singin, she's a carryin on.
There's laughing in her eyes, dancing in her feet,
Shes a neon-light diamond and she can live on the street.
Hey hey, hey, come right away
Come and join the party every day.
-- The Grateful Dead "The Golden Road"

Saturday was a day of cleaning, grocery shopping, errand running and a bit of resting, so today was all about play. Finally feeling a little more energetic, the Short People and I threw ourselves into a musical cooking frenzy this morning. The girls selected the Grateful Dead and blueberry pancakes, and I was happy to oblige. The selected quote is the song to which they were shakin' their groove thangs; the lyrics just seemed to fit so well. I love Kate's bootie slap, although I hope she forgets that move by the time she's 10 .

Later I made a homemade mushroom and four cheese lasagna that is warming up as I type...I can almost hear the theme from The Godfather wafting from the kitchen . I've missed cooking, and I've also missed eating something other than take out or grilled beef products (Tracy's two areas of culinary expertise). He's really hung in there and held us all together, but it's nice to be back amongst the living and contributing to our daily functioning (or disfunctioning, as the case may be). The Short People have suffered the most from my illness, so we wanted to devote much of the day to them. We played "Insect Bingo" (where else can you shout out phrases like "spittle bug", "exoskeleton", or "dung beetle"), Simon Says, and completed several jigsaw puzzles. We listened to a lot of music and they played in the tub. It's been fun. Those who know me well understand that though I am not a churchgoer, I find my spiritual center in the outdoors, friends, food, music and family. It's been a great Sunday.