Thankful Thursday

Lots to be thankful for…even as summer winds to a close.

1. I’ve been revising two books this summer — and surviving.  I was a little worried back in June when I figured out this would happen, but somehow, two editors at two different houses have been intuitive enough to stagger their editorial letters and follow-up emails so that I’ve only had one on my plate at any given time.  They’re both friendly, funny, brilliant sorts of editors, too, which makes the whole process a joy.

2. I’m mighty close to finishing a draft of my second Marty McGuire book.  A rough, unattractive draft with an untucked shirt and messy hair, but a draft all the same.

3.  The leopard frogs are out at the state park near my house.

The kids and I spent the afternoon catching, releasing, and just watching.  Also wondering what it must be like to be able to jump fifteen times the length of your body. That is just so cool.

These two posed for me and then jumped away in opposite directions in perfect unison, just like the synchronized divers in the Olympics.

4.  We found two tiny Monarch butterfly caterpillars and brought them home to raise in our butterfly house over the next few weeks.  Every year, we pick fresh milkweed daily and watch the caterpillars grow fatter and fatter until they climb to the top of the screen house and form their chrysalides.  Every year, we watch and wait.  And every year, I have to catch my breath on the morning that I come downstairs to find they’ve emerged as butterflies with wet, new wings.  It never, ever gets old.

May your last days of summer be filled with wonder (and ice cream), too!