WEEK OF GOOD THINGS

This past week has been so packed with good things...I've been too busy enjoying them to stop and write.
We took the grandmothers out for a late lunch to celebrate Mother's Day last Saturday, leaving us free on Sunday to drive up to Baltimore and meet our kids for a whopping breakfast at Golden West Cafe in Hampden. From there, we drove to Monkton to visit the Ladew Topiary Gardens. Love hanging out with these grown up children of mine.

It was hot and steamy but the tulips were gorgeous, and my girl and I had a great time with our cameras.
On Monday, I had the first riding lesson on my new horse. He is settling in nicely at Timber Grove Farm, and finally has a name...Bates. You Downton Abbey fans will get that.

The very best thing about last week? On Thursday, Mike, my MIL, and I went back up to Baltimore to hear our son defend his thesis at Johns Hopkins University. He now has a PhD in physical chemistry and is officially Dr. Cottingham. Hurray!! Such a proud and happy day!! After champagne and cake with his department, we were off to The Thai Restaurant for a celebratory lunch. Love that place!!

Our guy, loaded down with graduation swag.

Both kids were home for the weekend and we continued the celebration with family, on the Boardwalk in Ocean City and at EVO Public House in Salisbury.

The carousel at Trimper's on the boardwalk.

That was a lot of celebrating for one week, so although Sunday was our 35th wedding anniversary, we decided to postpone those festivities until next weekend when we can give the occasion the attention it deserves. We had a nice leisurely day with our girl, lunching at Stoked because it was Sunday, and they might think we'd died if we didn't show up, eating strawberry shortcake, and walking the dogs down to the river for a swim. Nigel and Scout are teaching Gus to swim. So far, he's just a wader, but he will be spending a week with us in June and I expect that will be enough time for him to learn.

It's super quiet here today. Even the dogs are exhausted. Weekends with our grand-dog, Gus, wear them out. This week, I plan to focus on Bates, trying to make the most of this month of training board, refreshing the blog, and getting back to my workroom. The folks at Outstanding Dreams Alpaca Farm have invited me to sell my photos and artwork at their Alpaca Festival in September. I want to see how much I can get done in the next few weeks...lots of almost finished projects laying around and new ideas banging around in my brain.

Wishing you a week stuffed with good things. XO