sunday evening, light fading

My left arm is sore. This afternoon, our church held a block party to kick off vacation Bible school, complete with one of those blow-up jumping carnival games and a Christian rap artist. There was even chicken.

I held the beautiful grandbaby of one of my Bible study friends, and I couldn't imagine how many people I met because of that little girl! Standing on the sidewalk, trying to wipe the Oreo cream off her face, I was A Mom, and not only that -- the Mom of a little African American baby, which somehow crossed racial barriers I didn't even know existed. I was almost sad to have to admit around question number three (I could answer her age and name) that she wasn't actually mine. But the conversations, once started, continued. I've never had such a lovely afternoon with my neighbors.

In other news, I've reached new heights of culinary thrift: Josh took me out last night to our favorite little Thai place, where we had a gorgeous sweet curry dish. We asked them to package up the leftover coconut broth for us (having eaten most of the chicken and vegetables), so tonight I cut up red bell pepper to simmer in the sauce with frozen peas -- and voila. Waste not, etc.