The sublime Monday morning lattè...

Mondays are full of promise ... a new week full of potent possibility abundant, a week where anything might happen, a time to wipe the slate clean and start again. And we have the pen in our hand and can write our own story. I love Mondays. I think Monday is my favorite day of the week.

And the lattè... OH, the lattè! I wrote about the debacle with my poor French Press, I was way too hard on it. And the thing is, after a few days I got the hang of it and oh, yes, I remembered how wonderful French Press coffee really is, and it is strong enough to hold up well as iced coffee later. It makes wonderful iced coffee because it doesn't get watered down. Of course it will eat the enamel off your teeth in about 5 seconds, and your eyes will be big and round as a dinner plate all day, accompanied by shakes and jitters. But wow, what a great cup of coffee. And you've got to use real half and half with it. It scoffs at milk and you can't even taste it. Milk just makes it taste yucky.

However, April 30 was my birthday and my dear friend Jeff brought me a new espresso machine. I danced about in delight and went on in an unseemly manner and then I saw, out of the corner of my eye, my poor little French Press, shrugging it's shoulders, with a little tear on it's spout. I patted it and promised it I would still use it, and I will. It will make delightful iced coffee over the summer, and just for good measure, variety, and the delicate psyche of the French Press, will have French Press coffee now and again.

We are having a rainstorm here and it's such a relief, we need rain so badly. I can hear the garden sighing in relief. I don't like to water unless things are really dire because I'm big on water conservation, but doggone it when something starts to wilt and die just as it's coming into it's prime, then I have to step in. This kind of rain, which is supposed to go on all day, will soak the garden deeply, and I can't wait until the rain stops later today to go out and watch the droplets of water clinging to green leaves and dripping off, and the plants looking so dewy and refreshed. Even as it is raining I look out the window and everything seems greener.

Last night I updated my other blog, Maitri's Heart, and I told my readers about a wonderful poster designed by my friend Leonie. She has a fabulous website and when you click on her name you will go to the page on her site with the free poster called "12 Key Zen Habits." The poster is beautiful and whimsical and you can download it to your desktop for inspiration. I did so and am going to follow these quick easy points. It is Monday, it is a new week, and Leonie's poster is my guiding star for this week. You can read more about my thoughts on this as a life theme on Maitri's Heart.

Gracious, there's a break in the rain and a bit of sun. What this means is that I have to stop here and rush out the door with one big black dog and four tiny puglets. They won't go out to potty in the rain. You have to look for any window between rainstorms to rush them out to go. Here we go, "Moe, Sam, Babs, Coco, Harvey, let's get shakin'!" Chop, chop, it will be raining again any minute!