������ August 9th. Hot and sunny. Yesterday���s hard rain all steamed away. Nearly got caught in a downpour at the county fair after Eileen���s team won the fleece-to-shawl competition, but we left just in time.

Carted out Eileen���s spinning wheel out on a metal dolly I bought years ago for reasons I can no longer remember. Why would I have needed such a thing? What was I trying to move? But I���m glad I had it. I couldn���t possibly have predicted ten-plus years ago, or whenever I acquired the thing, that I���d be rolling it through the dirt lanes and grasses of the fairgrounds, trying to beat the rain. Good tools don���t care why you use them.

But that was all yesterday. Now, it���s Lazy Sunday afternoon. The hum of household appliances, everybody doing their own thing, and two dogs loafing around the living room.

It���s legitimately wonderful to have a living room space in one���s life. Mine feels particularly alive lately, with a piano and ukulele at hand, video game systems in the TV cabinet, various small fiber works-in-progress, and a fold-away sewing table currently open with machines, fabric, and patterns. My corner looks nice and tidy because I do all my tinkering on computers, but of course it���s plenty messy.

Days like this, you need a mix of chores and appreciating life.