Delight in Small Pleasures

After last week's political unpleasantness, I'm paying even closer attention to the little things that enrich my life . . . the fig tree in our green house that continues to bear . . .

The two tomato vines growing up that fig tree (offspring of a couple of store-bought grape tomatoes I stuck in the soil at the fig's base to see what would happen) are making little tomatoes!

And the cucumber seeds I planted in the greenhouse back in July have been providing cukes for a couple of months and seem to be determined to keep on. The garden cukes are long gone, victims of bugs and powdery mildew.

And speaking of little things -- Josie is finding her way with words. She's been relying on a bit of sign language and a forceful personality to make her wishes known, but in the past week, she has added to her core vocabulary of Mama, Dada, Uh huh! Moo, Meow, and Yeah.

Now we're hearing (B)anana, Uh oh! and (a new favorite) More (pronounce Moah.) And we think we heard her say Moah mango . . . but her mouth was full of mango and we can't be sure.  Her staff is enchanted, needless to say.

And this tickled me. A few days ago while she was having her lunch, she noticed the book I'd been reading -- Live Wire by Harlan Coben. She seemed fascinated by the author's photo and when she made the sound she uses for What's that?

I said Harlan Coben. Something about the name captivated her and she spent most of her lunchtime looking at Harlan Coben. Later on she got up close and personal and gave Harlan Coben a kiss. Several times.

I've been a fan of Coben since I saw him at my first mystery convention and I just figured that Josie has good taste. So I was a little disappointed when Justin and Claui pointed out later that Claui's dad also sports a shaved head and Josie may have thought that was a picture of her Grandpa.

Maybe so. But she definitely reacted to the sound of the words Harlan Coben. Maybe she just figured Meema was trying to pull a fast one.