Pizza at Mom's

Pizza a la Marilyn (my Mom's pizza).

A cute duck planter from Mom.

Tonight Jason and I went over to my Mom's and had pizza with her and my brother Mike. My Mom makes delicious pizza. Tonight's pies had pepperoni, marinara sauce, green peppers and purple onion.

We had the best dinner. Along with the pizza, I made a salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, celery, purple onion and a dijon vinaigrette dressing (sorry no picture on this one).

Afterwards Jason treated Mike and I to Dutch Brothers. We both had iced chai and Mike had a green tea. They have really tasty chai...it is so refreshing in the summer.

Recently Mom gifted me a duck planter that belonged to her grandfather. It had been given to him on Father's Day one year and it has been vacant for some time. Tonight I brought it over and she filled it with two cactus plans that she got at the dollar store. One is an aloe vera and I can't tell you the name of the other one. But they are both very cute and cheerful.

How is it that my Mom knew I needed a friendly duck planter? She knows we all go through rough patches in our lives, and simultaneously people we care about are going through their own rough patches. Our lives collide and then they may split. My Mom thinks that sometimes people aren't able to be in other people's lives due to circumstances, even though we may care for them a great deal, and I think she is right. She has a way of making sense of some things that just amazes me. She's very insightful and thoughtful.

I guess I'm toasting you here, Mom. Cheers! And...thanks!!