I am thankful that the cement demo crew is starting today, two days early, because I am at work and won’t have to listen to the bulk of the noise. But more than that, I am thankful that soon, very soon, all the cement around our place will be gone and we will have a little bit more dirt for planting. Our yard is teeny tiny so I rejoice in any dirt that will let me garden a bit more.

I am thankful that a crew of 4 will show up on Friday to take out as much of the Bermuda grass that they can from the back yard. 

I am thankful for our local water district that is offering a nice rebate for people who take out thirsty lawns and replace them with drought-tolerant alternatives. (Ours will be, of course, 100% California native plants and no, that does not mean cactus.)

I am thankful that tomorrow starts the first day of my vacation/shut-down. Our company is shutting down next week so I will have 10 days at home to write and work on the garden and sleep in past 5am.

But most of all today I am thankful for my husband. Last night I was watering a patch of Bermuda (to make it easier to extract) and I pulled the hose a bit closer and managed to snap the water pipe. He was just getting ready to start cooking dinner but instead had to spend an hour or so running to the store for parts and fixing the broken pipe. Never once did he get upset with me. After that he had to help me move the close to 100 pots on the courtyard plus all the other assorted pieces of junk that live there. And then we had to move all the stuff on the sideyard since that is being removed too. And through it all he kept on smiling that smile of his, the one that made my heart go flip-flop when I first met him. The one that all these years later, still makes my own heart skip a beat.

May you all have a day filled with gratefulness.