Snow is gone and it will be in the 60s today. Aside from the fact that more and more lately, even just before the snow, we've hit higher temperatures. Daffodiles and crocus are in bloom and the roses are greening. They are the first signs of spring...visible evidence that the wheel of the year continues to turn. Odd that just a couple of days ago we had snow on the ground. I love the crocus flowers. We used to have hyacinths but they smell so good the dogs would chomp at the blossoms as they ran by and dig at the roots and now they don't bloom anymore.
I love spring flowers. Two days ago, Jacob picked and brought to me the first buttercup of the season. Before long, the patch in the back will be bursting with the bright yellow blooms and Doug will gather a large bunch for me to put on the kitchen table. In a month or so, we will have our first roses. I love flowers. When I first moved here with Doug, I would spend evenings cutting baskets full of fresh flowers and dividing them into small arrangements. Every room in the house would have a vase of whatever we had in bloom at the moment. Rosemary, daffodiles, crocus, tulips and hyacinth in the spring smell so good, it's no wonder the dogs always tried to eat them.
Yesterday, Emily went to work with her dad. About 2:30 Doug called to say he was almost finished and they would be home as soon as he could convince Emily that it was time to go. He said she had worked so hard, and enjoyed it so much, she just wasn't ready to stop. Yesterday was a very busy day and Emily did a job to be proud of. She greeted customers, got drink orders, bused tables and anything else she could do. She went with a tray in her hand the entire time, always carrying something with her in each direction, always stopping to follow-up with the customers. I could hear the pride in Doug's voice as he told about the great job she did. He said every waitress on shift yesterday told him they couldn't have done it without her. It was an incredibly busy day and without Emily they would never have kept tables cleared and ready to seat the next group that came through the door. The customers adore her. People track her down before they leave in order to tip her and tell her what a wonderful job she does and how much they enjoyed her service. She glows with pride in the job she has done. Doug just overflows with it. I could hear the excitement in his voice as he told me about each server that said they couldn't have done it without her. I could hear it when he said she could (and did) outwork several of the girls working the floor.
Leirin has a different future in store for her. Doug knows as well as I do that it would be wrong for us to expect or pressure her into going into the restaurant when the time comes. She wouldn't be happy there. He understands that and is willing to accept it. But Emily has a knack for it. It's in her blood, just like it's in his. It thrills him to see her beg to go to work, to understand more than the basics of good service. Jake's time in the working world hasn't come yet. He will learn the business side, because Jake's a money man. He has the concept of costing. Doug has visions of Jake with a banker's visor on his head and Emily is the hostess with the mostest. If the time comes when they decide the restaurant business isn't right for them, he will understand, just like he understands Leirin's choices. For the moment though, in Emily he sees the future of the business he has worked so hard to build.
The restaurant takes so much of him...so much of his time and his thought. It is good for him to be able to share parts of it with the kids now. We don't ask them to go to work, but they are allowed to go do jobs suitable for them if they want to. They are paid the same wages for that job that anyone else who works there makes because they are capable of doing that job completely. Leirin washes dishes - she is the master of the machine-o-suds. Emily is a people person. In one shift, she can do the job of bus-boy and hostess just as well as the girls who've done the job for 7 years. She impresses, both our waitstaff and the customers and Doug wouldn't pay any less for a job just as well done. They understand more why Doug is taken from home so much of the time. They still don't like it, but they are able to understand and it helps to keep it from feeling like he chooses work over us because they have seen firsthand what the job demands of him. I am glad they get to spend that time together.
Nothing much going on here today except major house cleaning. I am not sure how I can spend as much time as I do cleaning house every day and still end up with this kind of disaster, but it happens. Regularly. At least I only have one load of laundry.
I love spring flowers. Two days ago, Jacob picked and brought to me the first buttercup of the season. Before long, the patch in the back will be bursting with the bright yellow blooms and Doug will gather a large bunch for me to put on the kitchen table. In a month or so, we will have our first roses. I love flowers. When I first moved here with Doug, I would spend evenings cutting baskets full of fresh flowers and dividing them into small arrangements. Every room in the house would have a vase of whatever we had in bloom at the moment. Rosemary, daffodiles, crocus, tulips and hyacinth in the spring smell so good, it's no wonder the dogs always tried to eat them.
Yesterday, Emily went to work with her dad. About 2:30 Doug called to say he was almost finished and they would be home as soon as he could convince Emily that it was time to go. He said she had worked so hard, and enjoyed it so much, she just wasn't ready to stop. Yesterday was a very busy day and Emily did a job to be proud of. She greeted customers, got drink orders, bused tables and anything else she could do. She went with a tray in her hand the entire time, always carrying something with her in each direction, always stopping to follow-up with the customers. I could hear the pride in Doug's voice as he told about the great job she did. He said every waitress on shift yesterday told him they couldn't have done it without her. It was an incredibly busy day and without Emily they would never have kept tables cleared and ready to seat the next group that came through the door. The customers adore her. People track her down before they leave in order to tip her and tell her what a wonderful job she does and how much they enjoyed her service. She glows with pride in the job she has done. Doug just overflows with it. I could hear the excitement in his voice as he told me about each server that said they couldn't have done it without her. I could hear it when he said she could (and did) outwork several of the girls working the floor.
Leirin has a different future in store for her. Doug knows as well as I do that it would be wrong for us to expect or pressure her into going into the restaurant when the time comes. She wouldn't be happy there. He understands that and is willing to accept it. But Emily has a knack for it. It's in her blood, just like it's in his. It thrills him to see her beg to go to work, to understand more than the basics of good service. Jake's time in the working world hasn't come yet. He will learn the business side, because Jake's a money man. He has the concept of costing. Doug has visions of Jake with a banker's visor on his head and Emily is the hostess with the mostest. If the time comes when they decide the restaurant business isn't right for them, he will understand, just like he understands Leirin's choices. For the moment though, in Emily he sees the future of the business he has worked so hard to build.
The restaurant takes so much of him...so much of his time and his thought. It is good for him to be able to share parts of it with the kids now. We don't ask them to go to work, but they are allowed to go do jobs suitable for them if they want to. They are paid the same wages for that job that anyone else who works there makes because they are capable of doing that job completely. Leirin washes dishes - she is the master of the machine-o-suds. Emily is a people person. In one shift, she can do the job of bus-boy and hostess just as well as the girls who've done the job for 7 years. She impresses, both our waitstaff and the customers and Doug wouldn't pay any less for a job just as well done. They understand more why Doug is taken from home so much of the time. They still don't like it, but they are able to understand and it helps to keep it from feeling like he chooses work over us because they have seen firsthand what the job demands of him. I am glad they get to spend that time together.
Nothing much going on here today except major house cleaning. I am not sure how I can spend as much time as I do cleaning house every day and still end up with this kind of disaster, but it happens. Regularly. At least I only have one load of laundry.
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