Today was my day off.

You would think that means resting.

Apparently, I still haven't learned what that word means.

The morning started with taking Ksenia to work. Natalie went to Clearwater, and Peter went there too, so for a while it was just Danny and me at home.

We decided to take care of the pool.

There were leaves everywhere. We cleaned them out, and then we looked around the pool and decided that the bushes next to it needed some trimming too.

That was our first mistake.

Anyone who has ever trimmed bushes next to a swimming pool already knows what happened next.

A lot of the clippings ended up in the pool.

So, after trimming the bushes, we cleaned the pool again.

Then I decided to attack the grass.

I still don't have a lawnmower, so for now the grass has to be dealt with using a trimmer. It works, but it is not exactly a peaceful gardening experience.

The trimmer throws pieces of grass, little sticks, and whatever else happens to be hiding in there directly at me.

And it throws them with surprising speed.

Some of those little pieces hit me hard enough that I started wondering whether I was trimming the grass or participating in some kind of primitive artillery exercise.

Eventually, the grass looked better, the bushes looked better, and the pool looked clean again.

I also cleaned the pool filter, which is one of those jobs nobody notices when it is done, but everybody notices when it isn't.

After all that, Danny and I finally went inside.

I warmed up some food Natalie had made for us, and we had lunch.

There is something nice about eating food that somebody else prepared, especially after spending the morning outside working. It tastes a little better when you've earned it.

The rest of the day was a balancing act.

I wanted to give Danny some computer time, but not let the computer swallow the entire day. At the same time, I needed some time for myself—to sit down, think, and work on my own things.

That's probably one of the hardest parts of having children: finding a little piece of time that belongs to you without feeling like you're stealing it from them.

But that's life.

Some days are big adventures.

Some days are work.

And some days are just leaves, bushes, grass, a dirty pool filter, lunch, and trying to find an hour for yourself.

Maybe those ordinary days are worth remembering too.

And speaking of remembering, I'm adding a couple of illustrations from some of my stories.

Yes, the drawings are mine. I create the illustrations for my stories, using pen and paper or procreate app as part of the process. They have become another way for me to tell the stories—not just with words, but with pictures too.

So that was my day off.

Tomorrow, I suppose, the grass will still be there.

And I still don't have a lawnmower. :)