Monday, June 30, 2008

6/30: The Sun Comes out on the Last Day of June!

Wow. It's been grey and dank the past 4 days, and it was terrific to have it clear up around 1 pm today--especially as it was after my eye dr's app't, complete with pupil dilation, etc. My eyes are back to normal now, and I've done a little gardening, a little emailing, and am on the back deck, about to get out my banjo for the first time in a long time!

Am currently enjoying In the Bleak Midwinter (sorry; can't make it italicize!) by Julia Spencer-Fleming, a murder mystery set in upper NY state, with the two main characters a cop and a female Episcopalian priest. The writing is very strong--I don't click out of the storyline due to awkward writing or too much telling, and the plot moves well. I've recommended it to my mom and a friend's mom, and I'm curious about what they think.

Oh the sun through the leaves all around me! Everything is so green and lush (the side benefit of so much moisture!) that it's hard to take in. Since I'm an oral processor, I have to watch that I'm not saying, "I can't believe it's so lovely!" fifteen times a day. Even my younger son gets testy about that, and he loves to know what's going through everyone's minds all the time. Strawberrying is a hopeful over the next few days--I'd love to get a "messa berries" and have a shortcake binge and then make jam. When they're good, they're so. very. good--and it's so wonderful to have the jam come Winter. With such "to do" things in mind, I'll share my big to dos for this "next chunk of time" (July?):

1. pick berries and make jam.
2. pick material for the back of my quilt and finish it!
3. clean up my study--especially before we have visitors!
4. weed the church garden--about a morning's worth, maybe, to get it cut back and tidied up
5. wash the rest of the windows, in and out
6. BIG JOB: paint the upstairs hallway AND my study.

If that were done in July, I'd be. . . amazed and amazing! It is such a luxury to have the time to set those ideas out and then see if they come to fruition--I sure hope they do!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Decompressing. . .

My incredibly ornate and interconnected schedule has reached its simplifying point. . . I got to my friend's house at about 7 last night after a traffic-filled drive down. . . about seven hours of it. Whew! Since then, I have been breathing deeply and remembering what I LIKE to do.

The enormity of time, when contrasted to the exactly-scheduled life I (we?) often lead, is remarkable. I keep stretching--and, I must admit, looking at the clock on my computer. "Hey, it's only. . . " becomes a refrain. Maybe soon I'll stop looking! But it was surely a gift to wake up at 5:30 am today to a spectacular rain storm and NOT have the to-do list click into my head. I rolled over and slept until. . .seven thirty. Not much from a teen ager's perspective, but a welcome unwinding from mine.

Just lying around. That's a gift!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summer Home, Some 'er Not. . .


I've been on vacation about 2.5 hours now. I just realized, as the sun came out on this cloudy day, that if I want to, I can hang out the sheets and then go take them down again in two hours, just because I want to.

This is called summer vacation.

This is also called decompression. It has been a busy last two months, and it will take a while for me to accomplish complete decompression, but I plan on letting it happen.

I also hope to do some writing that has been knocking around in my head lately. We shall see.

Meanwhile. Summer vacation. Mmmmmmmm.