No one can resist a dirty van window. Every day I've noticed a new message scrawled in the dust. This morning a big smiley face greeted us, proclaiming "I (heart) dirt!" I hate to deprive people of this creative outlet, but, alas, I've decided that Monday afternoon I'll swing by the car wash between my stint working at the church and picking up Kendall from school. I'll have thirty minutes - I should be able to get most of the dirt off...I'll do my best, anyway. Then it begins again...
You know when you're swimming and you feel those currents of warm water splicing through the cold? (No, I'm not talking about when someone upstream of you relieved themselves, but natural temperature differences...) Well, this morning I felt air currents like that when I was walking the dogs...a cool breeze, then a swirl of warmth, like I was in the middle of a battle between summer and autumn. Yesterday I was actually cold on my walk - I zipped my hoodie all the way up, stuffed my hands deep into the pockets, huddled over, and walked fast. Summer made a small comeback this morning - it's fighting hard, trying to hang on - but we know how this story turns out.
The youth retreat starts tomorrow - I'm really excited about it now; everything is falling into place. The challenge will be staying up all night Saturday as a chaperone. I have plenty of homework and writing to catch up on and other chaperones to talk to, but I am REALLY tired! I have "SLEEP" written on my calendar for Sunday. I'll try to channel my inner fourteen-year-old that had no problem staying up all night at slumber parties. How did I do it when I worked twelve-hour night shifts at the chemical plant? I think the trick was to spread out my work, take a walk through my area once an hour, and bring lots of busy work - that's when I worked on genealogy, read books, wrote letters. (I used to get a lot accomplished when I was a working mom!) I think the other secret was food - we ate a lot! Sunflower seeds, grapes, and lots of popcorn...food that keeps you busy. But if I remember right, about 4 am, my body would suddenly feel like it weighed 1000 pounds, from my eyelids down to my toes, and it was a battle staying awake until shift change at 6 am. Wish me luck!!
Here are some glimpses from nature's portfolio from the last couple of weeks...a breathtaking sunset (again, I'm not skilled enough at photography to really capture it), some strange new purple flowers that sprang up on the side of our road, and some dainty yellow ones that I couldn't resist photographing...
