Randomness

Almost every day now I think I should write on my blog. Once in a while I actually intend to do that, but I have not followed through until now. I wonder, what interesting things do I have to say that anyone would care about? Life is becoming normal again, which means that it's good but also that it's busy and time is passing quickly and there is a lot to be done every single day. So, taking time for writing feels like something "extra" and that means I leave a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head on a regular basis...

Being back at work is a good thing. Hospice work continues to offer a mix of ways to be helpful to patients and families as well as to my coworkers and the agency in general. There is a big gaping hole there, though because my friend Staci has moved away now and she was always a constant bright spot in the day for me before. She is still a bright spot, of course, but now it is through the voice mail messages, emails and occasional texts she sends me. I just miss her, I guess.

The summer has been off to a nice start for the kids. Each of them had a nice enriching opportunity already--Liz went to the Wisconsin Leadership Seminar at Carroll University for a weekend and Laura had a week at Adventure Camp. Both of them came back with new insights and some big self-esteem boosts (not that either of them is lacking in that area thankfully). Liz is working part time at the Friendship Farm CSA and looking for another part time job as well. She has a gas tank to fill now! The old/new car has been very helpful already in relieving me of transportation duties in and after my work days, and she has definitely not gone way overboard on the social access it now gives her! Maybe that is still to come, but it seems we are a family of homebodies, and both girls like their downtime at home.

My flower beds are all healthy and flourishing and not needing a lot of attention, which is good because once they are weeded and mulched I like to just enjoy them and not work in them very hard. I did a little bit of dividing and filling in some blank spots earlier this summer and it all looks good. I had an idea of starting a new bed underneath the gigantic pine tree in the front yard along the driveway, but I think I have opted not to work that hard this summer. The pots are thriving too and I think we are actually going to get a few tomatoes from the plant Laura started from seed during the school year.

My inaugural bike ride last night included a rain shower, so I am hoping not to do that again. I just found out today about two trails nearby--one at the Mead Wildlife area and the other at the McMillan Marsh, and I really want to check those out this summer.

I am reading a Maeve Binchy book right now, called Heart and Soul. I got turned onto Maeve in my 20's with Light a Penny Candle, and I still love the way she weaves a story. Usually all the characters in her books end up being acquainted with one another in some way as all the loose ends get tied up. Plus, her books are always set in Ireland, and then I get to travel vicariously.

My book club (oh how I love it) has a daunting task ahead of us with the choice of the Doris Kearns-Goodwin biography of Lincoln, and I really want to read it but have not been able to make the commitment quite yet. I did read and thoroughly enjoy Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver and Coop by my favorite Wisconsin author/chicken farmer/volunteer firefighter, Michael Perry. I want to read Jane Hamilton's new book, too, and if I like it I may just send her another note in care of the Rochester, WI Postmaster. She wrote back to me years ago after I wrote a "fan letter" and now her writing has faded away because apparently the ink was not permanent.

When Laura was at camp, Liz and I watched a ton of movies, the best ones being The Visitor (about a man who comes to his seldom used NYC apartment and finds someone living there) and Changeling, which was just sad and frustrating. I also saw Doubt a while ago and thought it was brilliant. And in an effort to introduce Liz to a movie that made quite an impression on me as a young teenage babysitter with the late night movie on a black and white TV while waiting for kids' parents to get home, I rented The Beguiled, with Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. It's all about the mushrooms. That's all I am going to say, Mistah Mc Bee.