Well, I got a nice birthday present today!

I'm sitting on the couch at Debbie's and Mom's cellphone rings. K, fine, I'm busy, I don't talk on phones, nobody would be calling for me on Mom's phone...

She comes in and gives me the phone.

And it's Jonathan! He got a new book at school today and wanted to read it to me. :D Wasn't that sweet? I thought so. I even got into his Book (of people he's read to) by proxy. Darla signed me in.

Welcome to Obsessively Manicured North Dakota!

Which, to be honest, was not quite so obsessively manicured on this trip (or perhaps just in this location) as it was the last time I was in that lovely (and overly tidy) state.

Convention was - need I say it? - wonderful. And the weather was beautiful too! It was gloriously sunny the entire week, not a cloud in the sky. It averaged around 68-70 during the day, colder at night. Saturday was the coolest day, and I did leave my jacket on most of the day (light jacket, don't get any ideas about down or winter or anything here).

And for being right in the middle of a city, it was amazingly quiet. Very nice. Saturday, also, we took a walk down by the river which was really nice. No turtles, alas, but lots of leaves to rustle through (something I was deprived of as a child, growing up as I did in rainy western Washington. We never had crisp dried leaves. We had sodden black-spotted leaves.), and was a very nice walk all around.

One thing we heard about which I really enjoyed was gratitude. I will make a separate post for that, otherwise this one will be way too long. It probably already is, but you'll have to suffer through. Or not, I guess. You could stop reading!

Oh - it was my birthday today. I'm not even there at Mandan. But my dearly beloved brother, may all his hair turn grey and fall out, sent me numerous (read 4) birthday cards, all of which were waiting for me on my arrival last Tuesday - and all of which mentioned prominently that I'm turning 40. Am 40 now.

I think I'll save the account of the departure for another post too. For one, I'm getting sleepy and can't think of anything interesting to say. Other than this: Going east is much harder than going west, in the matter of time changes. At least for me. I don't know about the rest of you. Breakfast is at 6:00 in the morning! That's insane!! (7 for them, 6 for me. I slept through it anyways, but it still is insane!) And everyone is in bed with the lights out at 9:15. (10:15... 9 for me.)

More to come...

Catching up - Again!

I've been a busy lady!

I was in Missoula in August, with Karen Tenniswood. I really enjoyed being back there again; so nice to catch up with everyone.

The weather was really bizarre though. It kept swinging between really hot and really cold. So one day, Karen and I are driving by the river (hot day), and looking at everyone out enjoying themselves, and Karen says what fun it would be to go canoeing. A few days later, we are driving along the river again (cold day) - it doesn't look nearly so enticing! But not too long after, it's hot again, so I started looking for rentals. You can rent a canoe or a kayak fairly cheaply. $20-40 depending on how long you want it. But they wanted $1000 deposits!

Erm, I think. Not so doable, alas. But! We saw innertubes in Mary P's garage, and took note of them... and one morning, when it was supposed to get up to 98, we invited ourselves up to her house, and the three of us went floating down the river. I'm glad it was that hot, because the water was extremely cold.

Jane and Nichole returned from their various sides of the country at about the same time - just in time for Reuben's funeral - and we swapped places. Jane and I went up to Jay B's for a week of doing as close to nothing as possible. My 'nothing' included going horseback riding. (Bareback! Using only a halter!) It was great. Then a day or two before we moved on, we met Joe K's sister for a picnic, and went out kayaking. It looked like a lake but I think it was a large bay off the river. We saw an osprey and several eagles, and some really huge fish lurking down in the waterweeds.

That brings us up to starting mtgs Sunday in Charlo (last Sunday was the first), and me going to Mandan (I leave a week from today).

And Voila! For anyone who actually checks this as infrequently as I update it, I am updated! Current! Present and accounted for! Hooray!

I had a most interesting dream last night. I got to have a nice chat (alas, I've forgotten what all was said!) with the president and his wife. Apparently, they were in Bible study with us on Wednesday night, and a day or so afterwards, Michelle and I were chatting in the kitchen. (Don't know whose!). Mr. Obama came along after a while, and joined in. They were very pleasant people in my dream, I must say.

Why do people say 'sugar diabetes'? Is there another sort?

In other news, we tried to go camping Monday. We got driven out by clouds of killer mosquitoes. OFF did work... to the extent that it kept them hovering an inch above your skin instead of landing and biting. I have decided that what I really want isn't OFF, but DEAD. I'll spray it on my clothes and it will kill them on contact. Ha! Dead Mosquito!

It's a pity, too, because it was a beautiful location - by a lake up in the mountains - and gorgeous weather. I had the hike I planned to take up to a outcropping of rocks all figured out... I even slept reasonably well for Camping Out. No elk bugling in my ears until 3 am, no bears snuffling about. Only hordes of deer tramping through. I wish I could have somehow looked out without letting the mosquitoes in... they were really close, by how they sounded, and it would have been cool to see. So I was only awake from about midnight until 3 am or so - sleeping before and after-hand. Not bad at all.

Well, and I forgot waking up at 6 am by someone shoving the boat off the gravel to go fishing. I would never have believed that the sound of oars being dipped into the water could be SO LOUD. In my groggy state, it sounded like a moose wading through the shallows. A very big, very loud, very near moose.

Ah well. Next time, I shall be prepared!

Jen has inspired me. I love her spring-leaves background - and thought maybe I'd change to that. I couldn't find it though; but I found this! Look at that way cool map up there that my Suitcase is romping across so happily. Isn't it great? And I still have green and yellow, hooray!

New background color. I got tired of the old one. But... what do you think? Maybe too dark.

Hmmm.

Yeah, and all you guys with fancy stuff for your blog templates don't be saying nothing about mine being boring! ;)