Last weekend, we started exploring our neighboring cities a little more. (I'm still working on last week's W.U.W. post, and I can fill you in more once that's completed, but the main gist is that our city passed a very strict mask ordinance so our outings have needed to look different.) On Friday night, we went a few miles south to a little town of about 4,000 people. We grabbed pizza, stopped at the little grocery store for my Friday night steak, and headed home, so it wasn't of any major note but I did find out that steak is about $6 per pound cheaper there, so... that was a serious win. I like to think the savings paid for the gas to get down there...?
We've been spending more road trip time in the Kraken lately, and the kids have repeated how much they've loved the extra family time it has afforded us.
On Saturday morning, there was really no "out" to go to on my morning out, so I curled up in bed with coffee and The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and got some serious reading done. I had just finished up the Diary of Anne Frank the day before, and lately I'm finding myself feeling grounded, strengthened and encouraged by hearing from writers from the past. I got rid of Facebook last week, and I've been trying to spend my newly freed up time getting more substantial reading done. I'm trying to have one theological book, one work of fiction, and one history/culture book going at any given time lately. There is nothing like that combination to help me look at the current moment with a little bit of clarity, I'm finding.
Saturday afternoon, I spent some time outside, pulling poison ivy out of my flower beds and garden beds. Because it just KEEPS COMING. But that seems to be the theme for everything this year, so I'm trying to face it head on with as little trepidation as I can convincingly pretend. It's building character and whatever.
On Saturdays, the kids have their own liturgy: special breakfast burritos made and served by Chef Todd, then Coffee and Cash, then time in the afternoon to type up stories or draw along with Art Hub for Kids.
Saturday night, we headed to another little town at dinnertime. This one is about half an hour west of us, and was so adorable. It was about 8000 people and sits right on the Missouri river - right across the river, actually, from the start of the Santa Fe Trail. It was first settled in 1817 by the sons of Daniel Boone, and hosts the longest-running live theater west of the Mississippi. It is surrounded by cornfields, and has an adorable baseball field in the center of it (which is also immediately next to a prehistoric Indian mound). The city itself changed hands multiple times during the Civil War, as it was a port city fought over by the Union and Confederacy. Also, the kids would like to point out that it features a park with a double twisty slide. I was losing my mind. It was like all the best things I miss from Iowa towns - cornfields, an historic downtown, no houses with tarps for a roof - and all the history and beauty of a Missouri River town, all rolled into one. I could go on and on. If it wasn't actually in Missouri, I'd want to live there.
On Sunday morning, we headed out of town to a friend's house to watch Anthem's livestream with a few folks from church, and afterwards drove around a little town about ten miles north of us. That town was a bit of a letdown, but I guess they can't all be winners.
Then launched the Very Normal Week: the true love of my life. The kids did some math most mornings, but other than that we're on break from school. I spent my time reading, getting some house projects done like cleaning out the basement and finally getting a handle on all the crazy amounts of laundry that had gotten backed up during the worst of my poison ivy days. I hung a few things on the wall in the boy's room and our room. We had some friends over for dinner on Tuesday night. You know. Fantastic normal stuff.
On Wednesday, a friend joined us up at the Amish for the morning, and then another friend came to give me and the big girls much-needed haircuts.
Yesterday, I pulled yet more poison ivy and spent some one-on-one time with each of the big girls.
Yesterday, I pulled yet more poison ivy and spent some one-on-one time with each of the big girls.
Nothing major, but at just the right pace for me: days with freedom to read and motivation to organize, and fun stuff to do in the evenings and on the weekends, without feeling 'booked.' I wish all of life could be summer break (minus the poison ivy). Is that a thing?
Here's to another exciting, exploratory weekend - I think tomorrow we're going to head to Jefferson City, our state capital, for the first time since moving here 4.5 years ago... we're clearly behind the eight ball. Plus, Todd's teaching this Sunday at church, so it should be a really fun weekend! And here's also to another hopefully normal week. Gosh, there's so much to love about life right now.
1 comment :
nothing like reading the hiding place in your hiding place. very meta.
Post a Comment