Spring Fever

I'm off! Not off on some exciting trip, but off--completely off from school, and nearly all of my obligations. What a relief! I've needed this break, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it!

Sat. Julie and I headed for Newton on a shopping run. After buying the normal needed supplies--cat food/dog food/groceries--we made a stop off and bought 30 baby chicks. We bought pullets, so hopefully they will all be female as promised. They were so sweet, chirping all the way home to Marion. Sometime this week we will be moving the old chicken house to the corner of Julie and Quinn's garden, converting it to our garden shed, and then moving in a larger building for the growing chicken population. It will be several months before they lay, so we have a bit of time to get it all done. Julie and Quinn sent me home with 3 dozen good, brown, farm fresh (and free-range!) eggs to share with my parents and then also stock my own refrigerator. I'll be set for awhile. Quinn had stayed at home all day and finished up rota tilling the garden plot, with Adam helping by dragging it to smooth it all out.

Sunday I went to church and heard a good sermon on love-eros, philia, and agape. Lots for me to think about. After church I headed for Hesston and spent the day with my parents. I helped dad fertilize the lawn, while mom finished up the preparations for the good raclette meal. Afterwards we were all stuffed and took the afternoon to commune with our mattresses. The highpoint of Sunday afternoons for me is always the nap I allow myself! After naps we all went out to the garden and planted onions and gladiolas. Mom and Dad also took some time to show me the photos from their recent trip to Switzerland and Germany. They had a fantastic time!

This morning I allowed myself to sleep in-although I really didn't sleep that late. Instead, I spent time just laying in bed listening to the sounds wafting in my open window. I've been suffering from a nasty sinus infection, and I was overjoyed to find myself mostly healed this morning! I'm still a little stuffed up, but it is nothing compared to the pain I was feeling just a few days ago. Today I spent time just picking up some stuff around the house, although tomorrow I need to tackle some deep cleaning. At about 1:00 I headed out to Julie and Quinn's house. Julie and I started on the garden, cutting potatoes that we planted, planting more onions, and a row of radishes. We'll have to wait for several more weeks before we can plant the rest of the garden: tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, banana peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs, garlic, zucchini squash, cucumbers, and a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten. I'm pretty sure we're going to have to end up selling stuff on the road by the end of it all, we've got a lot of it! This evening I led yoga class, Carolan is gone on vacation. It went pretty well, although my timing was off, and I didn't have enough to fill the time. We ended up just doing some poses on our own, and attempting some that we don't normally do. It was ok too, since it was just a smaller group. Afterwards, I headed to Ed Wheeler's house to discuss some church activity ideas I had. He is especially interested in the "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" idea that we do at Whitestone occasionally. We'll see how it all works out.

Tonight I've spent the evening outside next to my chiminea. The evening is a bit cool, but if I huddle close to the chiminea I can keep pretty warm. Between my Pandora station, the crackle of the fire, the smoke wafting on the air, the taste of a good beer on my lips--I can't think of anything better for my spring break. I'm not sure that this isn't what my heaven will consist of when I finally make it there! The only thing better would be a private stage at Winfield with my favorite artists playing nonstop!

Tomorrow I hope to get a little more done on my house, and just spend my time going at a slower pace than what I normally do. I hope that all of you make some time to do the same in the near future!