for what ever this day shall bring us~

The winds blew off of Cerro Summit yesterday morning, so strong that I had trouble keeping the clothes on the line when I hung out our laundry mid-morning.  What should have been a task of about twenty minutes, easily turned into an hour long ordeal.  The sky was blue and sunny but the temperature registered only 34 degrees.  Three full baskets of freshly washed clothes stood before me and between the wind and my "approaching frozen" hands, I had to take a break in between each basket and go inside to warm up.  I know it's crazy and I could have easily put them into the dryer instead of hanging them outside, but I didn't.  Hanging out clothes has always been kind of therapeutic for me.  Actually I remember watching my mom hang out clothes when I was just a little kid and I begged her to let me help too.  My first attempt at it wasn't all that successful but I was "hooked" from the moment my little fingers clipped that first white sock on the line.  Ever since then, now all of my life. I've been glad to live where there was a clothesline and I always prefer if possible to dry clothing in the Great Outdoors.  They smell good, appear much cleaner, and feel so much softer when done in such a manner. 

Yesterday was a beautiful day, a very gorgeous Sunday here in south western Colorado.  It was clear evidence that in the dance of the seasons, Spring is ready to take over and accept the baton from Winter.  I suspect that Winter isn't totally ready to give up yet but it might as well.  There was a lot of controlled burning going on here in the valley with people taking advantage of the near perfect conditions.  From our vantage point atop a small hill just outside of the city limits, we could see plumes of smoke arising from all around us.  People around these parts were making their way outside and enjoying a respite from the harshness of winter.  Runners jogged by, motorcycles could be heard and seen along Highway 50, and cyclists (me included) made their way along the roads.  Mike and I spent time outdoors cleaning around the yard, potting some plants, and assembling a piece of new furniture for the deck.  It was a great afternoon to NOT be inside and I'm glad that we were able to take advantage of it. 

Soon it will be time to get dressed for school and head out the door for another week with my students.  We have two weeks of Colorado state assessments ahead of us and today will be one last day to review and talk about all of the different strategies the kids can use in order to do their best.  I'm proud of those kids, all of them, and I pray that they do just that.  We have come such a long ways together, both teacher AND students.  I haven't told them yet that next week, after we finish our last tests, that I need to return to Kansas for a few days.  I've gone back there twice before during the school year for various things.  They always ask me, "You're gonna come back, aren't you?"  I always smile and say "Yes.  Why wouldn't I?"  Return, I shall, this time too.

I have a home back in Hutchinson and it's time to begin to get it ready for others to live in and enjoy.  Lots to do there but I will make it!  I'm not really ready to totally relinquish that home on 14th Street but will try to lease it for a year while I decide what I should do with it permanently.  It's a great home, filled with lots of memories of my life.  For 25 years it belonged to my mom and since 2005 it has belonged to me.  If the walls could talk, they would tell you of my life there and an interesting one it has been.  I never dreamt I would want to own it and now I cannot imagine that I would not have.  Funny thing about houses.  Sometimes they become your best friend. 

In the backyard of that house, now 611 miles away from me, there is a clothesline and in the dead of winter of 2011, I decided that I'd had enough of the cold weather on one January day.  In defiance, with the temperature hovering at 37 degrees or so, I hauled all of my clothes outside and hung them in the bright sunshine.  Now never mind you that by the time they were hung my hands had turned an interesting shade of red.  That was not important.  It was my own personal stand, my open act of civil disobedience of the non-violent nature of course.  I might have been frozen "stiff a grinning" as my late Grandma Scotty liked to say but I had fun doing it.  It was a sense of accomplishment for me.  I liked that feeling, that having fun sensation.  I intend to have that feeling as often as I can in this life and I pray for you my dear friends and family that you experience the same. 

Please take care of yourselves, all of you.  If you woke up this day and are reading this post, then God has a plan for you and it's a good one.  I don't know what is ahead this day  for me.  Maybe good or maybe the "not so" good.  Whatever it is, I remain more steadfastly determined to go and find out than I would ever be too afraid.  See you late next week my Kansas family and friends.  Someone should probably stop in at Bogey's and tell them that I'll be back.  They might want to stock up on the fixings for diet vanilla dr. pepper's with extra ice.  I'll be buying at least a couple :)

So glad that a little girl named Catherine Lois will get the chance to play with this little dolly, now in its new home with her on Whidbey Island, Washington.  A wonderful grandmother named Catherine, once gave it to me.  I've never met her, never held her in my arms, but I love her so much already.