The blogging drought ends…

Well friends, I have finally found the urge to blog again… not sure what happened, but for the last two and a half weeks I just haven’t felt like blogging. It was actually shortly after my birthday that this started, and I think it might be partly due to the fact that it took me this long to send out thank you notes to friends and relatives who sent me cards and presents. What’s the connection you say? I think my guilty conscience wouldn’t let me blog until I had mailed my thank you notes. We won’t even get into why it would take me so long to write 8 thank you notes… I’m just going to blame all of my disfunctions on being homesick for Northern Idaho. I can’t function properly down here because my mind is 450 miles away, up in beautiful NID, dreaming of lakes, forested mountains, a deep blue sky, and green fields. Summer is the best time to be up there, I think, and so being down here in the blazing heat as everything begins to turn brown makes me daydream even more about being there.

Actually, now that I think about it, my inability to blog started right about the time the weather changed from being in the pleasant 80’s and low 90’s to getting hotter and hotter… There must be a correlation - the higher the temperature outside the less blogging I can do. Of course, that would mean that I have no direct control over my ability to blog, but I have to come up for some excuse for deserting the blogging community for so long. Actually, I think I just came up with three potential excuses, so people can pick the one they believe the most!

Now that I’ve blogged about not blogging… What I’ve been up to lately:

Last weekend I went for a dose of mountain therapy with Mike, Arzhang, Sarah and Bill. We drove up two hours to a hiking trail past Loman (on the way to Stanley), for an afternoon of hiking and fishing. The drive was amazing, with views of canyons and rivers that immediately make me forget Nampa. As the evergreens covering the mountains increased in number we rolled down the windows and inhaled the fresh scent of pine… and probably fir and larch and other trees for that matter. The smell of the mountains is amazing. Having grown up out in the wilds of NID I never truly appreciated the clean woodsy air because I breathed it all the time… One benefit of living somewhere not so pretty smelling now is that when we go to the mountains I get to rediscover the amazing sight, smell and feel of the great outdoors. I have a small amount of Nez Perce ancestry in me, and when I was growing up my parents encouraged an interest in Native American history in me. So many of my beliefs about nature especially have a decidedly Native American slant to them. When I’m surrounded by nature in its almost pure form, somewhere where there is more natural wilderness than civilization, I feel reconnected with the earth, almost spiritually healed. I feel calm, and at peace, and one with the earth. When the stresses of civilization and society get too much, a trip to the mountains or a lake can help remind me that I am not just a part of society, but also a part of the earth. The earth is what gives me, and all of us, life. While it might sound corny to some, it’s true for me. It’s kind of a Zen thing too I suppose… seeing the immenseness and the grandeur of nature, and knowing that the earth has been here for millions of years before me and will continue to be here long after I am gone helps me gain some perspective on my current stresses and worries. They often seem distant, trivial and fleeting when I’m standing on top of a mountain, with my face to the wind and my feet on the earth.

There’s a reason my blog is called “Ramblings…”

Last Wednesday we had a splendid night of bowling (well, most of us did) at Nampa Bowl. The alley was mostly empty, which was a pleasant change. We warmed up before hand with a tasty dinner of Thai wraps at Bill and Sarah’s, and then progressed on to the bowling alley in a larger group than normal, as some of Bill and Sarah’s friends came along too. It was great to get to know new people, although I’ll admit that at first I was a bit more reserved than normal in my bowling because when I bowl I tend to get pretty excited and outgoing, and it takes me awhile to feel comfotable revealing so much of myself to people I didn’t know too well. I did pretty well, however, with an average of 134 after 4 games! That’s pretty good for me. I almost won one of the games but at the last moment Hahn, one of the “newcomers” pulled ahead. He used to play in league and has his own ball and shoes though, so need I say more. That game I had a 150-something, which is quite satisfactory for me, although I have to admit that I would like to hold the highest bowling score for our bowling group at least once… Maybe I’ll have to start sneaking over to the bowling alley when Mike’s not watching to practice.

Thursday night I came down with a nasty bout of food poisoning or stomach flu which laid me up all day Friday and most of Saturday. I have decided that a career in childcare is not in my future because everytime I get sick it reminds me how much a hate it, and working with really young kids exposes me to way too many germs. I’m all recovered now, although still tired. I slept a good ten hours, which helps a lot. Today’s agenda includes: Breakfast, nap, reading, movie, watering flowers, emailing people, and dinner. YAY. Couch party for Cassie and Bonsai.

I think this shall be the end of my post for now… more coming soon, I promise!!