Mid-August Daybook

Grateful for: my friends the Neals and last week that we spent together.  That Mandy’s going back to school!  Our church.  That Emerson is home from the hospital.  Bike rides and walks.  Dinner on the patio. Soap!

Praying for: my grieving friends (you know who you are).  Somalia.  Haiti. Japan.  Two thousand families near Davao City, Philippines, who lost loved ones and homes in a flash flood last month.

In the kitchen: peaches.  My friend Pam made a trip to western Colorado and carried back 160 lbs just for me us!

So I’m canning them and freezing them while they’re perfectly ripe.  I started canning peaches in Chicago when J was a baby in a carseat on my friend Karen’s kitchen floor, but last year was the first year I did enough that they lasted until July.  If only I’d written down how many that was…

In the garden: Kathy from church organized on a community garden and has been feeding a neighborhood with fabulous produce.  This week she brought buckets of chard and kale and heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers to church.  My garden is less ambitious, and we’re still only getting berries, grape tomatoes, rhubarb, herbs and zucchini.   I just put in seeds for lettuce and spinach now that the nights are cooler.

Around the house: laundry.  And getting ready for camping.  If you can’t find me, look for me at the sewing table– SweetP needs a sleeping bag.

Struggling with: contentment.  I look around me and see so many blessings, and yet I want more.  What I want itself isn’t bad– it’s all good– but sometimes I am like my son, who’s always wondering if there are seconds on dessert.

Preparing for: school.  I finally picked a start date: Aug 23.  Our bins are ready, all the workbooks are punched, I have our first two artists’ work prepped, and I have assignments planned for the first several months until I know how the pacing is working.