Black Butte Stream of (semi)Consciousness

Pretty much perfect here. Home Sweet Home… Love nesting, no schedule, cooking meals, even cleaning up the kitchen????, playing cards, tennis, swimming, reading.
Yes, reading. I’m reading. I basically never read. I don’t make time for it. My friend Kurt suggested a reading plan for the reading challenged (ipod addicted), which I adopted in June. Read one book a month, alternating fiction and non-fiction. I started the Shack in June. It’s August and I’m thinking I’m going to finish it while I’m here. Yeah, that’s three months. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Good ideas… getting tan. I have reached my tan quotient. On the one hand, I don’t really care. On the other, is there a point where you can no longer get tanner. Is tanner a word? This is what becomes of my mind during a vacation in paradise.

Vacation… Unplugged. Not so much. Been checking email a couple times a day. Now that it’s the end of the week, I realize I wish that I hadn’t. I haven’t fully disconnected from work. This has been such a strange summer though… I didn’t know how to leave… couldn’t get my ducks in a row well enough to feel good about unplugging. It’s fine, just different for me, to wish I had unplugged. And I always feel guilty when I pull away to connect with the real world.


Andy and Molly making puppy chow

We brought some of the girls real world here this year. Molly brought Andy and Abby brought Hillary. The past two years, we’ve brought Zena with Chris. I miss both of them here. There are lots of memories and places where I think they should be. Oh yes, we brought the boyfriend. Molly and Andy have been dating for a year tomorrow. So, we brought him. It’s a social experiment of sorts for us and for him. He has no sisters. This week, he’s surrounded by us and Mike. I occasionally catch them watching football or something masculine like that. We like him, and I really like getting to know him better. He’s quiet and caring and sincere. I thought this, now I know it. One thing I really love about having the girls friends here is that I get a bigger glimpse of who they are away from home. They are different with them, than with us. But, it’s a fuller picture of who they are becoming.

Becoming Abby. She turned 15 while we were here. She’s a wonderful and funny girl. She cuts her own hair. Is currently trying to make balloon animals. Others thought this was a stupid gift. I knew different. I get her. She knows her own mind, shares her thoughts freely and is ridiculous when she’s had a Rockstar. I’m glad that I still get her.

I didn't really get Dark Knight... we drove to Bend yesterday and Abby picked the movie. 10 minutes in to the preview Molly and I knew we were in trouble since we didn't like any of the movies previewed... the movie was dark... watching Heath Ledger who was SO freaky troubled, knowing he had OD'd soon after living in the skin of that villain... it was just so unsettling to my spirit. It couldn't end soon enough for me. I get though... why people liked it... and I did love the way we got to see Chicago :-)