I went strawberry picking today. Yeah. There is something so good and right and nice about getting to pick your own food. Really nice that you don't have to take all of the time and effort to grow it and yet still get the thrill of getting to be the one to pull it from it's source. Strawberries are something that takes a bit of patience. It is hard to fill a box that is big, with berries that are not so big. It makes you somehow feel more connected to nature or something, plus it tastes amazing to get things fresh from the farm. And I like the work that goes in to it, like going and buying some already picked takes a bit of the fun out of it and would feel like cheating.
I had a nice time getting the strawberries. Also, I was assisted by the woman and man who were telling us which rows to pick from. The lady even took me to try three different kinds of berries. (I never thought of there being more than one kind.) Also, the two of them picked some of the berries that ended up going home with me. How nice and helpful of them. This one kind that I got, has white spots, on purpose. It is some sort of marbled strawberry. Yum. Now I have to figure out all what to do with 11 pounds of strawberries.
This evening was a really nice evening with housemates. There was an impromptu house dinner, with 7 people in attendance. We sat, we ate, we laughed, there was music, there was good food, and there was dinner without a rush or time limit. How nice. I will miss these parts of living with people.
Why is it that towards the end of something, you get nostalgic about it?
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
When things are confusing
I tend to be a person who likes to know what is going on. When there is something new or coming, I like knowing about it, when there is something changing, I like the inside scoop and when there is a new adventure, I like to be involved. It is strange (though more normal really) when life does not lend itself to being figured out, when I don't know what will happen and have to wait and see. Also, when I don't know what things to commit to and what not to. How to know? Pray. Wait for pieces to fall in to place. Talk. Listen.
I am not a person who is that good at waiting. I get too excited.
Most of all though, what I am learning is that there is a great need to not take life so seriously. Not to worry so much. We can get stuck in having to figure out what is going on in our life, when really, we are such a small part of what is going on in the world. And that thing that seems big now, really will seem a lot smaller once it is over.
And overall life is good. There are a lot of things to be thankful for, and there is a God who knows more than we do, who knows what is going to happen, who loves us more than we can ever imagine. And because he loves us so much, we get to make choices in life. We have desires and dreams that have been placed in the depths of us, and we get to live out of that. To take risks, to have things not work out, to have dreams that we can't see being possible, to have surprises where what we thought was impossible is suddenly happening. And that is life.
Thoreau said that, "our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." I think dreams can be both exciting and scary. Exciting cause if we dare to think that it is possible, whoa, what a world that would be. And scary cause there are pitfalls and things that don't go the way that we want them to, or in the speed that would be preferred. Life as adventure, as seeing what can come, as looking for the best and dreaming of it.
I am not a person who is that good at waiting. I get too excited.
Most of all though, what I am learning is that there is a great need to not take life so seriously. Not to worry so much. We can get stuck in having to figure out what is going on in our life, when really, we are such a small part of what is going on in the world. And that thing that seems big now, really will seem a lot smaller once it is over.
And overall life is good. There are a lot of things to be thankful for, and there is a God who knows more than we do, who knows what is going to happen, who loves us more than we can ever imagine. And because he loves us so much, we get to make choices in life. We have desires and dreams that have been placed in the depths of us, and we get to live out of that. To take risks, to have things not work out, to have dreams that we can't see being possible, to have surprises where what we thought was impossible is suddenly happening. And that is life.
Thoreau said that, "our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." I think dreams can be both exciting and scary. Exciting cause if we dare to think that it is possible, whoa, what a world that would be. And scary cause there are pitfalls and things that don't go the way that we want them to, or in the speed that would be preferred. Life as adventure, as seeing what can come, as looking for the best and dreaming of it.
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Dancing in the rain
One day last week, it was pouring rain. My housemate commented on how much she liked the current storm and how hard it was raining. So we went and played in it. The rain was pouring down and we we jumping around and landing in puddles and laughing a lot. Good times, and good to take the time to have times like that.
Priorities in life are interesting because there are so many things that we could do with out time. I don't have a tv and wonder what life would be like if I did cause I don't have extra time now. People take time, it takes time to get to know people, or to sit and have dinner, or to come home at the end of the day and catch up with housemates. This week I went to Minneapolis to meet up with people from 24-7 prayer. It was great! I love meeting people and getting caught up with people that I don't get to see as often as would be preferable. Monday night we had an amazing and relaxing dinner. Great food and lots of time eating, drinking, talking with such a great group of people. Fun times and the kind of time that fills your soul with life and encouragement, seeing where people are at, what they are up to, and joking around about whatever.
Road trips are good too, especially when I bribe myself with car snacks and coffees. I got a scone and coffee for the trip there and then one a coffee on the way back too. Yum. And time that you can't do much. I call people, listen to podcasts and music and drive. Relaxing usually. I hate the times in the car though where you can't relax and don't feel like driving or are so anxious to get there that it seems to take forever. There are certain people that are really good at soaking in the time that they are traveling, good at using the time for something. I am somewhere in between the person who hates road trips and the person that is patient during the trip. I am learning. And I like traveling so it must be done.
Priorities in life are interesting because there are so many things that we could do with out time. I don't have a tv and wonder what life would be like if I did cause I don't have extra time now. People take time, it takes time to get to know people, or to sit and have dinner, or to come home at the end of the day and catch up with housemates. This week I went to Minneapolis to meet up with people from 24-7 prayer. It was great! I love meeting people and getting caught up with people that I don't get to see as often as would be preferable. Monday night we had an amazing and relaxing dinner. Great food and lots of time eating, drinking, talking with such a great group of people. Fun times and the kind of time that fills your soul with life and encouragement, seeing where people are at, what they are up to, and joking around about whatever.
Road trips are good too, especially when I bribe myself with car snacks and coffees. I got a scone and coffee for the trip there and then one a coffee on the way back too. Yum. And time that you can't do much. I call people, listen to podcasts and music and drive. Relaxing usually. I hate the times in the car though where you can't relax and don't feel like driving or are so anxious to get there that it seems to take forever. There are certain people that are really good at soaking in the time that they are traveling, good at using the time for something. I am somewhere in between the person who hates road trips and the person that is patient during the trip. I am learning. And I like traveling so it must be done.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
I like Madison
Today was a great day off. It started by sleeping in a bit. Then some cereal with strawberries and coffee with soy that I didn't have to make.
Then I left the house and walked to get my hair cut. I love getting my hair cut and Thorpes, the place that I go, is great. I even was given yummy chocolate peanut butter treats. Then I walked over to Cafe Zoma, a coffee shop that just reopened with new owners. Now it is open later like a real coffee shop. Yeah. And so I sat and drank some iced coffee and wrote in my journal a little and checked my email and such. Then went to a little market and walked back home. What a great day! I love getting to have a day that I can go to places and not have to drive. What a great spot to be! And so many other people were outside too, walking, running, biking. It is great! I wonder what moving to the other side of town will be like. I'll get to walk to different things then.
I have been spoiled for sure. And to have not even have chosen this house, just to have landed in it in such a great spot. So much to be able to walk to. And finally it is warm. I got to wear a skirt and flip flops on my travels.
Now I am going to have dinner and sew a bit hopefully. It's been too long. Do you ever have those things that you want to do, and they just never seem to happen. I think it would be great to have more of a space to be able to sew. Maybe next year I'll put a desk in my room or in a corner of the dining room, then I could have a better space than the kitchen table for creating masterpieces. And maybe it would happen more often.
Madison is a great place, with lots to be able to walk or bike to. I never want to live somewhere where that is not possible. There are so many coffee places, nice friendly people. Good stuff. I need to be careful when crossing the roads though, not to get hit by people biking. I also got startled while I was waiting to cross the street, by a guy running. I jumped a little and he felt bad. Sorry running guy.
I have trouble slowing down and stopping sometimes. Like while I was sitting at the coffee shop, I was thinking of things that I need to get done. Or things that have happened. It took be a little bit to just stop and breathe. Time that does not have to be productive.
Then my day was rudely interrupted by coming home to a mess of a kitchen. AH! I hate dirty dishes out and crumbs on the counter. Yuck. I even bought the sponge at the end of a handle that holds soap. It is easy and if you wash the dish right when you use it, food doesn't get stuck. The mess of it makes me anxious. Yuck, yuck, yuck. But everyone is different and other people may be stressed out by the idea of having to wash a dish right away and may like the idea of doing a stack of them later better. So that is the price I pay for living with other people, not the end of the world. Frustrating for sure, but for getting to know people and getting to live with them, there are things that must be done, like cleaning up.
Back to Madison. I really like it here and the more that I am here the more that I like it. There is a lot of water (lakes) around and there are even docks that float on the water in many locations around the city. Like yesterday I ran down the bike path to a park on the lake and stood on a dock for a while looking at the city and the capital on the other side of the lake. Neat. Then I ran home through a pretty neighborhood. Tomorrow I may go rollerblading, something that I haven't done in years. May be dangerous. But now I am off to make a nice dinner and sew and relax.
Then I left the house and walked to get my hair cut. I love getting my hair cut and Thorpes, the place that I go, is great. I even was given yummy chocolate peanut butter treats. Then I walked over to Cafe Zoma, a coffee shop that just reopened with new owners. Now it is open later like a real coffee shop. Yeah. And so I sat and drank some iced coffee and wrote in my journal a little and checked my email and such. Then went to a little market and walked back home. What a great day! I love getting to have a day that I can go to places and not have to drive. What a great spot to be! And so many other people were outside too, walking, running, biking. It is great! I wonder what moving to the other side of town will be like. I'll get to walk to different things then.
I have been spoiled for sure. And to have not even have chosen this house, just to have landed in it in such a great spot. So much to be able to walk to. And finally it is warm. I got to wear a skirt and flip flops on my travels.
Now I am going to have dinner and sew a bit hopefully. It's been too long. Do you ever have those things that you want to do, and they just never seem to happen. I think it would be great to have more of a space to be able to sew. Maybe next year I'll put a desk in my room or in a corner of the dining room, then I could have a better space than the kitchen table for creating masterpieces. And maybe it would happen more often.
Madison is a great place, with lots to be able to walk or bike to. I never want to live somewhere where that is not possible. There are so many coffee places, nice friendly people. Good stuff. I need to be careful when crossing the roads though, not to get hit by people biking. I also got startled while I was waiting to cross the street, by a guy running. I jumped a little and he felt bad. Sorry running guy.
I have trouble slowing down and stopping sometimes. Like while I was sitting at the coffee shop, I was thinking of things that I need to get done. Or things that have happened. It took be a little bit to just stop and breathe. Time that does not have to be productive.
Then my day was rudely interrupted by coming home to a mess of a kitchen. AH! I hate dirty dishes out and crumbs on the counter. Yuck. I even bought the sponge at the end of a handle that holds soap. It is easy and if you wash the dish right when you use it, food doesn't get stuck. The mess of it makes me anxious. Yuck, yuck, yuck. But everyone is different and other people may be stressed out by the idea of having to wash a dish right away and may like the idea of doing a stack of them later better. So that is the price I pay for living with other people, not the end of the world. Frustrating for sure, but for getting to know people and getting to live with them, there are things that must be done, like cleaning up.
Back to Madison. I really like it here and the more that I am here the more that I like it. There is a lot of water (lakes) around and there are even docks that float on the water in many locations around the city. Like yesterday I ran down the bike path to a park on the lake and stood on a dock for a while looking at the city and the capital on the other side of the lake. Neat. Then I ran home through a pretty neighborhood. Tomorrow I may go rollerblading, something that I haven't done in years. May be dangerous. But now I am off to make a nice dinner and sew and relax.
Friday, 17 April 2009
yuck
Outside it beautiful and sunny and here I am stuck in bed. Yuck. Stupid flu.
Yesterday I got to go and get a chai and then walked past where i am going to live next year. And sat on a floating dock in the lake. Lovely.
I don't like being sick and hope to be better quite soon. Yuck.
Yesterday I got to go and get a chai and then walked past where i am going to live next year. And sat on a floating dock in the lake. Lovely.
I don't like being sick and hope to be better quite soon. Yuck.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
The little things going not quite right
It has been quite some time since I have written cause I sprained my thumb, which makes typing difficult, awkward, and painful. So here is an entry on a rainy day.
There have been a lot of little dumb things in life that keep not going my way, so much so that my mom says that there is a cloud over my head. Yuck. Like there was a rock flung at my rear view mirror that chipped it. (I am guessing that it was a snow plow or car at night.) Then I had it fixed cause my car had to get the back bumper fixed cause two different people had hit me, one that didn't stop. And then last weekend I was driving to Kansas City and noticed that that mirror that they fixed now shakes when you go over 60 miles per hour, not really the time that you want a useless mirror. A strange thing to realize what is happening too. Suddenly you notice the cars behind you being fuzzy and jumping all over the place. Interesting. And then my health insurance is a confusing mess too. There are no doctors in Madison that I can go to. I hear there are some in Milwaukee though, only a hour or so away. Who wants to drive that far at the point that you need a doctor? All of the phone numbers are wrong, the people who answer haven't heard of the doctor you're looking for, or they don't take the insurance, or they give you a different phone number for the certain doctor you are trying to find and it turns out that they aren't taking new patients. Doesn't really help when I have a very sore hand and no one to look at it. But then there was a clinic who saved the day. They do take the insurance but I haven't seen the paperwork yet.
So I am hopeful that things will work out well soon. There are many things that are good too. I had a great weekend last weekend in Kansas City and a camp in Kansas. Nice and relaxing with lots of space to journal and sit in the sun and pray and talk to people. Was great.
There have been a lot of little dumb things in life that keep not going my way, so much so that my mom says that there is a cloud over my head. Yuck. Like there was a rock flung at my rear view mirror that chipped it. (I am guessing that it was a snow plow or car at night.) Then I had it fixed cause my car had to get the back bumper fixed cause two different people had hit me, one that didn't stop. And then last weekend I was driving to Kansas City and noticed that that mirror that they fixed now shakes when you go over 60 miles per hour, not really the time that you want a useless mirror. A strange thing to realize what is happening too. Suddenly you notice the cars behind you being fuzzy and jumping all over the place. Interesting. And then my health insurance is a confusing mess too. There are no doctors in Madison that I can go to. I hear there are some in Milwaukee though, only a hour or so away. Who wants to drive that far at the point that you need a doctor? All of the phone numbers are wrong, the people who answer haven't heard of the doctor you're looking for, or they don't take the insurance, or they give you a different phone number for the certain doctor you are trying to find and it turns out that they aren't taking new patients. Doesn't really help when I have a very sore hand and no one to look at it. But then there was a clinic who saved the day. They do take the insurance but I haven't seen the paperwork yet.
So I am hopeful that things will work out well soon. There are many things that are good too. I had a great weekend last weekend in Kansas City and a camp in Kansas. Nice and relaxing with lots of space to journal and sit in the sun and pray and talk to people. Was great.
Monday, 9 February 2009
My lovely car and the man that didn't stop at the right time
This morning there was a stop sign with a line of cars in front of it. There was a car in front of me that stopped and so I stopped and the man behind me didn't. So now there are marks from the screws on his front license plate on my back bumper which is really sad. Compared to world hunger, not sad but in a I really love my car and it wasn't my fault so what a bother to get it taken care of way.
It's times like these that I don't want to play being an adult. I'd rather go back to the days when Dad would take care of stuff like this. I called him today anyways to make sure I was doing the right things. Times in life when responsibility is just not that great. And then it gets confusing too with insurance and estimates and the fact that I am going out of town at the end of the week anyway, so this is not really great timing to do everything when all I want to do is go to sleep for a really long time.
And why are there those days when one thing after another seems to happen. Like getting hit, which spilled coffee, getting to work and almost being late, being overwhelmed with the process of getting my car fixed, wondering if it is all going to go horribly wrong and leave me paying a lot of money for no reason, and the my phone died while on it to the insurance. I gave them all the info that I had, had to go outside to get my license plate number, then later in the day found out that I had lost the paper that had all of the important info on it. Great. Then I got home and broke the mug that was holding the coffee from this morning that had spilled. It fell out of my bag on the way out of my car once I was home. All of this happening while I have a headache caused by the bumper hitting or the stress afterwards. I just need to crawl in bed.
It's times like these that I don't want to play being an adult. I'd rather go back to the days when Dad would take care of stuff like this. I called him today anyways to make sure I was doing the right things. Times in life when responsibility is just not that great. And then it gets confusing too with insurance and estimates and the fact that I am going out of town at the end of the week anyway, so this is not really great timing to do everything when all I want to do is go to sleep for a really long time.
And why are there those days when one thing after another seems to happen. Like getting hit, which spilled coffee, getting to work and almost being late, being overwhelmed with the process of getting my car fixed, wondering if it is all going to go horribly wrong and leave me paying a lot of money for no reason, and the my phone died while on it to the insurance. I gave them all the info that I had, had to go outside to get my license plate number, then later in the day found out that I had lost the paper that had all of the important info on it. Great. Then I got home and broke the mug that was holding the coffee from this morning that had spilled. It fell out of my bag on the way out of my car once I was home. All of this happening while I have a headache caused by the bumper hitting or the stress afterwards. I just need to crawl in bed.
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