A Hole in the Ground

Our quiet days have returned.  The GF gang have departed for Utah and adventures there as of Thursday.  Layne has been busy transforming the yard.  After presenting my vision for the gazebo and berm in the back yard, and with a little time for his mind to percolate, he is so on board.  He's been working all week on the hole in the yard that is to become a berm, putting in new pipes for watering.  He's even come up with some improvements to our watering system.  You know how one thing leads to another.  On and on he works, despite the hot weather.  "I love heat," he keeps telling me.  I guess he does!

I bounce back and forth between loving to be surrounded by people and loving being alone, now that I'm an older woman.  In my youth, I loved a more social life.  But now I've come to enjoy solitary times.  I would not like to be alone for long periods of time, but short ones suit me nicely.  I'm more prone to solitary interests and love open time for thinking and studying.  That is quite a departure for me.  I used to fit my studying and thinking in between the frantic pace of life that is involved in keeping up with lots of people in my household.  But now longer stretches of time open up before me and I need to learn to use them more productively.  I'm surprised by how achieving a provident life is still a challenge.

Here's a picture of our Taiwanese kids, taken just before dinner.  The kids wanted to eat "American", so we served tacos, as you can see in the photo.  They mostly liked it.  Some really did.  Everyone is in the picture except Seth.  I'm not sure where he was at the time.  They return to us in another week!