My family on a hike near Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Circa 2015 Hi Winter, I see you. Heck, how can I not. I've done my best, but it's time to admit something really, really scary. You're bigger than me, you're meaner than me, though on a day like today when the added gob-smacking of sleep deprivation (Auntie Menny- as in Menapause missed the memo that she could skip her visit this week) and well, time to face facts. I just cannot deal. You see I used to be able to tough it out. The photo depicts me doing just that. On an impossibly cold day here I am behind 4 out of 5 of my family members, plus Chuckles our dog. Missing that day was our oldest son. It was the kind of cold that cuts to the bone, most days here in January, February do just that. I agreed to go for this "hike" with our family during Christmas break, my mom guilt hovering steady in the "make sure there are good memories" pressuring myself. Our oldest and only daughter, Juliette, was a
Good morning and Happy Divine Mercy Sunday. Today is April 16, 2023 and I am sitting at my desk in our still-new-to-us home in the quaint town of Robins, Iowa. It's gonna be crap weather today, thank you fake Midwest spring. We had a week of teasing, "see this is how to be normal" spring weather, with a summer heat wave inserted. I broke out shorts, flip flops. We even started running the a/c. And today, the high will be 38. Good grief Iowa, just when I think I can "accept" you, you turn on me. Yesterday was an entirely different deal. Sunny, warm, and also "Opening Day" for the lawn mower. That's like, a seriously big deal when you live in the Midwest. You get to put the snow blower in the most rear-location in the garage, and say "buh bye," for the season. Then you hope the the lawn mower start, which is not an easy thing after sitting idle for a long winter. My dear husband succeeded, however, in getting it started and he disap