A Running Collection

What does it look like to get up early and run?  I set my alarm for 6 a.m. and then hit snooze at least three times.  Finally, I crawl out of bed and start the coffee.  I used to go without coffee, but after forty, I can't do that as easily. If George is awake, we chat and think about the day. If not, I stretch and catch up on the news, and social media and check the weather. Ask any runner - we check the weather like we are paid employees of the weather channel. Once I've finished my coffee, I get dressed.  I've started laying out my running clothes the night before.  Digging through drawers in the dark is just not acceptable at this time of day.  I've learned that good socks are crucial.  I wear Balega socks most days. But if those are dirty, some old Feetures work just fine. I never blister and my feet feel supported. I never get tired of putting on my shoes. It is the sweetest feeling to slip  into a pair of ...

These two sweet friends share birding, egg collecting, building structures, cooking over fires, identifying and eating edible plants, art, and matching dresses. Distance might be the only thing keeping them from building an entire village and living a self sustained life. They will be world changers -- as they are always thinking of their environment and how to use every piece of everything they see. Waste is not what they want. They want to create. Their minds and their voices don't rest  - even apart, they write letters full of questions and answers and ideas. They are a beautiful picture of friendship.

Summer time is hay time. Fields and fields of hay cover the country side — anytime we have left grandmother's to go anywhere— we have watched tractors cutting, fluffing, raking, baling, and collecting. It almost looks fun! And right here, in grandmother’s back yard, there was plenty of hay — as high as our chins — that needing cutting and fluffing and raking and baling.  I stayed on kitchen and laundry duty in the cool while George and willing children worked on the hay. Out there on the tractor, there is a lot of room to think and imagine. And the hay is right there looking available. Hay is definitely food for animals, but it has a few other uses too. I’ve certainly sat on one used as furniture at a wedding. I have picked pumpkins at the pumpkin patch off of hay bales, and I’ve been on hay rides… George has grand ideas for all things, even the lowly hay. He and the children gathered the bales that a friendly neighbor happily helped us bale, and set to building. Two d...

I keep thinking of all the things to write, and then when there is a window to sit still and place fingers to keys - nothing.  Nothing comes.  The thought blob grows and grows and I don’t even know what chunk to start with. It’s like trying to start a new project, a new diet, a new workout plan, a new hobby, or a new habit. It feels like trying to play an instrument after not touching if for too many years. It is squeaky and choppy. But, I really don’t want to let another moment slip by — another opportunity, so here is my squeaky and choppy beginning… We are moving. After seven years in Tallahassee, our path clearly and surprisingly changed direction.  We love adventure. We’ve always had crazy ideas and gone with them and they’ve all been wonderful, but this feels very different. Good? I’m going to say yes, even though it doesn’t always feel good right now. As we’ve grown a family and a farm and a cherished community, and completely rebuilt an old farm hou...