Today...

... I am glad to have put this poem up on my wall:

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

by e.e. cummings (he's my fave!)

P.P.S.

Speaking of Canada pictures, I just found this one on my desktop, too. We were being the tilting head pugs. Dad could barely make it through one tilt without cracking up completely!

So funny. I love this picture.

P.S.

Isn't this picture cute? It's from the Canada trip, courtesy of Dave or Holly, and it's definitely one of my favorites of all time.

Oh hi there.

Has it really been so long? Life has been a whirlwind in the last month or two. I've been traveling just about every weekend and all of these trips have been wonderful and (mostly) relaxing, great chances to catch up with friends old and new, and fun times to explore new country. In between those weekends away, life has been steady and yet hard, stressful, and discouraging. Stretching, one might say. It's that combination of glorious highs and wearying burdens that has kept me away, but on this hot July night I'm back to catch you up.

Dave and I flew to North Carolina to attend his great-grandmother's 100th birthday party. One hundred! Amazing, right? It was really fun to get to meet Grandma Dot (I have my own Grandma Dot already and now I have two!) and spend some time with Dave's family. We also went to the beach, which I told Dave, "is right out of books that I've read!" To which he replied, "You mean Nicholas Sparks books?" Zing. He could be right. Anyway, totally different than Hawaiian beaches, but still pretty great. On our way home, our flight got delayed for hours, but luckily the NBA finals were on, so we kept ourselves entertained.


Just because these were on my phone... food. I had basically zero time to grocery shop in June which made for some serious eating out. Latte art by Dave, Chicago's new Chick-fil-a (!!), Grahamwhich (soo good), and finally, just to prove that I don't only eat junk food, the salad bar at Whole Foods.


And finally, good and bad things that took place in June. Bad: We had lots of storms in Chicago and one particularly strong one knocked this tree over in my front yard. Also, Kate's car got broken into on my watch. Boo. Good: Lots of good dog-spotting. I managed to snap these two pugs without walking into any live intersections (points Ashley). And my first (and longest!) roomie, Kari, came to visit me in Chicago! She's been teaching in Senegal for the last year, so it was wonderful to see her.

So that's what's been going on. There was also a camping trip (including raccoons and waterfall hikes) where I got in touch with my Indiana roots, but I haven't nabbed those photos yet.

Pardon the absence. Life happened and I felt paralyzed by it. July will bring some more travel, a wedding, a move, and who knows what else...