So Green

and so beautiful around here right now.  We keep getting flashes of spring/summer here, and maybe it is finally ensconsed.  I've been doing lots of gardening, but more cycling.

Today I rode out Middle Waitsburg Road.  I didn't go all the way to Waitsburg (it's 20 miles from our house), but I did go out twelve miles.  This is the turn around.

This shows how high the wheat is already.  Even if it has been cold this year, it is still growing well.  The red barn spoke to me.

Some fields aren't planted yet

but most are.  It was a good way to spend the morning.

40 Is Busy

or it has been so far.

Since my birthday, I've been to Spokane (COM Meeting), the farmer's market opened, I've made ice cream three times, the Bishop came down, we had the Balloon Stampede, I've ridden almost 90 miles, and have done the usual things.  OH, and The Collar also turned 40.

I haven't had as much free time this year, and when I do, I have so many things I want to do.  The blog gets dropped, because it's easier to update twitter or facebook than it is to write a coherent post.  I'll stop now, and let you see some pictures of the balloons from this weekend.  All of these were taken Sunday morning, from our back yard.  We are right in the flight path, so we had them going over early in the morning.

And for those of you who don't know:  balloons are loud.  Seriously.  Those burners make a lot of noise.

Finishing

Today is a day for finishing things.

I finished Game Boy's new knucks.

I finished curtains for our bathroom.

I finished this very long trilogy (over 1300 pages of fiction.

And tonight I'll be finishing my 30s. 

Tomorrow is for starting:  new projects, new decades, other new things.

A Love Affair

One of the things that has surprised me is how visceral my love for where we live now has been.  I've lived in a variety of places:  Kansas City, Sarasota, Lexington (KY), Madison County (KY), and Sewanee, TN.  There have been things and places that I love about all of them, but somehow Walla Walla trumps all of that.   When I am out riding, there is always something that takes my breath away (and I'm not talking about riding up the hills). 

I rode out of town (easy enough) and went toward Oregon.  As I rode down Cottonwood, I could see the mountains with their snowy summits and the green moving its way up from the valley through the foothills.  As the altitude decreases, the green becomes deeper and deeper.  Spring, with all of its promise, is here.  Everything is new and green (soon we'll have shades of gold and brown, with the deep blue sky looking over it all) and it's easy to see why some of the pioneering people stopped here instead of pushing to the coast and said, "This is home."

I agree:  This is home.  My home, and some days I am amazed that I have the privilege of living here.

Word Clouds

from here.