Category: Adventurous kids

The sounds of rain stopped sometime after 4:30 am and several inches of snow, silent in its descent, fell on our new plants and young tree foliage. The Sistine Chapel blue of the sky reveals itself between the retracting clouds, and I can hear the thaw begin. Clumps of snow fall from tall branches and the roof releases the water held in crystals, water vapor rising, and liquid water falling, adding to the chorus of dripping water sounds that I hear when I step outside for a photo. There are several accidents on the roads on the way to work and school. The roads aren’t slick, but the snow seems to have shifted capacity for patience or reaction time. Mark may never forgive Nature if the snow is here for his birthday tomorrow. Richard carefully applies the blow drier to his new tomatoes to release them from the weight of snow. I stop at the store and pick up a movie, War and Peace to put on while I fold laundry this afternoon. Richard leaves a little later for work after his garden resuscitation effort.

Earlier this week my sister stopped by after a dentist visit with her children. Excused from public school and home school for a few hours, the children went on an “explore” through the neighborhood without their mothers noticing. Worthy of anything written in a Winnie the Pooh book, the children and baby left the backyard in search of Mark’s favorite hill. I should come with a warning: If you get into a deep conversation with me, you are likely to get lost driving (accidentally drive to Wyoming instead of the family cabin, ’06), burn your dinner (bread caught on fire in the oven, ’04), or lose your children for a while (the great explore of ’17).

We reserved our tickets to the Tucson Temple open House in June. I am so excited about it that I told my sister about it twice while she was here. We will see old friends and take a trip to the Desert Museum; we will eat at La Placita and take a drive to our old haunts. My heart will ache when we drive by our old house which sheltered precious childhood years. We will try to glimpse into the backyard full of lizards and the brick retaining wall that little feet ran across every day. I will be too warm there, but I am grateful to visit the place I was so anxious to leave and give it the proper thanks for all it was to us.

Did I mention we are going to Tucson in June?