Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ahhh, A Normal Routine

One of the keeps in the Imperial Compound in Tokyo, JapanIt is so good to be back to a somewhat normal routine. Today is my 4th whole day back in my home and only the second that didn't involve a bunch of running around.

After I got back from Japan I had to go almost immediately up to the mountains to visit my uncle who was dying from cancer. He had been fighting for almost nine years and everyone knew that the time was short. I was very happy to get the opportunity to speak with him and visit a couple of times before he died this past Monday.

Of course, the snow came Sunday night and between the snow and the cold temperatures I ended up staying most of the week with my parents. The funeral activities began on Thursday and went through Friday.

A snow covered crepe myrtle back lit by the morning sunFriday night I had to come back home and prepare for a band rehearsal with some folks that will be helping me to put on a worship seminar at my church this weekend. The rehearsal was in Apex (since half of the band members live up there.) I got home about 11:30 Saturday night.

Sundays are always busy for me too. There is church in the morning and Youth Band practice in the afternoon. I finished up the night at a friend's house watching the National Geographic Channel special on blue whales. It was interesting. We had a lot of fun making fun of the scientists and some of the dumb things that they said. It seems to me that there ought to be a better way to do things than they were doing them.

Monday was my first day to get back towards my normal routines. I won't say that I really hit them, but at least I was in familiar territory and was able to do some of the things I normally do in the course of a day.

Today has been much closer to a normal day, although I still haven't gotten back into my schedule totally. Perhaps tomorrow?

Rocks in the bed of my pickup truckOr perhaps not. It is gardening time again and I need to take a good portion of my day tomorrow and get my garden ready. I am already running late. (Can you believe that we are a third of the way through March already? Where does the time go?)

I had been somewhat dreading the start of the gardening season, but I am about over that now! I am ready to get some stuff in the ground and smell that great smell of freshly plowed dirt. Plus I get to play with dad's new tractor! Whoo hoo! That in and of itself makes it all worthwhile.

I am sure I'll be adding to my rock collection - yippee. You would think that eventually you would run out of rocks. Seriously, how many rocks could possibly come out of one small patch of dirt? If it were all rock you shouldn't even be able to plow it. I think that they are growing like potatoes - they must be! So you can expect to get some new garden pictures soon.

I may be also playing in a new band soon. An old acquaintance from high school is interested in getting a band started to play out and we are going to explore the possibilities. It should be fun. I don't know what we'll end up playing yet, but perhaps it will be a combination of cover tunes and Christian music. It sounds like a lot of fun. We need a guitar player or two, a keyboard player, and a drummer.

And that is the latest from Lake Woebegone! More to come soon.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry about your uncle hun. X.

Anonymous said...

Wondered where you had been...sorry to hear about your uncle's passing.

The snow is to blame for your gardening woes - brought all those rocks up to the surface... ;) ...Or something like that, anyway. At least the snow didn't hang around TOO long. It was nice to have some 'pretty' snow for a change though, and your picture is just lovely.

Glad to hear things are starting to settle down since your trip and time away. Have fun with the new band!

Jonathan said...

Thanks, guys. I am glad that he isn't suffering anymore and trust that he is currently in better shape than anyone living where we are.

It was a pretty snow. I was glad that we got it. We don't get too many of those... and those rocks would be waiting on me one way or the other!