My Lovely Dwelling Place

Impossible Situations Oh, the challenges of physical fitness!  Attempting to get in shape can feel like an impossible situation - finding time to exercise, finding an exercise that doesn’t hurt me, and following through with whatever that is – yikes!  It is not easy.  I was accompanied on my walk this morning by the village street cleaner.  I left my house and there he was with his big noisy truck.  We turned up the same street.  He even backed up when he got ahead of me.  Now he was after fallen leaves, not my companionship, but it was disturbing all the same.  Anticipating his choice of street to turn off on, I exited a different one, but there he was again when I rounded the corner.  Now I am thankful that I live in a nice area that takes street cleaning seriously, but his presence reminded me of the unexpectedness of life.  We try our best to avoid problems and unforeseen circumstances only to round a corner and be faced wit...

Little Faith I really don’t like camping.  I’m more of a soft bed kind of girl.  I don’t like bugs, heat, or spiders in the community shower.  For years, my husband has taken the kids camping.  They love it – burping, farting and not saying excuse me!  I love the quiet when they’re gone.  At first I couldn’t go, because I had a baby or someone under five years old.  My husband’s hard fast rule was: Five and up go camping, anyone else stays home with mom.  I was totally fine with this arrangement.  They could do all the testosterone induced reveling they liked, and I didn’t have to be a witness.  When I was a young kid, the neighbors took me camping.  A tornado blew through the area, and we had to flee in the night.  I awoke the next morning with a tick attached to my chest.  I remember screaming at the mirror.  My only camping experience as a child was rather dramatic.  When my last child turned five, my...