MIA no Longer

Hello again.

Long time, no write.

Sorry about that, but “life” keeps getting in the way.

Nothing particularly exciting going on around the garden- I’ve just been in powerdown mode for a couple of weeks, compensating for the deadline pressure at work. I get off work around 5:00, take care of that day’s particularly pressing errand (ie, groceries, gas in the car, pay the rent), ferry Sam to whichever activity claims him for the evening, and then park my carcass for the rest of the evening (or until Sam needs to be picked up again.)

The weekend was looking a bit more promising, since I was one of the lucky few to have Columbus Day as a paid holiday and Chris was “forced” to take some vacation days. Unfortunately, he got called into work Saturday, which postponed our plans for another week, and Sam came down with a rip-roaring case of the flu. Poor kid came home early Friday, after having the barfs at school, manned up to take his last driving lesson so he could get his certificate (and not have to shell out another $45 missed lesson fee) and taught both karate classes, before collapsing in bed with fever, chills, and body aches. The cats and I played nursemaid Saturday, alternately feeding him acetaminophen and turkey soup, while he watched all the episodes of “Heroes” and slept.

Sunday was my week at Ravenswood; it was a surprisingly quiet and chilly afternoon~ I didn’t do a single full tour all day, just a brief outline for a waiting photographer and answering questions for some potential wedding party people. When I arrived back home, I found remnants of an impromptu pizza party and Sam sound asleep on my bed; our friend J had his kids visiting this weekend and brought them to church, so Chris invited them all back to the house to entertain Sam. He finally wore out while they were watching a movie and retreated to the quietest place in the house, and the others headed over to the park to wear the kids out before the 2-hour drive home. We spent the evening quietly at home, doing a bit of laundry, making tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, and watching “Sherlock Holmes” on PBS.

We left Sam home yesterday and drove into San Jose to see the Da Vinci Experience at the Tech Museum; the exhibit was very interesting and worth extra cost~ we spent more than two hours looking at the scale models created from the drawing of Renaissance artists and engineers, and were allowed to view two paintings done by disciples of Leonardo Da Vinci.

The rest of the museum is a great place for kids- lots of hands on exhibits and learning stations, as well as an Imax theater- though not really my cup of tea. We had a surprisingly good and reasonably priced lunch in the museum café, then took a late afternoon stroll around the campus of San Jose State University before driving home. We did stop off at our favorite pumpkin patch and cornfield maze, to pick up discount tickets for the outing Sam is planning for the church youth group (he was recently chosen as second-in-command and is responsible for events) and to look for pie pumpkins; I was visiting a new blog- A Place of Quiet Rest- and she did an entry on “Pumpkin Economy”, which has inspired me to try preparing my own pumpkin puree for pies this year. This patch didn’t have any, but the girl running the shop gave me a couple leads for other local pumpkin patches that should have them at a reasonable cost (which, of course, is the whole point, right?)

So, here I am- back at work and drudging along on my report, hoping that I don’t get sick- while Chris has another two days off; he had a dentist appointment, a doctor appointment with subsequent xrays (his shoulder has gotten really bad- please pray, since he doesn’t get sick time pay), and even volunteered to make the weekly trip to Costco today, which is probably why I haven’t heard from him all day. Yes, I know~ I am blessed.