This morning I woke up to another grey day ... Thought to round up a few ingredients for soup. Nothing smells better then soup bubbling on the stove top on dreary days like today. When I finish this note, I'm going to bake an apple pie ... There are a few pillsbury pie crusts in the frig flirting with an over abundance of Fuji apples ... My family will be so pleasantly surprised, because until today, I do not believe I've baked a pie on a whim.

Below is an excerpt from a letter sent back to a hmmm ... friend at a distance? She sent a very special picture she had taken of a flower and so sweetly ... gracefully ... offered a couple of suggestions on how to get a really nice picture of a flower. That got me to thinking about what Two said about creating a little book for our family from this blog ... Something to remember me by later when I'm flight testing some wings in heaven (ummm ... Wouldn't that rock!). I just write here like I'm the only one who will ever read this. And the pictures I post are specifically to remind me of something ... later. Like the rose pictured yesterday. Below is the story that picture recalls to me. And there are other pictures like that here which probably won't make much sense to anyone else ... but do to me. ... Like that cow, and the whole outing to the fair. I really do not like cows. As a child I was afraid of them, and memories of that combine with my lack of exposure to anything bovine that doesn't come directly off the grill. That cow ... The one I took a picture of ... was a beautiful cow, but ... her nose was heavily glazed in snot and her eyes were heavily glazed in where am I? I haven't reformed. I still do not like cows ... ummm, they even pooped everywhere while they were being shown ... cows don't seem to get it. Here's the back story to the "posted in haste" photo set.
I wanted to go to the fair, and my husband surprised me by obliging. When we got there, no one was in the exhibit barn. I expected something like scenes from Babe or Charolette's Web, but there wasnt anything going on ... just a trail of blue ribbons. There weren't many second place ribbons and there weren't any third place ribbons, 'cause ... only one entry per category came to the County Fair this year. The carnival ... lots of pretty lights ... high school kids were out in mass and I enjoyed seeing them on the rides, but I also saw the carnival workers ... moving from one town to the next pulling their homes and a tilt-a-whirl. I am thankful for a roof over our heads that doesn't move. This carnival crew looked sad ... and bored ... with cigarettes dangling from their lips as they called out ... inviting people, passing by to throw a dart at a balloon positioned a mere three feet away ... win your prize. Everybody seems to be a winner at the fair. The cow judging was far and away my favourite, and I did truly enjoy the idea that kids raise these animals ... tending to them, being built by the responsibility of caring for an animal. I love that. I loved seeing the new Wranglers and snap up western shirts chosen especially for this big event. The cows fur looked really nice. They were good cows. What I didn't say, was in the next arena over, a different kind of beauty pageant was taking place ... The judging of four year olds in makeup and hairspray. I couldn't watch. I saw a very obese mother dragging her little girl across the dirt floor up towards the stage, and I knew I'd seen more then enough. So ... The corn dog rocked! The proud faces of those young cowboys and cowgirls ... precious ... apparently, I haven't missed a lot missing the county fairs, but I do want to find a bigger one to look at ... and that ferris wheel ... I'm saving myself for a really good one, and I know they are out there!

What I write here, or picture here, usually makes a lot of sense to me. I can't imagine what it might look like to visitors wandering in. It sure was sweet of my buddy at a distance to send a beautiful picture and kind words.



That flower ... The rose vine is on my front porch outlining the overhanging roof.  I planted it there after a few misplacements and it has really thrived.  Sometimes I write about it on my blog ... as a metaphor for other things.  I guess I imagine it somewhat like my life, with some beautiful fragrant bits, some piercingly painful bits ... valiantly trying to thrive and offer shelter to some less able.  You shoulda seen the bird nests there this summer!  It was such a delight to me to watch them all the way through the process.  That picture on the blog shows the sky in the background because it was drearily overcast, with gusting winds ... light rain coats the petals ... And still, it has the strength and audacity to open.  I love that!  One of the very special things about flying is to take off on a day like that (this one too!) where everything is sloshy and grey ... for a while you can't see anything outside the aircraft, it's like being suspended inside an eggshell (that's what I always think out!).  The pilot knows where the cloud tops are, and about how long they will be climbing through.  *, I love to fly in and through the clouds!  Anyway ... When you break out ... Sudden blue!  And the sun is shining!  It's the prettiest sight!  It looks like joy!  I always think of that when things in "real life" seem overwhelming, bleak.  What I can see from here is not the whole picture ... there is joy just barely beyond the veil ... Just because I can't see it doesn't make it's presence less real or true.  It's sort of a picture of faith for me. Some of the photos on * show a very dense layer of clouds below the Captain's airplane and even some with towering monsterous cumulonimbus storm clouds ... Just imagine what it looks like on the ground ... not so pretty as it is up there!  It is generous of him to share those sights as he does.
 ... So, that rose ... when I took that picture, it was for a reminder ... The rose there is looking through the muck to what is just beyond ... and receiving substance from the rain, just as necessary as the sunshine that will be back after this front moves through.  I love your weather station watching!  The planet is so cool, isn't it!