8:45 a.m.

The boys wore their spring jackets this morning. The porch is full of drying mud. Manful put screens back on the windows and sweet cool air tumbled in.

~~~ Yesterday ~~~

Too warm and beautiful outside to want to be in, unpacking groceries, sharing a cold beer with Manful, when we could have been out on the deck.

I got a reprieve when the school called me back to say, after asking me to come in as Don’s aide, that they didn’t need me this afternoon after all.

So I hopped in the van and went to my sister Jill’s to load up on peroghies -- my share of the ones we made last week, which had been frozen and bagged. She was looking tired and burnt out when I arrived. She’d been vaccuming, washing floors, and baking bread. I asked her if she’d been outside yet. She hadn’t, so we decided to go for a walk.

They have the best driveway -- two miles long and no other houses but theirs and her brother-/sister-in-law’s on it. No traffic to spit gravel at you as it rushes by. No faces to greet as their vehicles pass by.

There is a creek crossing their road. On years of normal precipitation, the fish run through there in the spring. There was already an old farmer out driving in his half-ton, come to see if they were there yet.

I could hardly keep up with Jill, who walked like she had a fire to get to — and I think *I* am a fast walker. But ah, sunshine and exercise, with company for a change. Usually I’m alone. I should go there more often and get that walk in with her.

Of course, some of the dogs came with us.

Jill is going to join Weight Watchers, because her sister-in-law has lost 18 pounds in three months and looks so good. She is tired of being fat, she says. Everyone who’s talked about the WW point system has said it’s worked for them, but already she is afraid she won’t be able to limit her junkfood intake.

When I pulled into our yard at 4, the kids were already here and I didn’t want to stay indoors. They got into the van and we went to town for gas, groceries, and a library drop-off. Manful pulled in right behind us when we got back. He and I sat in the living room and chatted over cold bottles of beer, then he headed off to meet his dad, who is “pissing himself to go buy that trailer.” They’re looking at a stock trailer. Pa is eager to buy it; Manful is, as usual, taking his sweet time to make an offer.

So I’ve fed the kids, had a nibble myself, and the sun’s gotta be well on its way down. Think I’ll go out for one more walk.

~~~ From Women Who Run ~~~

“The creative life is the soul’s food and water.”