Twenty Minutes and Five Things

I nearly forgot about this other writing thing I was doing before this twenty minutes writing challenge. Five things.

1. Elv had a birthday. Which makes him 64 years old. He’s busy with logging and puttering in his shop and fixing things.
2. Life is falling into a routine that makes sense for me. Maybe we’re finally learning how to “empty nest”. Yes, I just changed that trite phrase into a verb, which is a more hopeful, productive way to use it anyway, in my opinion. So yes, the dishes get washed and the floors mopped; but more than that I get to read books and work my job with intention, in normal gear.
3. About reading books. I’ve been devouring books this winter. When I run out of new books to read; I reread the old books. I found a Richmond book I hadn’t read at a used shop. Also found a couple of Curwood’s in my library that I hadn’t read. Neither one ended up being anything I could grow my soul on. (Thanks, Phil for the great word gauge that you gave me so many years ago when you boarded at our house.) Bodie Thoene writes historical fiction that I can’t lay down and makes me feel sad and sickened. Last week’s book was easier and happier to read while not less truthful, set in frontier days. 
4. The kids and grands came home last evening for Elv’s birthday. They come in expectant and confident that they’re welcome, which I love. The living room fills all the way up, all the couches, the floors soon spread with games and books and the warming places in front of the wood stove. We had supper of whatever we felt like eating, of soup and pie and bars and popcorn and cheeseball and crackers and pickles and ice cream. I know, it was not gourmet or sensible. But nobody went hungry. The Catan games went well. The detective game in Elv’s study seemed to be successful. We girls had a good visit in the living room.
5. The conversations of our adult children fascinate me. The cost of real estate, future of technology, AI take-over of jobs, education and school, church men meeting  discussion, but mostly not politics, for which I am grateful. The girls talk about farming and gardening and health and home keeping, and it’s not boring. They’re creative about solutions to problems and laugh at themselves well.

And the picture is twenty-five years ago at least.