I just realized, OK, Dorothy made me realize, that it has been a while since I've posted.

One day in the grad poetry writing class, the professor asked us to think of an image that meant "fear" and one sweet young woman from a small Kansas town, said "an alley; there are some really scary alleys in Manhattan." Without thinking, I said, "Apparently you've never been in Baltimore." There is not one single place in Manhattan that I'd hesitate to go, day or night. But, I've driven with fear in Baltimore. She did explain that, being from a small town, that Manhattan seems a bit scary to her. I was flabbergasted, quite frankly.

That led me to reflect on how easy it is to live here. OK, it is in comparision to Baltimore or Trenton, but I haven't been lost once here, blasting down an interstate, on the phone with Ellen, begging her to figure out where I am and, more importantly, how to get home before I end up in New York City. The 12 mile drive to town takes about 12 minutes, not 40 minutes of agony like my commute into Baltimore.
But it is more than the traffic - I'm not even sure I can exactly explain it. It's knowing that store clerks will actually help you; that you can stop your car in any neighborhood and not be robbed; that the staff in Starbucks remember you after only going in 3 or 4 times; that you can see where your turn is on the road; the professors at the college are accessible and remember who you are and you call them by their first names; that once you've figured out a parking spot/a route into town/which store to shop at - you don't have to figure it out ever again! (There are no choices - I should have taken 95, not the Baltimore-Washington parkway/Maybe 295 won't be so crowded today/then, once you're on it, I should have taken 95!)

There, I've tried to describe it ...

We spent last Saturday picking up 60 pounds of black walnuts - all of us, working together. We thought we might be able to sell them, but I'm not sure. Once you separate them from an outer hull, there's still the regular, old, familiar inner walnut to deal with. In any event, I had messed with them a little, and wore gloves, but The Man and The Boy did not wear gloves. The stain seeped through the gloves a little, so my thumbs and first fingers are stained, but their hands are all brown. Apparently, it is the fresh walnuts that stains so badly, not so much the ones that have sat for a while, so the next batch is sitting on the ground a little longer.

I've been substitute teaching a little - one fifth grade Math class for a day; and on Monday, a fourth grade Math class, but there was a field trip for Grandparents' Day - such a deal! It is OK, but I discovered that I DO NOT want to teach elementary school :) The little fourth graders were cute (and I can do fourth grade math) but the fifth graders were difficult. I don't know if it was the class, or the difference in age, or what. But is is nice to have a bit of income.

The Mercury has me doing a series on rural churches - the first runs this Sunday, on the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church in Wabaunsee. I'll post the story, once it has run. Next, is the Zeandale Community Church, followed by a series on how the Catholic Church is handling the small parishes.

The Leaven has me covering the fundraiser tonight for the handicapped accessibility project at the parish, so that will be good. And, I've done three stories for the Grass and Grain ag paper - the most recent on the potential for wind power generators for small farm use. It was actually very interesting.