picture this:

The view out the kitchen window this morning as I cleaned up the remains of that fabulous party we had here for Jonathan: rain. Rain on leave-filled pool, rain on the overgrown garden from last year, rain on the big timberwood swingset that's missing a few swings, rain on the two cardinals flitting from tree to tree...

The frothy green of the new leaves stands out against the dark skies. It's the coziest sort of day, and it's Sunday. We don't have to leave for church for a few hours, so there's time to putter around. The kitchen table is a disaster zone, but a beautiful one. Camille has been making paper bag puppets:



Charlotte likes to design houses on graph paper, which led Camille to make a shoebox diorama of a living room.

Anyway, this morning I cleaned up messes and straightened things out, and decided not to take a morning walk in the rain.

Paul is home, and last night we stayed up way too late, making plans for our trip. He has to go into work Monday through Friday, but we have our evenings, and most of the day on Friday. We really want to go to the American cemetery at Normandy, he's been there several times but I want to see it. There are nice little towns and small cities near where we will be staying, so we're planning to go out and about in the evenings and explore. Then on Friday, Paris!

My days are a blank slate...oh, whatever will I do, all by myself all day long...in France? I do not speak French, despite taking it for several years in school. I can say, "Shut your mouth", and "Open the window", and know basic vocabulary words...but listening to someone speak French, um, no comprende. (I also can say, "Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?", you know, from the song...ha.) So I asked Paul if people there speak English, like they do in Norway...he said they don't, absolutely don't. Dang. I pictured myself making small talk, making friends even, as I spent sunny days in the park, or browsed in the little grocery store.

So I will just have to spend my days walking around, taking pictures, then writing huge long blog posts and boring the heck out of everyone. Being so far far from home and not having to use my brain space for simple daily problem solving, sounds refreshing. I will miss the kids terribly, but I will welcome the relaxation.

Free time is such a precious commodity...the other night I tried to steal some, eke some out of the day, so I sneaked into my room with a book...Evelyn understands, she's a reader, so she brought me a steaming mug of coffee...it didn't last long, someone needed me for something, but still. I loved it.

So days with no appointments, no needs to be met, no floors to be swept...poor me, ha.

And it goes without saying that I do get great pleasure from mothering these children of mine. My life is very fulfilling and blessed with these crazy kids. But time off is sweet...and the evenings with Paul are going to be fantastic.