I’m still in the Redwood forest . . .

What a beautiful place this is.  The skies have been blue, the mornings chilly, the afternoons warm.  Dogwoods are in bloom and lilacs are about to burst into scented blossoms.  This morning I woke up at 5:50 a.m.–(Reminder:  I am not a morning person)–to take a hike up to Mt. Hermon where a twenty foot cross stands.  The morning is dark at 6 a.m., (the better to not see those dark circles under your eyes), but by the time we summited the “mountain” (I use that word lightly because there was no year-round snowpack and we all know that a mountain is not really a mountain unless it has a glacier or two) . . . my goodness, what is with all the parentheses?  Anyway, by the time we arrived at the top, the sun was brightening the sky and as we stood in a circle, the thirty of us, praying, the sun rose.

And I wondered why I don’t get outside more at dawn.  (Answer:  Because dawn arrives very very early.) 

The schedule here would be grueling except that compared to being a full-time stay-at-home mother with school-at-home teenagers and a sassy preschooler and and half a dozen neighborhood boys traipsing through my house at all times (“CLOSE THE DOOR!”) it’s a breeze.  I could not be having a better time, unless, of course, I could eat cookies without turning into the Amazing Growing Mom.

I don’t have time to answer email while I’m here, but don’t let that stop you from emailing me.  I’m reading every comment and loving hearing from everyone.  Barbara Curtis is every bit as wonderful in person as you would imagine.  In fact, I’m heading to her workshop now.

And so, now I must sign off and run.  Be good.  Or if you can’t be good, be careful.