Remember my "100 Things About Me" project? Yeah, neither do I. Here's a couple more.
48. On Saturday night it was grilled Tilapia and three-cheese (Canadian White Cheddar, Muenster and Havarti) macaroni. On Sunday night it was smoky orange marmalade chicken with a Caesar salad. On Monday night it was a beef brisket roasted with red potatoes, carrots and onions. I've been cooking a lot lately. I've been enjoying it, though I still have to develop a proper rhythm and sense of proportion. That comes with time, I'm sure.
49. On Sunday Susan, River, Rayn and I hiked in the rock-climbing area of the nearby Mineral Wells State Park. (Robyn left on Friday [her 14th birthday] to spend the weekend in a cabin in Oklahoma with a friend's family.) The area where we hiked is great. It is hilly and dense with scrubby, North Texas trees. Long ago the river eroded the soil from under a thick limestone shelf and it fell in great chunks, littering the area with huge, jagged boulders. The trail was rocky and steep, weaving through vines and trees from the plateau above down to the shore below and back up again, about a mile and a half in all. I found the clambering much easier with a sturdy walking stick. River ran along ahead of us, scaling all the rocks along the way. I heaved and puffed, being out of shape, but I found the effort exhilarating. The sky was overcast and the weather was unseasonably cool. Thunder rumbling around overhead sparked a thrilling fuse of danger in the air. Just as we reached the top the clouds burst and cold raindrops began to fall gently, a welcome relief. We decided to hike back the mile to the car on the road rather than risking ankles on the wet rocks of the path, much to River's chagrin. On the walk back we crossed the path of a tarantula, creepy and fuzzy. At one point Rayn looked at me, my longish, wet hair stuck to my face and my walking stick in my hand, and told me I looked like Aragorn. Cool. Generous, but cool. When we got a few hundred yards from the car, River and Susan ran the remaining distance. What a perfect outing it was.
Hello, friends. How are you today?
Later. Love.
