EKjourney Backup

October has been a difficult month.  I have stopped sleeping, I couldn't transition back inside to full time school, I struggled with feeling depressed and in dread of the upcoming Winter, I have just wanted to just be outside and active, the darkening days feel so heavy, and of course, the stresses of the current climate with the state of the world and our church...it has been a burden I haven't been managing very well.  But life keeps moving forward one step at a time.  The sun still rises and sets and the seasons are still changing...   Lots of foggy mornings. The spiders are active. The communal poop pile in the mist. The sky continues to be amazing... The frost set in so I picked the last of the Autumn flowers Every day life: There was still laundry. I still shopped online for deals and found new beanbag chairs. I ordered more yarn for a new project. My phone was still used without me knowing LOL. Children still made "silly" decisions like walking through the ho...

 On October 4th, our homeschool church group went to Clear Lake.  We had gone as a family in October many years ago and I was so struck by the gorgeous turquoise water and the yellow maple leaves, and I have wanted to go back ever since.  Life got busy, we moved, my plantar fasciitis got really bad, and we just never got around to going.  One Sunday, I was describing how amazing Clear Lake is to our homechurch and it turned into a planned trip!  I couldn't remember exactly when we had gone before but we were a little early as the leaves were just starting to change color.   It was quite busy (turns out it had just reopened due to the fires).  The entire trip was lovely except for one thing...I have isolated myself from the mask "phenomenon" by letting Phil do all the shopping and errand running and I didn't realize how bizarre people are behaving over the Corona virus.  I get that there are a lot of scared people and I get that some prefer to...