Spokane: It's Not Quite Alaska

It's been a balmy 40 some degrees outside all week, and stays light well into the evening now. Hallelujah!

News from the house:

Everyone has been in and out of the house lately. Going home, going for job interviews, going to Seattle. I've been holding down the fort pretty steadily. Must say I'm ready for a break, however.
John got an unexpected vacation when he badly sprained his ankle. Poor guy.

News from work:

We are planning our Family Reading Night for Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed people actually come, I'm a little worried about the attendance. It'd be a good opportunity, if people take advantage of it!

News from life:

I applied for a second year of JVC, and was accepted. However, I'm waiting to see if they open a house in Missoula or not. If so, I am considering doing a second year. Maybe I'm crazy, but it's true. Missoula is a neat town in Montana. It's in the mountains and is a sort of hippie enclave. Could be interesting.

Other than that, life is life. Fairly monotonous right now. Definitely ready for a vacation of any sort.

Do something to change the world:
Buy someone coffee. The other day, I went to Starbucks because I (thought) I had a gift card there. Turns out, left it at home. I was pretty disappointed seeing as how I had no money, but the lady behind me bought my drink and croissant. Pretty much made my day. Her response "Oh, I have a daughter in college, I know how it is." (My thought: I have even less money than a college student...so thank you twice as much!)

Car accident

I can't really type with a baby sleeping on my arm but this just happened outside of work:
Pileup

Crazy!

Winter, Lent, Life

The biggest news from Spokane...

You can see our yard! No snow! Well, except in the berms and in shadows. This has been a long winter and has made me reflect a lot on what winter really is.

It is a time of dying. A time of stagnation, a time of slowing down.

TIme for snow and snow angels and hot chocolate.

Early nights and late mornings.

Clouds and cold.

A time of doing without - no fresh vegetables, little sun.

This winter, more than any other, has seeped in. I have had cabin fever like none other. I can't wait for sun and warmth, not just so I can get out of the house, but so my housemates can get out of the house as well! Sometimes it feels that if we all weren't at the same place at the same time all the time, we would get along much better.

And its interesting because this is the time of year lent occurs. Where winter melts into spring. Where we take the time to recognize how dark precedes light. How the green of the earth must die in order to live again. 

So it has been a long winter in Spokane. We've hit our 6 month mark, and trudged past. And now we'll march on through to spring. (cheesy pun there, eh?) 

Jackie

Do something to change the world: Give up meat on Fridays, maybe all year long. If all Americans gave up meat one day a week, it would be the equivalent of taking 8 million cars off the road.