Curves on our road

When i was picture hunting last week, i took a number of pics that inadvertently showed the road. I didn't get all the curves in our road, but i got quite a number. Today i'm posting just to show the road we travel. We go the "back" way - highway 38. While 38 has plenty of curves & is longer than the "front" way - highway 330/18 - we don't have as many curves or ones that are extreme. Highway 330/18 has a number of sharp curves & a few hairpins. I don't like that road!

Duane & i tried to attend church today. I had a bit of headache & thought of bowing out, but then decided not to wimp out. And the headache was largely gone after i took a shower. (I'm having a much harder time making myself go to church these days & am trying not to give in to the desire to skip.) But neither of us made it past the first 5-10 minutes.

They'd painted the interior of the church this week. I'd voted for using "no/low-VOC" paint. Maybe they did, even, i don't know. But the first thing said when i recommended that was "How much will that cost?" I'm concerned for our environment, but also for being able to breathe. Folks pretty much disregarded my concern as they said it is latex paint that won't retain smell "for long." I get the feeling that environmental concerns are a low priority in our church.

As i said, they may even have used the environmentally friendly paint. I didn't immediately recognize it as "paint smell" but simply something not very good. So we sat thru the announcements. And i felt like i was having a hard time breathing - but i also realized that it could have been anxiety or upset & i was trying to talk myself out of it. But then the headache began to reoccur. I knew i would not be singing.

Last week, on our way home, i had some essential oil in the car, sealed in plastic zip-lock baggies. Duane couldn't stand it. Said he couldn't breathe - & i couldn't even smell it & neither could my MIL.

So this AM i turned to him & said, "Essential oil was bothering you but this doesn't?" He responded that it did bother him, but not as bad.

But after a very short time i knew i wouldn't be able to tolerate it. So i told Duane i'd wait for him in the car. I didn't want him to leave if he didn't need to, but i couldn't stay. So i settled into the car. About 5 minutes later he came out. "Remind me not to sing after they paint, next time," he said. I think if either of us had stayed we would be having some serious asthma issues this week. We had to stop attending church (not Lutheran who don't use incense, but the Anglican) on high holy days because of the incense. Even "non-allergenic" incense bothers us.

So we went to breakfast. And while at breakfast we read the scripture in the lectionary for this week.

When we got home our downstairs was chilly (55F). Up here in the bedroom is warmer - it is 57! So i built a fire downstairs to warm off the chill. And i went out & stacked some wood. Ben's weather says it is 42F outside, but it feels much warmer than that in the sunlight. We have been whittling away at the wood pile (pics of which are in the next post) little by little. Most of those logs are already cut to fit a regular fireplace, but they don't fit in our wood stove. Duane worked about an hour yesterday cutting. I told him if he cut i'd stack - but not yesterday. It was too late & too cold for me to work then. It took about 20 minutes for me to stack what he'd cut yesterday.

While stacking i was thinking about another blog i read, Mrs. Mac. She's coming out & we might get to go to lunch or something when she is here (in Feb). And by "here" i mean California not Big Bear!

I've met other online friends. Duane & i were thrilled to meet dear friend Dawn & her husband John on our trip this summer. And, of course i know David & read his blog. But we were friends before the blogging. This is the first time i'll meet someone who reads my blog sometimes, & i read hers. I don't know why i find that exciting, but i do. (I'd be really excited to go to India & meet Amrita, but that isn't going to happen any time soon.)

Seems like i had lots of interesting & intelligent things to say . . . but somehow my head lost them! I hate Swiss cheese brain.

So, if my brain isn't working i guess i should go use my body. I have mountains of laundry to do. Speaking of mountains, our radio station here says we're "a mile & a quarter closer to heaven" at our altitude. I check it out, & Sugarbear is 1.30 miles above sea level.

I'd better go check the fire.



235