Ghost Town by First Aid Kit

I've been following these girls for some time on youtube, and I just found this video and thought it rather lovely and wanted to share it. I've spent the morning looking for songs for a novel I am about to start working on, and I've added this one.

What I did today

What I did today, originally uploaded by Fiorinda.

I spent the morning at the pond at Sope Creek reading. A lady with her dog came by and we chatted about an hour. She was from France. It was a nice time. Until she came along it was wonderfully quiet with random people and their dogs wandering by on the path behind me. It is way too warm and humid today, considering it is almost November, but the wind was blowing and it smells of fall. The leaves are just starting to change in most places around here., but I've seen a few rather lovely ones. You never know what fall is going to look like around here. It could be over in a day, or last two months. This year seems pretty random. I am guessing it will be over with quickly.

Babies

Today was one of my sundays to work in the nursery. What a day. We had to do a fire drill in the middle of church(just the kids, not all the adults). Fire drills in the baby room are always exciting. We have to put the babies in the evacuation crib push them down the hall and across the parking lot and up a hill to the playground. Thankfully there were four of us today, three of us are paid workers, the fourth is a volunteer. We had 5 babies, one of which had just been dropped off and was screaming. I got to hold her. She stopped screaming while we were outside. She started back as soon as we got into the nursery. We ended up calling 3 moms to get their babies today, and I was the one who had to hold all of them. My arms still hurt. They were all almost 1, so they were big babies. And they screamed very loudly in my ear.

I started working in the nursery for the extra money, and to get my baby fix. I have realized I no longer need a baby fix. Now, a newborn will still make me think about how lovely it is to have a little baby, but then I am quickly reminded of sleepless nights, constant diaper changing, someone always clinging to you. I love my children, and I am glad they aren't babies anymore. I am finally getting some freedom. I am finally getting into the swing of not having a job or children to take care of during the week during school hours. The first month, I gained 10 lbs. The twins were home for part of the time, and all they wanted to do all day was eat, so I started eating everytime they did. Bad idea. I have lost about 5 of those 10 lbs, but it hasn;t been easy. I am a boredom eater.

The hard part of staying home is finding things to do that don't cost money(or involve food). I live less than five miles from a mall and lots of strip malls. I am pretty good at just window shopping, but I am also compulsive. Especially when it comes to shoes. Of course, there is always housework to be done, and I am improving in that area. (speaking of which, I need to do some laundry). But I can only clean the same mess so many times before I want to scream. Now that the weather is cooler, I would like to go back to the park splitcat and I went to a couple of weeks ago and walk. And I have a friend who wants to walk in a nearby neighborhood. I joined one Bible study. It has been fun, but will be over soon. I think I am making some new friends. One lady told me today as she dropped her baby off, that she wished she had my phone number because she wanted to send me a text this morning as she was doing her hair(there is a story behind that-perhaps I will share later). So it was nice to know someone is thinking of me when I am not there. I tend to think I am an out of sight, out of mind kind of person. I always wonder if people think of me when I am not there(yeah, that's pretty vain, I know).

I think I am officially rambling, which means it is time to bring this post to its meandering conclusion so I can make sure my family has clean clothes for this week. (it's not the washing or folding I hate, it's the putting away). I had a coke today at work, thus you get chatty cathy today. it will wear off soon and I'll be my usual quiet self again. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I can't wait to hear how Karenee's unexpected vacation went!

The moon is bright tonight
Like an eye full
of unshed tears
that sparks
suddenly in the light.

I cannot reach the moon
to wipe away the tears
nor can I embrace it
in its cold lonely light

I can only look on
from the darkened earth
and pray.

Adventure

Today was a rare adventure day for splitcat and I. He had the day off for Columbus day, but all 4 kids had school. He took me to a park in Marietta to hike and photograph. It has been a long time since we were able to go out into nature together. I am not a big fan of walking in my neighborhood. There are no sidewalks, and after living here for 12 years, I am tired of looking at all the same houses. Thankfully we have a couple of really nice parks nearby. And the weather is attempting to be fall-ish. Last week it was, this week we are back in the 80's. Still wearing shorts. But I packed away a bunch of my summer clothes today because I am ready to move into fall.
But I ramble and digress.
What I meant to write about was that I think I recovered a bit of my sense of adventure today. It has been gone a while. Too tired, etc. But I had a blast scrambling over rocks and even crossing the creek to get to the ruins(remains of civil war to early 20thC paper mill and other industrial buildings). Thankfully the ruins had recently been cleaned out from all the kudzu, and we could explore a little. The creek was very very cold. It hasn't rained much lately, so it was pretty shallow. It felt really good to be out of the house, not at the mall, or shopping, or eating, but exploring and having an adventure.