I took a couple of days away from the blog - although I did put up a post at the Mad Genius Club - because there just isn't enough time in the two days off of my work schedule to complete all the work I need to do. I darn well tried, though!
The other thing I did this weekend was take off for a good chunk of Saturday and we ran away from home. The Little Man was over at his sister's house for the weekend, we had a taste of empty nest, and still... You know how you always have something to do at home? If it's not cleaning and working (more on that first, later) it's the internet and a million shiny little distractions flying around you. So we did what we used to do on a regular basis. We got a full tank of gas in the car, pointed it in a suitable direction (east, in this case, we'd gone west last time we did this), and drove down the smallest roads we could find. You have to be careful with that. Sometimes the little one-lane roads peter out into someone's driveway. I've turned around hastily in more than one farmyard when that happened!
An old farm under the gathering storm
In the car, there's no distractions, we can just talk, and do. Sometimes he'll drive and I'll take photos. If we're far enough off the beaten path we'll stop when we see something particularly pretty so I can take a good shot. It's unstructured, unplanned, and unwinding. We keep saying we need to do it more often, but, well, time is a commodity.
We also found a bed for the guest room. Now that the girls have completely moved into their own place, we have a spare bedroom. The Little Man has the little bedroom, and we discussed moving him into the bigger one, but... we can use it for friends and family passing through for a night or two. And it can be dual-tasked as a writing office/schoolroom for the homeschooler and myself. We're talking about not hooking internet up to that computer so it can be a focus room, but we will see. A couple of book cases, a comfy chair, and several hours of work later, we have a very nice spot to share. I'm happy. I miss the girls being here, but they aren't far and we see them often. It's part of growing up, this newfound independence they have. I'm doing my best to let them fly without holding them back.
I spent most of Sunday cleaning and organizing the house, with the end goal of being able to use my art desk for the first time since... 2019. Sigh. It's in a main part of the house and gets used as a handy flat spot. But! I managed to get that cleared and even use it before the day was over. Now I can dig into some projects I have been aching to get my fingers into.
Driving around looking at the corn and the clouds. We were in area the First Reader grew up in, and he was talking about their teen years, when they'd put gas in the car and go looking for fun.
A barn being covered in Virginia Creeper (near Spring Valley, OH)
(the header image is one of the photos I took Saturday, edited to enhance the drama clouds.)