moonscapes and lilacs

The weeks are a-flying by. Only three weeks left in the spring semester... but who's counting?  It's a busy time, and I'm SO glad I am not PEO president for another year. It almost happened, and *whew*. I've got enough other things to do.

I mentioned a while back that we've talked about purchasing some recreational land, and we've gotten more serious after perusing properties online. I should give credit where credit's due and mention that Magnum has been chief peruser, knowing our criteria. He's taken it on, sends me links to candidate properties, and found us a good realtor.

Yesterday was our first site looky-loo. We drove up to the boonies with Realtor to this mass of dirt that appeals to us for various reasons. It's kind of a sad story actually. The current owner purchased it a few years ago, worked at paying it off, built a small cabin - just a nice getaway. And then...

The Cameron Peak Fire happened and ravaged the place. It is now a landscape of blackened used-to-be trees and not much else. 

So, one's sad story is another's blank canvas.

Here's one of the pics I took of what was once a lovely evergreen forest

Very tall Realtor included for scale. (Seriously, the guy's like 7 ft. tall...)

But there are gorgeous views, primo location (when not on fire), and lots of potential. We really liked the property, but one downside is... The Road, yes it deserves to be capitalized. The road to get there is a bear for about the final half-mile. We brought our 4x4 truck just to make sure it could do it. It made it, and while not a deal breaker, The Road is a big red flag. Even Realtor and the local guy who maintains the roads in the area agree it's a beast.

So I want to look at at least one other property for juxtaposition. Not ready to start throwing money around just yet. 

Speaking of juxtaposition, lilac season is upon us despite our hot, dry winter and spring. I snapped this photo on a recent morning run around.

I'm sneezy, but they're pretty.

elevensies

Craving
Coffee walk
I'm surely addicted
12oz drip, oat milk
Happy

I recently read about a journaling technique. "Eleven" refers to journaling thoughts in the pattern:

• 1 word
• 2 words
• 3 words
• 4 words
• 1 word

So I gave it a whirl and came up with today's opening lines just prior to this morning's coffee walk. Afterward,

[student's name]
New hair
It suits her
Change would be good
Go

That one came about because we went for our coffee walk and ended up at a coffee shop inside a local bookstore. I went to the counter to order and was met by one of my college tutees, who was barista-ing. I didn't know she worked there.

"Oh, hi" I greeted, "I know you"

"Yeah, hi", her response

"Ooh, I like your hair, looks great", I genuinely shared.

"Thanks" <smile>

Her hair did look good. It's sort of a shag style, now died black with a shock of red on the lower half of one side. It's not something I would do or look good with, but it suited her. She'd recently decided to change her major from a STEM subject to creative writing. She'd never confessed fully to me, but I'm guessing she really wants to be a writer, but figured she should study something more "practical" in college, so went the STEM route.

Then she likely decided, "screw that", gonna follow her dreams instead. I think that decision likely lifted a weight off her shoulders. She did seem more at ease today as bookstore barista with cool new hair than as the last time I'd seen her - struggling math student.

Maybe she'll become a successful author, and I can say I knew her when...

On that note, we're already down to the last few weeks of the semester. I'm looking forward to the summer break, but a few students have already asked me about summer tuting. So it likely won't be a full-on snoozer, which is a good thing.

Balance
All play
And no work
Invites in the dementia
Maybe?

bunnies, books, 'n' beavers

Happy Easter to those who revel!

It's a lovely sunny spring day here. We went for a coffee bike ride this morning. A happy Easter Bunny waved merrily to us from outside a church, possibly muttering quietly at the bicycle-riding infidels.

This past week felt a little off for some reason. Tutor students struggling more than the usual. On Wednesday, I commented to one, "is it a full moon or something?" Lo and behold, it was. And now we've got the Artemis crew stirring the pot.

In 2026 Reading Challenge updates, I am now 16 books into my goal of 26 books on the year, so a bit ahead of the pace. Here are my latest that didn't end up in the DNF pile. Descriptions mine:

Shy Creatures - a single 30-something art therapist in the 60's tries to help a man who'd been "hidden" for decades and her teenaged niece while having an affair with one of the doctors. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Coworker - Typical Scooby-Doo type mystery from Freida McFadden. Audiobook while doing mundane things around the house. ⭐⭐

Flashout - some weird "artists" doing weird things in the 60's, not all that comparatively weird to other things from the 60's. ⭐⭐⭐

The Raven's Nest - Memoir from a woman who went to Iceland, fell in love with an Iceland man, married him, became an Icelander, divorced the Icelander, wrote a book ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm currently reading a couple of non-fictions. One is Cheap Land Colorado - interesting book about off-gridders living cheap in Colorado. I happened to see it while loitering around a bookstore. I've been through the area, and the book reminds me a lot of where I grew up.

The other is this book about beavers, recommended by my Step Mother-in-law during our recent visit.

SMIL is a retired chemical engineer, and loved learning about nature's engineers and recommends this book to anyone who will listen.

Beavers are pretty badass, I've been a fan for a while.

BUC-EE

pandering

Happy April Fools day! Got any plans?

I'm enjoying a little downtime this morning, nothing scheduled until the afternoon, which will arrive quickly as per usual. Meantime, laundry.

I finished up a little over a week of cat sitting Wolfgang's cat while Wolfgang was out having adventures. This meant going to the cat daily, which I don't mind. Wolfgang's place is across town from work, but it's a pleasant bicycle ride, just adds time to the commute.

It would be convenient if Maisey the cat just stayed with us, but our cat, Napolion, will never accept that. He's becoming an old man and gives off plenty of GET-OFF-MY-LAWN! energy when it comes to other cats invading his territory.

Maisey is a sweet kitty, but Physical Touch is NOT her love language. I know to let her initiate any contact. I'd say she's more of the Receiving Gifts variety - as long as the gifts are food.

Once that's taken care of, she's happy to sit nearby and stare at me with her hypnotic blue eyes.

Her way of saying, "thanks"?

It feels more like, "Who are YOU, and what did you do with Wolfgang?"