When I in Awesome Wonder

Posted on June 19, 2015 by TJ

Morning

When JJ got home from work last night, he said, “Our forest is kind of scary! I saw blue glowing eyes in a tree about halfway up the hill. I think it was probably an owl.” I said, “Maybe it was an orc.” He said, “No. Bilbo Baggin’s sword glowed blue when there were goblins around, but their eyes are not blue.” We are such sci-fi geeks.

Our cat Timmy was restless last night and kept jumping on our headboard and making noises that woke me up. I would tell him to stop it as I pulled him down but he kept doing it. Finally, I got up and went to JJ’s room and opened the door a bit. Timmy never paid much attention to JJ in our old house, but up here both Luke and Timmy has been sleeping on his bed with him while Kee-Kee and Little Bear sleep with us. I figured that Timmy was upset that he couldn’t get into JJ’s room, and I was correct. Timmy was quiet the rest of the night.

EJ gets home from work in the wee hours of the morning and he was still up so I talked to him a bit in the living room before yawning and heading back to bed. I just laid down when Danny told me he needed to go out. Seriously? It was 3 a.m.! But I sighed, got out of bed, put on my shoes and jacket, got Danny’s leash on him, and we went outside. EJ came with us…because you never know what evil lurks in the Enchanted Forest in the dark of night. As soon as we got outside, I said delightedly to EJ, “Look! It’s so cold that I can see my breath! In mid-June! Can you believe it?” And I breathed out a puff of visible air. When I was a child, I used to pretend I was a fire-breathing dragon on cold mornings.

And then I looked up into the sky…and, oh, my goodness! There were billions and billions of stars filling the sky, and I could clearly see the Milky Way! Because we are on a hill, it felt that if the world tilted a bit, we would fall off into a sea of stars.

The sky looked much like this. Photo from Pinterest. — The sky looked much like this.
Photo from Pinterest.

I haven’t seen a night sky like this in years and years and years. At our old house, the light pollution drowned out the stars and I had sometimes complained to EJ, “I am quite sure that there are actually more than two dozen stars in the sky.”

EJ and I watched the sky while Danny wandered around, and I said, “This is why I wanted to live in the north…so I could see deer grazing outside my window, and turkeys wandering through the yard, and pileated woodpeckers in the trees, and the stars in the sky!”

Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Evening

Usually EJ works ten-hour days Monday through Thursday and gets Fridays off. JJ’s work schedule is more fluid. He had this Friday off, so we were going to do something fun together. However, EJ had to work today so that was that.

Still, we had a quiet morning together. EJ and I walked down to the mailbox and just rejoiced that we live in such a beautiful place. Then we sat on the front porch and read the local newspaper, drank coffee, and enjoyed the scenery.

Later, JJ and I drove to the beautiful library in the Emerald City and got library cards. It really is as awesome as JJ had told me it was. Because we aren’t “in district,” we aren’t able to enjoy all the services the library offers, but we will be able to use it some. I told JJ later that we should take a trip to our local library soon and get library cards. That library isn’t as big or beautiful as the one in the Emerald City, but we will be able to enjoy all it’s services, including its Internet books and movies.

I was tired from Timmy keeping me awake last night, so JJ drove to the Emerald City and back. I was pleased at how much confidence he had gained in driving. Before, he was very hesitant and worried about making mistakes. The north is good for him.

We got an estimate from the guy who was going to do our driveway. I have found that some types of businesses–like driveway people or professional movers–don’t really like to give you a “guess-imate” because the price depends on how much work is needed. Because we have no experience with these types of services, we can’t even guess how much the cost will be. Well, we found out how much the driveway would cost. I realize the guy was wanting to do a very good job to fix the driveway problem permanently, but OUCH. It’s very, very expensive and totally not in the budget. We are going to have to find a MUCH less expensive solution.

EJ and I were going to take a break this weekend and not go south to the old house. Although the long drive there and back again is beautiful and we enjoy being together, the drives are also tiring and not particularly good for EJ’s back. His back has been hurting and spasming lately, and he is very exhausted. We have been under such stress for so long that I really think we are suffering from the effects of chronic stress.

Our restful weekend plans were cancelled when EJ’s sister told him that she wasn’t sure any family was going to make it to her son and daughter’s high school open house, which is tomorrow. We know how it feels to not have family attend important events so we decided we must go. The family lives about an hour more south(ish) than our old house. We will drive down tomorrow, attend the open house for a couple of hours, stop at our old house, load up the buggy with more boxes, and drive back north. It will be nice to see EJ’s sister and her family, but it will be a very, very, very long day. Just the thought of it is exhausting. JJ has to work this weekend so he won’t be going with us.

Next weekend we are having a furnace installed at the old house so we will have to drive down there. Hopefully, the trips south will end soon and we can starting learning how to relax. Sometimes there are so many things that need to get done, and so many times that our relaxing times are cancelled, that we look at each other and say, “We don’t even know what fun is anymore.”

I’m feeling a little overwhelmed about the sudden switch from relaxing to non-relaxing weekend.