here's the deal.

it's monday. i love monday, because on typical weeks it means two glorious things: no work, and movie night monday!

i have a bunch of new clothing from the thrift store. this morning i put on a new [actually new!] mustard yellow cardigan and looked down at my blue trousers and thought "oh, hello ikea employee." nevertheless i have persevered and received zero negative comments on this combination. it helps me think of sweden too, which always brings pleasant thoughts to mind!

i also have a really fun little vintage yellow sundress [that was a lot of adjectives] to alter and wear. tres chic.

my toms are ripping. i'm going to stitch them up. some day..

i've been gone, gone, gone most of the time lately. my dear sweet little grandma passed away 3 weeks ago. we miss her. she's in the best place ever now. we've painted and cleaned and packed up her house and now it is for sale. it was a lot of work [my mother and i did most of it, with some help from a few relatives], and it was incredible how much storage space my grandma had filled up with all sorts of fun things, but it was good. i now know how to pack up a house. next time i'm charging no less than five grand. this one i did for free.

the aforementioned project has also given me a profound determination to clean out my closets. again. my bookshelf also needs a makeover. you can't see the original books for all the new books in front of them. i do admire technology, but books are necessities of life! i got to take home a few of my grandma's old [like 1941] piano books, and played through a couple of them today. they're wonderful.

can you believe it's summer tomorrow? i can't comprehend it. the past two months have flown by so fast and i'm afraid the rest of the summer will be gone in another blink. it was the longest winter i can remember, and then the crummiest spring [i picked up "crummy" from my 84-year-old great aunt. it's in the dictionary, i checked] of all time. now summer's finally here but it's raining! and we're not home on the nice days! oh Lord, please enable us to enjoy the summer without getting mad at the days we haven't spent outside in it! glad we got our garden in [finally] last week. my peas and onions and tomatoes and squash are all growing so nicely.

i should head out for a bike ride soon. it looks inclement. but generally, if the wind isn't like riding against a brick wall, i ride like 10 miles a night. i've thoroughly encompassed our town [inside and out]. i wish there were more bike paths here. gravel roads just don't do much for me.

unsurprisingly, although i've just arrived home once again from a few more days away, i've got the urge to go elsewhere! currently the itch is leaning towards northern minnesota, where we'll be in a couple weeks! also super excited for our family vacation this summer. mountains!! germany is still of course always in my heart. and so often in the past month i've longed to go to prague again. oh europe, you're just so great. of course there is the rest of the world as well, but i just can't exhaust europe enough! and america, america, you're pretty great too. i'd like to see more of you as well.

also, why doesn't the middle of this vast country have more passenger trains? our train tracks are used to haul genetically modified corn to plants which produce either high fructose corn syrup or ethanol, or have been turned into bike paths [the better of the two options, i guess]. i'd totally ride a train to the city for the day.

liiiiife you're passing me by so fast! there's so much i want to do and so many places i want to go but i'm stuck in the daily routines and requirements of life. "so teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

PS. i saw Herman the German. there are particular friends who will be extremely excited to know that fact.