Getting Started

It is the little stuff that interests me. Wry or wistful, it is the small stuff that grabs my attention and inspires my writing. This is true of the nuances of relationships as well as the surprises I find in my garden. This blog will meander through the homely stuff of my life; with luck its very ordinariness will resonate with others.

Let us begin with "self improvement." A topic that is near and dear to my heart and one that I assumed I had the corner on, at least as far as my family - well, at least, my husband was concerned. I have embraced projects of all magnitude for years: running, remodeling, and reorganization. From the larger more amorphous goal of trying to be a better person to cleaning off my desk, I have led the charge with or without followers. Generally speaking, my husband has "kept his distance" from such endeavors. Well, no more.

A week ago, he brought home a DVD lecture series- The Nature of the Earth: An Introduction to Geology and announced that we would watch one a night until we completed the thirty-six lectures! It is true that we have talked about taking a geology course for years, generally inspired by a hike in the Cascades or the Olympics, or during a foray into the southwest. Nonetheless, I just assumed that we would continue to dither along in this fashion, satisfied to talk about our ignorance rather than do anything about it.

Clearly I was wrong and didn't even see it coming. We have just completed the first five lectures and the fifth one on the formation of minerals, laced as it was with terms like "neutral system of negatively charged electrons," "multi-isotope elements",certainly separated the wheat from the chaff! I'd like to think that my inability to follow the professor was due to the wine I had consumed rather than a systematic synapse failure. I am giving serious thought to sneaking a repeat on that last lesson.On the bright side, Fred has sworn off Jeopardy until we finish this series, so struggling with the difference between ionic and covalent bonding is not without its rewards.

The specific impetus for this particular self-improvement program is the float trip we are taking in May on the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon. We took this same trip in 2004 and there's a lot of "rock talk" when you are in the canyon!

I don't know if this is an aberrant occurrence or if my role as improvement coordinator has been permanently co-opted. That will require revisiting.In the meantime, I had better get after the floors - so far there is very little competition for that role!