Randomness

It's been almost a week since I've checked in over here. I've been busy - not with anything in particular, just life :)

Yesterday was probably the highlight of the week. We travelled to a friend's house and spent most of the day outside in sunshine and 60 degree temperatures. Our visit included a nature hike that included frog egg sightings (protected by green slime which truly impressed my boys), two beaver lodges and several fallen trees and stumps that had been created by the previously mentioned beavers.

While we were hiking my four year old (who is known for being a little awkward) put together a mantra of sorts and I couldn't help but smile while he chanted "Balance. Balance. Balance. Balance . . ." It must have done the trick because while we were a little slower than our hosts who take these kinds of hikes regularly, we emerged from the wilderness without incident and both boys wanted to know if we could hike through our woods at home.

It truly was a beautiful day in which I actually found myself taking deep breaths of the fresh, spring air. And, of course, the adult conversation couldn't be beat ;)

And while it's not exactly the same as conversation, I finished reading Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" today (which, by the way, is timeless and has reignited my political fire - at least for the time being) and now I'm onto D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers as part of my Banned Book Challenge. After finishing this one I'll be just over halfway to my goal of reading 12 "subversive" and "controversial" books by June 30th.

I recently read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and it was amazing! I had never read anything by Vonnegut before and I will definitely read more. The biggest impression it left on me was to reinforce my own viewpoint about how pointless war is; that war isn't about soldiers fighting other soldiers in order to preserve freedom or some other moral ideal, but war is really about countless civilian murders that often go uncounted because they don't happen in an "official" capacity and besides it doesn't put the combatants in a very good light.

But enough of that . . . I want to think some more about my peaceful nature hike . . .