Bursting at the seams

Im stopping for a moment. Feet up. Relaxed. This rest day/morning is wholey welcome even if it comes at the expense of a little health. My body telling me to take it easy close myself away and deal with things like bills and paperwork and maybe even throw up and then have a little nap. Each of the kids have their assignments which they are capable of working independently on today. Sun shining despite the promise of rain. Birds chirping. Allergens down because of the rain showers during the night. Its a perfect time to stop and smell the flowers in my garden.. so to speak. The last month flew by in a full on frenzy of activity. Id love to detail it all in painstaking detail as is usually my style when talking travel and the like but, In order to capture it, that all would require far more energy than then I really want to devote to it at the moment. But a quick run down looks like this. Superbowl and My Grandfather passed away. We gained three roommates three days after. Long story short we have adopted a family (hummingbirds) for a bit while they get through a rough patch. Then Valentines. Then a flight to Portland. Catching up with Family.. with my Brother. Getting a walking tour from Rebecca, an old friend, of the Hollywood District Mansions and meeting the freshest smelling bushy tree (it didn't offer up a solid whiff on our pass on by and when the owner of the house emerged we figured it better to wander on then leave our noses all up in his bush.)There was also the sampling of salted Carmel. I didn't much like it. There were nifty roadside libraries. There was the City sprawl and banked curves on the freeways (For rain drainage) which made you think you were going faster around corners then you really were. I drove through it knowing full well that life in such a City would depress me and leave me very ill.(It made me relfect on just how wonderful it is to live were we do.) The service. The remembering. The celebration of a life well lived. More family. A cousin I never met before. Laughter. Seeing the image of what I will look like when I am 70 and all grey as I gaze at my Aunt. Dinner at a cousins whom I don't know well as an adult but whom I loved as child and finding some of the same art decorates our walls. A bed and breakfast. Strange experience. Not bad. Still digesting and will need to try another B&B to compare the experience with. Anyway.. Back home and the settling in continues. Learning routines and adapting to others. Its a process for us all but we are meshing quite well. We are straining at the seams a little though and so the house hunt continues. Coming up Greg is going to be traveling like crazy.. more than usual. Work is taking its toll on him and we are looking forward to a little vacation whose planning is in the works. Simply saying we are busy doesn't seem to begin to cover it. But life is as good as can be.