Day the 152nd - Day 24 of 30 Days of Truth

It's hot, hot, hot. Yes, we have hot weather. We're kind of glad, remembering our Blizzard of '11, but I'm sweatin' BBs, and I'm not lokin' it. Whatcha gonna do? We're never happy...just like women and their hair. I have really thick hair with curl and loads of body. It's naturally a medium brown with lots of red highlights in it. Naturally, I wanted string straight hair, black and lots less body. Honestly, hair or weather. No one is happy. Last night I did indeed have me some steamed carrots and green beans with a dressing I made that needs some help. I mean, it just needs some...somethin'...I didn't like it all that much. The vegetables were GREAT--the drizzle...not so much. I'll be working on a recipe and publish it when it's perfected... And then some homemade halvah. Sorry, I like chocolate and this is the one way I can have it without a bunch of stuff. Meanwhile, this morning was a veggie sandwich at Old School, on asiago (oh yummmmm...) and the Blackberry-Jasmine Green Tea. It's so good...and I love it so much... And lunch today will be more steamed vegetables. Very good for me. I'll be a-workin' on that drizzle to put on them... Poodle and I went to the Cherry Street Farmer's Market and it was...okay. I mean, it wasn't all that and a bag of chips so off we went to Whole Foods and then to his place to watch Will and Grace and remove the tags from some pics on his Facebook. And now, I'm getting ready to go with Kathy the Cantor out of town, with choir member Johna and Sandy to see Virginia the Fellow Alto's art show. It will be way fun, and I'm looking forward to it. Meanwhile, Poodle is out to eat tonight with a friend, and Mischa (formerly known as Woodstock) is in Ohio at a conference and then vacation with a relative. And I am thinking, "Let's get with it, Weltha. Let's lose that weight." Yes...very good of me. I may not get the elliptical...I just don't have the room for it...too much trouble. So...it's back to the rebounder. Well, why not? I have it. Might as well get with it. And...the moment you've been waiting for...Day 24 of 30 Days Of Truth. This is another day where I created my own prompt because the one for today "What are your pet peeves?" is way too much like "What irritates you?" and besides, I am tired of some of the negativity of these prompts. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not some shallow little dimwit who shies away from pain and sorrow. But honestly, some of this stuff is just...morbid. And dumb. And no, I'm not writing myself a love letter the last day telling everything I "love" about myself. Sheesh almighty... So...here is the Weltha version of the Day 24 prompt: What Place Is The Geographic Center Of Your World? Now that one is easy. It's Linden, Missouri. When I was growing up, my dad's sister Helen had a cabin at the Lindenlure Association down in the Ozarks. I loved it. No, nothing fancy. And my brothers and mom always said, "Too many bugs and yuck." Maybe so, but that is where I learned to swim, to paddle a canoe (and remember, it's my Great Athletic Skill), and to love the Ozarks and my Ozarks heritage. When the cabin was still in our family, I always went to Linden in times of distress, grabbed the canoe, went up around the 2nd bend in the Finley River and docked myself at the gravel bar. And thought. And pondered. And sometimes, I cried. Or prayed. Or read a book. When we went when I was a kid, there was no television and no telelphone. I'm sure there's satellite or cabel today and probably computer access, but back then, it was sitting on the dock, swimming, canoeing, going for a walk, going for a ride over to Ozark or maybe a day trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson. I loved it. And when I was in about 5th and 6th grade, my mom stopped going and my dad and I went for a week around the 4th of July so I could shoot fireworks. And probably so my dad could shoot them too. and the memories I have of hanging out with my father, shooting fireworks, setting off the nighttime fountains and just generally being a kid. Those trips to Linden taught me that I was at home in nature and that I was indeed a child of the Missouri Ozarks, just like my parents. Ever time I went to Linden, I felt "something old" in the hills and the bluffs and knew that my people had been there a very long time and that in the most real sense, this part of the world was their home--and mine. I have rocks I have collected from down at Linden, and once in a while, I give one away to a very dear friend. But you ahve to be in the middle of my heart for me to give you a piece of Linden. I suppose it's not much. Nothing fancy...just a little encampment on a minor river. But to me, it was where my life began and ended. My deepest hope is that I could retire someday to a house that I would build down at Linden, and end my days reading, writing, taking my canoe up the river, sitting on my dock, watching the river and the light and shadows upon it... Independently, Weltha