Bursting with Color

I woke around 730am and promptly slipped out of bed and headed downstairs where I started a pot of coffee. Once again the kitchen was extra chilly after leaving the center bay window open all night. Like the morning before, I checked on work and played on the internet.

I did some blog writing until 9am when I readied and left for a run. For the first since spring, I wore a long sleeved wicking shirt. That proved sufficient with the quickly warming morning air. It was already in the low 50s at the outset of my run. Like most Sunday's, I ran three miles.

Back home near 940am. Mindy was still in bed. I'm guessing it was near 10am when I finally heard her stirring. She was downstairs a couple minutes later. At the time I was bouncing back and forth between work and pleasure. She poured herself some coffee then headed out on the deck with the pug. I joined the two of them a few minutes later.

I offered to take the pug for a walk in the yard until Mindy shared that she had already took off once and peed. The pug and I eventually headed off into the yard anyway. She never did poop. I tossed walnut at her from behind the shed. At first she had no idea what was up until I peaked around the corner. Back on the deck, I went after her leash and took her on a regular walk. She was very excited.

As excited as she was to take a leash bound walk, she still didn't poop. It was then that I remembered taking her for a late night walk just before midnight. I'm sure that's why. Like many Sunday morning walks, we encountered many others out walking their dogs too. We visited with a few of them. Sniff, sniff! We also stopped and played briefly with Shamrock and Chester.

Back at home, Eiknarf begged for coffee until I couldn't resist. I must've given her three small pours. I eventually headed inside where I spent a solid 20 minutes cleaning the rest of the potting soil mess from the late night window closing accident. What an ordeal just to get it all back to normal.

We didn't expect the kids home until 6-7pm. Two more soccer games in Cincinnati. We had no plans. I thought about offering a hike at Hayden Falls but didn't. It was near noon when Mindy and I took a brief nap. After a nap we both got showers. She suggested going shopping at Target and invited me along. Didn't sound good to me. What did sound good was kicking back, reading, and sipping ice water all afternoon and possibly even keeping a loose eye on the NFL games.

Mindy left for Target near kickoff. Instead of plopping down on the sofa and watching football, I decided to crack open a new book, even though I'm not done with, Philosophy Before Socrates. I find that book very interesting but also a slow read. I bought this other book, God, A Story of Revelation at the same time. Until now, it's been sitting on a bookshelf waiting for me to finish the other. I spent the next few hours enjoying the book from the comfort of a livingroom recliner.

Great read. And like many of Deepak's books, I didn't want to put it down. The book essentially covers the evolution of God from the book of Job, Socrates, Paul, Shankara, Rumi, to Tagore. Throughout the afternoon and evening I got through the first 4.5 sections. This is some great stuff!

Avoided the Vikings score all afternoon and evening, though I did see very early on that they ran the opening kick off back for a touchdown. While I read through the late afternoon and early evening, Mindy hung out on the deck. She asked me to join her a time or two, but I didn't want to stop reading. Around 6pm she asked about dinner to which I shared that I could skip it all together. A little while later she came in again sharing that she was hungry for Chinese and was going to run to the former Ding Ho for carry out. Ironically, even though I didn't verbalize it, when she asked earlier, the only thing that sounded remotely good was just that, Chinese. I asked that she get me some War Su Gai. She told me to expect the kids home anytime.

To that end, the kids were home while she was off getting the carryout Chinese. They weren't fully in the door when Jacob asked about dinner. When I shared that we'd be having Chinese they both groaned in misery. Too funny. Mindy was home minutes later. By then Jacob had already retreated to his room citing a soccer injury. The boy has feet issues that should at some point be addressed. He complains of having trouble walking after every soccer game. I suspect he might have arch issues that to this point haven't been properly addressed. Perhaps some custom orthotics are in order. I could probably whip something up with the waffle iron (aka Phil Knight).

Mindy was home by 635pm with a bag full of Chinese delights: won ton soup, egg rolls, sweet & sour chicken, war su gai, fried rice, and fortune cookies. Even though I wasn't that hungry, I was looking forward to dinner. They do a superb job of packing each piece for freshness and crispness (I.E. they package the war su gai sauce separately). Jacob never did join us downstairs for dinner. Bella did. Mindy didn't give her a choice. Mindy shared that my mom FB 'd her advising that Lindsey was really sick and needed us. Earlier, my mom sent me a brief email citing the same. Hadn't heard from anyone else through other channels, though.

Bella enjoyed some fried rice but was reluctant to try anything this else. She eventually tried some won-ton which she liked, and Mindy bribed her to try the sweet & sour chicken. Said it was horrible. What Bella was looking forward to the most, which is hilarious, were the fortune cookies. Bella shared that Jimaken's new girlfriend, Molly is very good to her, like a mother. I wasn't sure how Mindy might handle that, but did so with such grace. After all, don't we want only the best for our children?

At some point after dinner I decided to peak at the day's NFL results. Saw via TV that the Vikings lost 31-30. Once I know the score I opted to check how and why via Yahoo. The lost in the final seconds after holding a 6 point lead just prior. The mark of a good team is one that doesn't allow their opponent to score in the final seconds for a win. Ugh!

After cleaning up the kitchen I returned to the living room where I got back into my latest book. There I spent the rest of my evening, though with a handful of breaks sprinkled in to interact with Bella. Headed for bed around 1030pm. By then Mindy was already there and sound asleep.