I Think My Brain's Turned Off...

... or it's intermittent because I couldn't think of darned thing to write last night and the art was good.  It was a late 1800s painting of Joan of Arc in a garden having her original vision of herself as the French salvation.  I think she'd gotten some jimson weed in her cafe au lait or something, but I couldn't think of that last night, could I?  No, I couldn't.  It might have been because I stayed up until midnight for no apparent reason so I was dead on my feet and my words were snoring and not to be disturbed.  I think Durwood's right and I NEED TO GET AWAY.  Sorry for the hollering but I'm that desperate to shuck this everyday crapola and explore the "out there" with my husband/chef/driver for a couple weeks.  I've been fine tuning my thoughts about what I want to see on our Western Adventure lately.  I want to see sky and clouds stretching from horizon to horizon, big stuff, not this measly Midwestern stuff.  I want to see mountains, even in the distance would do, but I suspect that we'll see at least little ones close up and personal.  I want to see random buffalo (I totally like the name "buffalo" better than "bison" although I suspect that "bison" is more correct... I'll look it up) and maybe an elk, if one's available.  I want to see a geyser or two and some bubbling mud pots.  But mostly I want to see "away," want to sit outside in the night and look at stars, want to look at rocks and plains and flowers that don't grow here, want to see meadows with grazing ruminants that aren't dairy cows.  That's not asking too much, is it?  You'd  tell me if it was, wouldn't you?  Wouldn't you?  I know you would.  Yesterday I lent DS my car so that he could use it to come to the dive shop to teach a student and go to the pool with her.  DIL1 has to work the evening shift this week (the Norbertines are having their every-6-years conference (it's called a chapter) where she works--priests gone wild!--just kidding, not really) so she had their (one) car when he needed it.  His bike won't do for carrying scuba gear and tanks.  Nope, won't do.  Durwood took me to work and picked me up, and then DS came to get me after his student and I took him home.  I had to go in to see Porter for a few minutes (she likes me best, no, really) and on the way back there was a break in the storms and the moon poked out of the fast-moving clouds.  I pulled into the bank parking lot across the street from the park (only a block from home) to take some pictures of the moon, clouds, lightning, and trees.  I did okay; I need to learn how to take "dark" pictures with my digital camera but this last one's not bad.  Today's Photo a Day theme is "toothbrush."  Toothbrush?!?  Really???  So I pulled out my ditty bag and dug out my travel toothbrush because I need to start thinking about filling it up and what I'm going to pack and if Durwood really needs to buy a toaster for eight bucks at Walmart in case our frontier cabin in Yellowstone doesn't have one or there's a toast shortage out west or something (really, this is a concern).  BTW, tomorrow is August 1 so if you're thinking of playing Photo a Day here's where you go for the list.  You should play along; it's fun and makes you look at your world every day, really look at it, for at least as long as it takes you to find something to take a picture of, and that's probably a lot longer than you, or I, usually pay attention to things in this hurry-up world we live in.  Off to the bank and birdseed store!
--Barbara