Figure skating class is so much fun.  Yesterday, we learned how to skate backward on one foot and how to do that really cool skating move called a crossover.  I don't look very cool right now, and during class I was an utter failure, but then I came back for practice with a pair of knee pads, and managed to figure out how to do the moves.  I think most of my problem is that I'm afraid of falling and REALLY hurting myself.  After all, I'm 32 and can't really afford to get hurt.  I mean, if I hurt my knees, who is going to carry Georgie, clean the kitchen, vacuum, and take Kate to school?  So, the knee pads really helped.

After a series of very cold days (we barely broke 74) the weather is warming up again.  It is still cloudy outside, but there's a delicious muggy feeling that is typically only felt during the last part of June in Portland.  It's that sensual feeling that drags you out of doors to work in the garden or wish you could go kayaking.  It's the weather that takes you on a picnic to the Rose Garden or a stroll on the water front because you know there won't be thousands of people crowding around only like minded individuals soaking up the rich, moist air.  It's the call of Powell's Bookstore and Illy coffee and a quick trip to the NorthWest district or an even quicker skip to the Pearl.  It's also the annoying reminder that some idiot declared that the Rose Festival had to occur at the beginning of June while everything is damp, dank and rainy instead of sensibly setting the dates for the last week of June.  Here, in Texas, it's the call to open you windows and let the wind blow through the rumpled bed covers, maybe pull on a pair of rubber boots and take a walk through mud puddles, or dust off the seat of the bike and swish along the sidewalks and side roads on the way to the park.

I am sensibly not going to do any of those things because I still have three girls at home with sniffly noses and cute, deep little voices, and I have the ominous itching of the throat feeling.  I think we'll stay at home with just a few windows open to help air the house out, but other than that, this is going to be just a very sensible day, spent doing sensible things like laundry and dishes and general housework since I also have to teach lessons this afternoon.

I am missing the Sauvie Island pumpkin patch right now.  I wish I could just hope on a plane and take my kids to get their traditional pumpkin, hay ride, train ride and maze, but that just isn't going to happen any time soon.  We live in a part of Texas that caters to BIG farms, so there aren't any nearby pumpkin patches.  The closest we have found is just north of Katy, Texas, and it costs $11 a person just to get into the thing.  Yeah, that's what I thought, "11 bucks?!?!"  So, maybe we'll have to figure out another way to get our yearly stash of pumpkin seeds.  That is the whole reason for going to the patch.  Kate loves pumpkin seeds.  If I didn't monitor her intake she would eat cupfuls in a single sitting.  Luckily, I also make a great pumpkin soup, complete with salted pumpkin seeds.  Unfortunately, I really don't care for pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars or pumpkin scones or anything else like that so we end up with a lot of frozen pumpkin.

Here's to happy hunting for me.  I hope I find a pumpking supplier somewhere soon.