Ten-Finger Exercises

pleasantest of evenings

I'm sitting on the back deck with a nice breeze, watching the hummingbirds whip around the trumpet vine and, occasionally, the feeder. The fountain in the fish pond makes a vibrant sound, accompanied by the wind in the trees. Our tamarack, almost in silhouette by this time of evening, looks to have made a permanent change in shape this year, its top having been dragged down too often from the weight of the grape vines on the nearby arbor that continually reach up and grab hold. It's free of the climbing nuisances at the moment, but still it's top third leans twenty degrees to the right.

Bill is inside doing post-flying things on his computer. We flew to Spokane for a late lunch with Lenore and George and the twins. Lenore starts school this week, and will at last begin to see the benefit of her M.Ed. on her paycheck.

Right after we called her to plan the flight, Hap called from the Oregon coast to ask us to come over there. Darn. They have a friend's house to stay in for the weekend. If we'd known sooner, we could have all planned to go. As it is, I have to be in church tomorrow, and it will be too late to go afterwards.

I've thought of several things I wish I'd done this summer, and this coming weekend, Labor Day, will be the last chance this year. I wish we'd flown to Coeur d'Alene and met the kids for a day at Silverwood, with its fancy waterpark.

As we drove home from the airport, past the big sign announcing the $300 million jackpot for the lottery, we played our usual game of declaring that it was ours. We've won it, of course, we just haven't looked it up yet. So, what will we spend it on? A house on the beach in Florida, maybe Daytona, to be near the grandson expected in January. And one in the northwest, in the mountains maybe, but near an airport. Heck, maybe we should just buy a little airport! And a faster plane. But I'd want to be near some place big enough to have a personal trainer, cable modem service and a good swimming pool. Oh, I guess with 300 million, we could have our own indoor swimming pool, couldn't we?

What would you do with 300 million?