These days

It's summer, these days. It's 35 degrees outside, and 28 inside. AC is a luxury that everyone has around here, but to ask for a house that's 10 degrees cooler than outside is a pretty tall order.

Buying new clothes is a simple thing, but wearing them gives my day just a little extra brightness that wasn't there with old, threadbare t-shirts. It's a girly pick-me-up.

I'm also trying to get into the tea hype. I bought a few different kinds that were labeled "Excellent Iced!" so I'll try those out. I'm also trying some instant iced coffee, which was a bit of a letdown.

I have a few friends (here, here, and here) who sometimes post about how things are going at Camp Evergreen. This is the first summer that I've missed in four years, and I'm surprised at how much I really  miss it. I love the community of staff, and the kids' antics. Sometimes I forget that I also really dislike excessive hyperness and mild clique-y-ness, both of which are often present there.

Next week I'll be starting work at a new camp - a band camp. Its major difference from Evergreen is that it isn't a Bible camp. I remember my one summer there as a camper, when I was fairly scandalized by a lot of what went on (tie-dying underwear comes to mind). I'm stoked to work with a few friends from Lethbridge, not to mention one of my musical heroes, Gillian Mackay. I'm looking forward to this new experience.

I'm watching episodes online of a show called Parenthood, and it has pretty much turned me off of ever having kids. You can never know how they'll grow up, what their rebellion phase will be like, how they'll react to house rules, what kind of kids they'll be. You can't control them and that's terrifying.

These days, it's summer. I'm drinking iced tea and not thinking about what comes next.

In transition

It has now been a week since I moved with my family to beautiful Kelowna, BC. Our new house is very nice, but different, so we have to organize things differently. (It's a big deal for me when I can't put the towels on a shelf in the bathroom; and now they have to go in a cupboard.) My room is small, and actually doesn't have a closet, so we had to rig something up. Thankfully my dad has building skills, and knows about things like putting nails into studs instead of just drywall, and using a level. Thanks Dad.

Kelowna is in a really pretty area of BC. The province in general is fairly mountainous, and the city is in a valley surrounded by hills, and mountains if you go just a little farther. The views are amazing, wherever you are. I love that about this place!

It's been hot, and it's going to get even hotter. Thank goodness for air conditioning and ceiling fans. The beaches are always crazy at this time of year, so we probably won't do much of that. The Ogopogo certainly won't go hungry this year.

Of course I miss Lethbridge. I miss my church, where I know most of the faces, and can share inside church jokes. (Soo... here's a benediction.) I miss the university, full of friends and colleagues and mentors. I miss the river and the coulees.

It's hard to see this as permanent. I'm in transition, trying to see what living in Kelowna means for me. (So far, it means higher car insurance.) As always, I worry about fitting in, finding a place, enjoying my life. I wonder, will any of that happen?

For now, I'll ponder these things, and be amazed by the beauty of this place.