Monday September 2, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at 6 AM. I let the dogs out and made tea. Sipping my tea, I sat on the couch cuddled up with the dogs and prayed my morning gratitudes: Good morning God, I am grateful for friends. I am grateful for dogs. I am grateful for wonderful pet sitting opportunities. I am grateful for cool mornings. I am grateful for lakes. I am grateful for walks. I am grateful for peace of mind. I am grateful for tea. Thank you! I love you.
I wrote my blog until Angel woke up and sleepily asked if she could have granola and bread with honey for breakfast. I looked to see if there was granola in the cupboard and there was. Only a small amount was left and I poured it all into a bowl for Angel. I made a mental note the buy more granola for the people I am pet sitting for. I poured homemade almond milk over the granola and smeared honey on a piece of bread. I put the food in front of Angel and we talked about what we were going to do for school that morning. Angel said that she wanted to do measuring and sight word bingo. I agreed and added in doing multiplication.
I made a smoothie with 8 bananas, cacao and fresh apple/pineapple juice. My friend Brett called to see if we wanted to go on an adventure today. I suggested going swimming at Zim’s hot springs pool outside of New Meadows. Both Brett and Angel were all for that idea. I told Brett that Angel and I were going to do some school first. Angel groaned and Brett said he would come over in an hour or so.
Angel and I sat down to do school. Angel did a few pages of measuring. It’s one of her favorite things to do. Then she did a couple of pages of multiplication, which she is easily understands how to do even though it’s new to her. Lastly we played sight word bingo. Brett arrived just as we were finishing up. Angel won at bingo, which she was happy about.
Angel and I gathered up our swimming stuff. I put my swim suit on underneath my dress so it wouldn’t have to change at the pool. I suggested to Angel that she put her swim suit on underneath her clothes as well but she said that she didn’t want to. We all got in my truck and hearted (headed) to Zim’s. On the drive, Brett and I had conversations about all the hot springs that are in the area. Some are privately owned hot spring pools and most of those you have to schedule an appointment ahead of time, other than Zim’s. I few privately owned pools have closed down, like Starkeys and Goldbug. Then there’s hot springs on public land that you can soak in, but don’t have pools big enough to swim in. Those are my preference. Some hot springs on public land are easily accessible and some you have to hike into. Right now though, you can’t access a lot of them because of the fires. Also, some of the hot springs on public land have been closed down and others have been washed out. It didn’t make sense to me how a hot spring on public land could be closed down. I asked Brett about a popular one called “Mile Marker 4” that he told me was shut down. Brett said that people kept getting hurt by getting drunk and falling off the edge of a small cliff, so the state blew the hot springs up to keep people from going there. Sheesh, well I guess that one’s gone for good. It seemed to me like there were a lot less hot springs then there used to be and I was allowing that thought to disturb me. Part of why I love Idaho is because of the abundance of natural hot springs. I consoled myself by reminding myself there were still plenty of hot springs available and new ones can always be found.
When we arrived at Zim’s there were no cars in the parking lot and the sign on the door said they were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Angel was upset about this fact and proceeded to give me a lecture about checking to make sure places were open before going to them. Brett and I discussed other options. We looked on line and checked a couple of other public hot springs pools that were within an hours distance. One was also closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other one was expensive and you could only swim for an hour. We decided that swimming today was not an option and we had simply been meant to go on a nice drive to Zim’s and back. Angel didn’t like this one bit and said that we had driven there for no reason. I told her that everything happens for a reason even if you’re not sure what the reason is. She scoffed at that. Then I suggested we stop at A&W in New Meadows for ice cream. Suddenly the reason for the drive became clear to her, ice cream was the reason 😂.
She got a small ice cream but by the time we got back to Donnelly she was hungry again, Brett said he could eat too. I was also hungry but I had my smoothie with me that I could have if I wanted. We discussed what to eat and stopped at a little Asian restaurant in town. Angel ordered noodle soup and I opted out of having my smoothie and ordered a tofu vegetable dish.
We finished eating and arrived back at our pet sitting house. Brett went home and I laid on the front lawn with the dogs and watched the big screen (outside) while Angel played on her phone. I was so peaceful and relaxed, I ended up falling asleep for a half hour. When I woke up, I went inside and decided to see if there was anything decent to watch on the little screen (TV). I chose a movie called Harriet that was excellent. It was based on a true story about a woman that escaped slavery.
When the movie was over, Angel and I walked the dogs to the lake. The beach was almost completely empty now that Labor Day weekend was over. I let the dogs off leash and they had great fun playing in the water. The water was refreshingly cold and I swam a little. Angel built a sand fort and floated around on her floatie. I sat on the beach for a while and watched the big screen. The dogs were running back and forth playing, Angel was building her sand fort and the sun was about to set. In the distance I could see smoke from one of the fires over the top of the mountain. I took a video of Angel and the dogs:
Angel was hungry when we got back to the house. I warmed up her left over noodle soup and served it with bread. I was still full from lunch. My friend Ed called and we talked until it was time for bed. I read Angel a few chapters from The Christmas Pig. She is really enjoying that book and so am I. I turned out the light and we fell asleep around 10 PM.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P.S. this blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.