A MOST ENJOYABLE DAY

Mike likes to be methodical in all things. He likes to finish a task once he starts it, he stops his evening reading at the end of a chapter, and at the end of the year he likes his cycling miles to be at some round number. It should come as no surprise, then, that he wanted to bring the year to an end with his geocache total at 700 instead of 693 – or whatever. So, after breakfast this morning we set out for Moscow to gain those last few caches and meet or surpass 700. Just as we were leaving the house, Hallie called to say she and Nick expect to arrive in time for supper Wednesday evening.

When we were in Denver, Kelly loaned us two "Playaway" audio books. I guess you'd describe them as books on MP3 players. Each unit contains one book and is individual, having batteries and headphones, but we wanted to share the contents. So Mike bought a cord for the auxiliary outlet in the Magnum so that we could play them through the car speakers instead of the headphones, and today as we traveled we listened to "Letters of a Woman Homesteader," written by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Between 1909 and 1913, Mrs. Stewart wrote letters to a previous employer telling of her homesteading experiences in Wyoming. I recognized the scenario immediately as the movie, Heartland, released in 1979, and starring Rip Torn and Conchata Ferrell. I recommend the book and the movie.

The plan for the day was to geocache, shop at Winco, and stop briefly at Aunt Chris and Uncle Dan's to leave a jar of elderberry jam. We spent the morning geocaching and at noon went in search of a Subway. We had no idea where to look for it, but as we were moving toward Main on the Troy Highway, I suddenly spotted the shop. And who should we find there but Aunt Chris and Uncle Dan, who said they usually don't eat Sunday lunch at Subway. So, we sat and visited as we ate lunch. It always feels so good when things fall together like that.

It was especially important to see Chris since she has twice appeared at my doorway with wonderful things from her sewing room. Last week it was the hook book, but last Christmas she surprised me with holiday pillowslips. I have waited nearly a year to put them on our bed, and the magical date arrived yesterday. I knew they would look good with the quilt which was the gift of our contractor when he finished the farmhouse. His wife is a quilter.

We had just two caches to find after lunch – both at the University – one at the arboretum and the other at the observatorium. Did you know the U-I has an observatorium? We didn't. Then we went on to Winco. It was very busy there and shopping was really quite difficult. Turning onto the quieter cleaning supplies aisle, who should I find there but Aunt Joni and Uncle Pat. We visited briefly, said we were looking forward to seeing each other Thanksgiving and then went on our separate ways.

We were home before dark, pleasantly tired and looking forward to a hot meal and an evening of watching football. KW