I had to buy a new frisbee. After 6 years with my good old yellow one, it finally cracked on my latest trip to Dakar. I gave in and bought a bright orange one. Figure it will be a hard one to miss when it's coming at you. Dad and I tested it out that night. It works pretty well.

My folks bought a canoe. Hopefully Dad and I can go out on Sunday...maybe even do a little fishing. It's green, so we bought blue lifejackets to please my mom.

The other night I was out running and caught the "scent of home". No, I don't mean manure. I mean the sweet smell of Iowa on a cool summer evening with the fragrance of corn and hay fields mingling. And God had flooded the sky with stars that night. He always knows just what we need and when.

I went to my niece's softball game the other evening. It was long...and when I say long, imagine 9 year olds playing softball...including doing the pitching for 1.5 hours. Yeah, now you know what I mean. But it was totally worth it to spend time with my brother and sis-in-law and to watch my niece play. My brother and dad talked on MY phone for a good long while. I suppose that is also worth it...even though it was my minutes they were using. Can't think of a better use of my minutes.

Tomorrow I am going to a piano/cello/vocal recital out at a very small airport far out on the country roads of Iowa. I always feel like a hick when I go...but it is so down-home that I can't help but love it. And who could pass up good music (well, most of it anyhow) out in the country under the stars?

These have been my adventures in Iowa thus far. My life has taken on a whole new pace from when I was in SC. Iowa may not be "home" necessarily anymore...but I think I'm still in love with it. :)