Summmmmmmmer

Time does seem to go slower here in South Dakota, but I have begun to embrace that fact, rather than fight it. It's hard not to feel like a broken record when I look back on what I write on here, but I guess that speaks to the nature of life. We battle the same things always, just in different forms. A cynic would see that as discouraging, but as an eternal optimist I look at it as the only way we can truely improve.

A few things that have happened in the Hensel life:

1. Mama Hensel has made the final move to South Dakota, for good this time. She has already brightened the household. My dad said to me the night before she had to come, It's been a long year and a half. He is too ready for her to get here. Ironically, he was in DC during her arrival but will be back tomorrow.

2. We are embracing teh South Dakota landscape. On Wednesday we are going to rough it at a cabin near where Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up during her writing of the "The Long Winter" (a book we have decided to do a family read-aloud with. This cabin has an outdoor bathroom and you bring your own food to cook, so Mama said "We will be going out to eat." True Hensel fashion.

3. We are also going to get into the World Cup. My first team is Argentina, I think we are picking more. I also have to cook a traditional Argentinian dinner...

4. I've been reading! Go, Ellen. I have dove into three books, I Know This Much is True, a Ya-Ya sisterhood book and the companion to A Wrinkle In Time. I'm only in the beginning for all three, but I like them so far.

So that's Ellen life, for the thousands who care. Alert the presses!

P.S. Here's a pic of my fave spot in Vermillion. On my runs I like to go there for a much deserved break.