Things I’ve learned or remembered these past two days:
Poison ivy is fact of life. Recognize it, avoid it, or deal with it.
People who are poisonous or who make you itchy are a fact of life. Recognize them, avoid them, or learn to deal with them.
The ones who look tough are usually big squishy marshmallows.
The ones who look like the work will do them in are usually ninjas in disguise.
Hunger IS the best sauce.
Hard work can be great fun.
Good weather is relative.
Glow worms are weird, but in a good way.
A flicker feather is a jaunty addition to any ensemble, especially jeans and a sweatshirt.
The 3AM potty break and clog dancing class was really only the potty break.
I miss the people I love so much when the stars are achingly beautiful and they are not here to share them with me.
After twelve hours you no longer smell the aroma of wood smoke (in your hair, on your clothes).
Seventh graders, both boys and girls, love to scream.
Seventh graders, both boys and girls, say the most inadvertently hilarious things.
A good joke is really funny when you are really tired.
Here is to stars and laughter and good friends and excellent colleagues and that delicious shower I am going to take on Friday.
Living on the Lip of Insanity 
Amen.
And I got my butt (or at least my toes) kicked by poison ivy recently, years after developing some weird immunity to it.
Getting older not always so nice, but not always so bad, either.
I enjoy your words. Hope they keep coming.
~M
I feel like I’ve been away from here a long time. I have to get back.
On Saturday the garden was breathtakingly beautiful. The light on the maple tree in the neighbor’s yard, our nearest neighbor’s shed looking all cedar-y, the zinnias in full bloom, and the hardy zucchini issuing forth joyous fruit. I grabbed some picture – and now I have to write about it – the garden in October, as we cross another spoke on the wheel of the year.
Good to see you here. Sorry about the ivy itch. It was EVERYWHERE on the seventh grade trip and we miraculously avoided it.