mountainmelody

Americans work longer hours than people from any other country.

In case you're wondering, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

I don't have anything exciting to share from my trip, but I'm back home now. You can look for scintillating posts in the days to come, I'm sure.

Traffic on 459 was terribly slow again today.

Turns out there was a grass fire on the side of the road, not a mile or two from where the truck burned yesterday.

At least my house didn't burn down.

This morning the fire alarm went off at work. (Supposedly there was a loud "boom" before that, but I didn't hear it.) The fire trucks came, but I guess everything was okay.

Today on my way home from work, a tractor trailer caught fire on the side of the road. I was just a couple of cars back--I came to it several minutes before any police or fire trucks came. It must have just happened.

I sat on the interstate for an hour watching it burn. Flames and smoke were going everywhere--even leaping out across all three lanes of the interstate. At one point there was a large "boom," and more fire.

Here are some pictures from my phone:



I'm just hoping my house doesn't catch on fire tonight. ;)

Nature is the art of God.
-Dante Alighieri

Just more random trivia for you:

Did you know that the average time devoted to dusting has fallen significantly in recent decades?

In my cleaning habits, I'm just trying to keep up with the trend. ;)

I'm in Nashville, but you'll have to take my word for it. I've been too busy to get out and take any pictures, and I don't figure that a photo of the inside of my hotel room is that exciting.

But at least I posted so you'll know I'm alive. (Takes a load off your mind, I know.)

(during a discussion about world hunger)

GA: If I were starving, I might even eat brussel sprouts!

things I don't like about living here
1. dial-up internet
2. dial-up internet
3. dial-up internet
4. driving a million miles to get anywhere
5. wasting my life in traffic while driving a million miles to get to work

things I like about living here
1. peace, quiet
2. beautiful mountains, trees, lake, etc.
3. open space
4. rootedness, heritage, sense of "place"
5. community

I've been meaning to mention an experience I had in DC. At the conference, they mentioned that anyone who was interested could join a choir to sing at the banquet.

Along with a handful of other women, I showed up at the choir rehearsal, which took place right before the banquet. That's when I learned that we'd be singing three songs--two of which I had never heard of.

And from the music I heard, it sure didn't sound like the other women had, either.

Instead of dragging this story out, let me just mention three small things I learned from the experience:

1. 45 minutes is not really long enough for a group of strangers to learn three new full-length songs together.
2. It's not a good idea to perform a song in a concert when you didn't quite get to the second half of it in rehearsal.
3. While "letting the Spirit lead" sounds very spiritual, let's just say you may be led places that the music's composer never imagined.
   

If you knew how long it took to upload this, you'd forgive me for the shaky camera work. :)

Okay, people. I'm having a horrible time uploading stuff tonight. (Hmm, wonder if that has anything to do with my awful dial-up connection?)

So I guess you'll have to wait in suspense one more day, if you can hold out that long.

Hello from on board an airplane!

Wireless internet is a wonderful thing.

Getting to the airport before the sun comes up is not.