Just back from an exhilarating run in the rain to roll up my car windows (I drove, for once, to work today) before the seats/CDs/miscellaneous stuff inside gets soaked. I am damp and chilly, and my hair is stringy, but, a la Marie Howe, "I am living."

I am also reading like a madwoman - Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, Darryl Tippens' Pilgrim Heart (subject of our current study in Bible class), Holly Kennedy's The Penny Tree (an absolutely wonderful story, which I finished in three days), and still working on French Women for All Seasons. Dipping into poetry books, too, when I get the chance. And blogs, blogs, blogs. I love hearing about everyone's summer doings.

Glenn brought me a lovely hand-painted, wood-burned matrioshka doll from his trip to Russia. (They're the kind that nest - so it's actually five little dolls in one.) And the lovely Sarah sent me a package yesterday with a "reading is sexy" button and an autographed copy of Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible! Thank you, dear friend!

So it's a happy week. I am a happy Katie. :) And J ends his overscheduled sojourn at Cracker Barrel on Friday - YES! Now we can actually spend a little time together this summer (and do premarital counseling, which is, er, kind of important.)

Nearly the end of the workday, so I'm off home to change into dry clothes. I'll end with a quote I saw embroidered on a pillow yesterday: "May your home always be too small to hold all your friends."