In the last 24 hours I drove nearly 500 miles to and from southern CO. I went to Westcliffe to do a grant writing presentation at one of the local councils in the literacy organization I'm working in at the moment. I went down last night and spent the night in Pueblo because I didn't want to drive through crazy traffic first thing in the morning. Today on the way back I took the long way home---through Cotopaxi, Salida, Buena Vista, Leadville, Minturn... all those wonderful little mining towns. They have such character--if I'd had time I would've stopped and walked around--but it was really hot driving home, and walking around in the sun wasn't something I was really wanting to do. I did get some wonderful photos of the scenery--mostly as I was driving (Funny Laurie will relate to this---I think I frighten her when I do that on the way to our cropping retreats). I did pull over quite a bit and look at the scenery--unbelievably beautiful. It was a long ride home (nearly six hours) but very much worth it.

After this weekend I am done with big commitments for a little while. It's been non-stop for quite a few weeks now, and I'm ready for some down time. Although even when it's down time at home, I am working on the literacy conference for 2011--emailing authors/speakers, etc.. It takes a lot of time-- and I seem to be spending a lot of my free time doing it. A lot. I think I need to just dedicate certain days/times to the work, instead of whenever I have free time at home. What happens is then I have no free time at home and I get burned out on doing the work instead of enjoying it. I also have three library books I need to get read before too long-- see... no free time!