joys and hardships of a paper gal

i'm starting my day with a giant navel orange.  the pleasure of a juicy orange is unspeakable.  the deep orangeness of it, the sweetness, the brightness.  i love you orange.  you are the joy of deep dark winters.

not that today is dark.  it's bright too.  the morning light of today is filling my bedroom with a glow. i love lazy saturday mornings like this.  sunfilled room, orange scented thumbs, soft bed and groovy music floating out of lil' lappy.  there is promise in mornings like these.

when i got up this morning (7ish) my hair fell around my face bringing with it the perfume of outside.  you know that smell if you dry your clothes outside?  that smell.  that glorious sweet perfume.  my hair is full of it.  my hair has soaked it up like a sponge and is now squishing it into my breathing space.  

my hair got filled up with the outside yesterday when i was doing my paper route.  it was a gorgeous afternoon.  when i started out, i was wearing  a zippy but before i even got out of the school parking lot it was spitting rain, so i had to cover the papers up with my zippypippy.  it was a short shower.  the kind that has you looking for rainbows. sure enough i found one and i smiled at it.  that was the last of the rain.  the rest of the day was bright and blowsy. blowsy is a word i just made up.  i had my ipod shuffle, listening to the music and general conference talks that have been on that thing since at least 2009.  i can't update it without losing what i have and i love what i have so it's a time capsule of listening pleasure to me.  the sun was shining golden and low, and the air was light and occasionally gusty, whipping my hair into wild and ferocious war whoops on the wind.  i saw an immature eagle spiraling on the same wind drafts, i saw v's upon v's of snow geese flying low and lit up golden against the blue, honking overhead.  i saw flowers--mostly snow drops, but pansies too and a green white flower that i don't know.  when my cart got lighter, my zippy draped over the handle acted like a sail and the wicked wind sent me chasing after it.  there is a beautiful big tree in a spacious side yard with a swing on it.  there's a pair of ducks that live in the watery ditch by the towering wooden house.  there are neat and tidy houses, slovenly neglected houses and all in between.  i note them as i go thinking about the people who live there, what kind of people they are and what stories they may have.  

after an hour has gone by my feet start to complain.  yesterday it took me around 2 and a half hours.  i shaved a half hour off and felt quite proud of myself.  it's not until i'm home and my shoes are off that i fully feel the complaints of my body.  until that moment i don't really realize that i am chilled like a side of beef in a meet locker.  it's not until i try walking around the house that i realize my feet would rather i didn't.  ever again.  well it's really my ankles that are so so sore and the bones on the tops of my feet feel like they will crush to powder with any more pressure.  my lower back is stiff and my butt, well my butt feels....chafed.  my left knee is twingey and thick.  this is middle age.

i had a hot shower and slipped under my covers to watch elementary and catch up on some scrabble games.  by 8ish it became clear that i was going to sleep, so i did.  

i know it's kind of strange for me to have a paper route.  it's not like you make tons money from a paper route.  in fact, i think it's around 87 big bucks a month.  i don't really know why i'm doing it except that i think it helps me get out of my rutsville and that feels right.

1st day, a week ago

wind blown

sun streaming