The Fiery Quill

I got my hair done yesterday at one of those big city salons. Just the sort of place that one would envision in a cosmopolitan city. European techno music, all stylists in black...you know the sort of place. These salons are like a foreign country to me, complete with customs of their own. I am just enough of a country girl, that I haven't completely absorbed these customs. I am not used to the concept of a shampoo girl, or wearing a robe provided by the salon. My inner redneck didn't know how to handle removing one's clothes and donning a robe for a haircut...What for? All your clothes? The latter custom was the most troubling to me; and I'm pretty sure I came to the wrong conclusion in pondering how to handle this request. As I was sitting under the hairdryer in my little robe, bare (pale) legs crossed.....I was feeling pretty hotsy-totsy. Thought I had this whole sa-lon thing figured out. Then I noticed I was the only client without pants. Mind you I was decent in my...

I recently ran a 10k to benefit Western Washington Habitat for Humanity . It is always satisfying for me to complete a race, especially when I see the fruits of my labor as I run. The mid-point of the race goes through one of the Habitat neighborhoods, right when energy levels are sagging and muscles are hurting. I panted around a bend and up a hill where men and women in hard hats were working towards the completion of a family's dream. I felt a lump in my throat as I considered that unknown family and the little house that would be theirs. Charitible organizations like Habitat, and their events, obviously draw a variety of generous spirits. My favorite such spirit was a cheerful little boy of about seven, complete with impish grin and arm in a cast. This one small boy, for the second year in a row, raised the most money for the Home Run Charity Run/Walk. Last year, he walked into the Habitat office with a jar full of a year's worth of birthday money, allowance, savings. He ev...