Change is coming.

Now that I have my medical clearance, the Peace Corps wheels suddenly turn more quickly. Kind of mirrors how winter drags on, and then it seems so suddenly the tulip pips have burst out of the ground, the air smells of fresh earth and the sunshine makes all the difference in the world in warmth and morale.

My placement officer called Friday. I'm still being considered for an African placement, and the program she's looking at would leave in June. I should get my invitation in a week or so.

The biggest surprise: While my HIV volunteer work will come in handy wherever I land, she said, she's actually looking at me for a gardening/community agriculture placement. I'm thrilled ... and slightly intimidated. I know how to play at gardening in my back yard, yet even that never turns out nearly as well as I envision before I start planting. Who am I to teach anyone about cultivating an entirely different kind of earth, under a virtually different sun?

In hearing me go on about my fears of agricultural inadequacy, Miz Jill asked if I'd read Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible," about a missionary family who spend a year in the Congo. Strangely, I'd never read it -- despite being a huge Kingsolver fan and this universally acknowledged as her best novel.

"Just remember," Jill said, "if they plant in mounds, follow their lead."

Good advice. If only the Rev. Price had been more willing to learn from those he'd sent himself to "save."

Started the book this weekend and hope to make it last it through the coming week's vacation. It may be a novel, I may not end up in the Congo, but I can already tell that gardening in mounds isn't the only tip I'll get out of this.


Speaking of books ...

Check out my Goodreads page. It's a cool site Miz K turned me on to. You can keep track of the books you've read, write reviews, and see what other people have to say about the books they're reading.

http://www.goodreads.com


It's not too loud, but apparently I'm too old.

If I were as hip as I like to think I am, instead of writing this I'd be dancing to X at Sokol Underground. Tickets $20, venue an hour away, on a Sunday night when I have to work in the morning ...

Back in the day this was one of my favorite bands, Exene my squeaky wailing heroine. I've never had the opportunity to see them.

Who have I become?

Well, I'd better become someone more focused on selling a house and tying up loose ends. I may have only a couple of months before my next big adventure. ...