one foot in front of the other

As of today, we have been in the state of house chaos for 8 months. Though I can say nearly everything has been accomplished, there is still "a list." Those things that are waiting to be finished. Until then we're in limbo. Can't quite move forward to regain some of our living spaces. The feeling of not being in control is maddening and forces me to look for something I can control.

OK, outside! I made a promise to myself to spend some of every day in April out in the gardens. Though the first two days were cold and too windy to be comfortable,  I had promised. Bit hard on the body but satisfying. As April progressed the weather warmed. Hey, it's too hot for this time of year! And it's dry here in SW Wisconsin. There have been many brush fires in our county, cleanup fires that have gotten out of control. One day last week I smelled smoke on the air and heard sirens in the distance. Not a common sound out here. And a bit of a scare.

Today it's chilly and damp. Not a real rain, but misty. Very grey and for once the air is still. Perhaps a good day for trimming and pruning shrubs, trees?

But that will wait until after lunch. This morning it will be lovely to hang about our new kitchen, baking and assembling dinner in my new dutch oven. 

Come on inside the new kitchen, It started out as our bathroom/laundry room. Since the former kitchen was about half the size of this space, we decided to switch the rooms during our renovation. The old kitchen would become our new laundry room/bathroom.  

Old windows out, new window in. 

                                                  

We actually had to shower in that tub from August to the end of December until our new upstairs bathroom addition was complete. Happy days..... The window you see over the new kitchen sink is the window that you see behind the old shower head. And do you see my dutch oven on the new gas stove in this last photo?? 

My word for 2021 is STRETCH.  I've surprised myself by the multiple ways I've been pushed to put that word into action this year. I marvel at the serendipity of the universe. Just recently Mary Englebreit posted a quote from Audrey Hepburn. "Nothing is impossible. Why the word itself says, I'm possible." Ain't it the truth, friends. 

welcome March

Happy March.  Her tune is contagious. Her lyrics hopeful. Her sun, not so eager to set now,  pulls ever more brilliant hues to the horizon as it dips below. And the twilight lingers and lingers still.

Recent heavy snows are retreating.  My hens explode out their door each morning. Mud makes walking to their house a game of watch your step. So much of the property between our house and theirs is bare ground due to fall's building excavation. We walk on planks and scraps of wood but the chicken yard, too, is mud because we dug a trench to their door to lay an electric line one very mild day last December. 

For me, turning the calendar to March has a power like no other. I'm instantly back in 1976 when I turned the calendar to March and realized the next time I turned a page my life would be altered forever.  This morning, 45 years later, it comes to me so clearly: that optimistic, eager, innocent and ridiculously happy girl I was then. My due date was March 26. Anne arrived 4 days early. 

Earth's population has had a year like no other since last March. In my wee space deconstruction, renovation and reconstruction have brought lack of privacy to Covid isolation and constant chaos where a safe retreat into our private nest should have brought balm. Nearing the end of these there is a very real feeling of moving out of the darkness into this season of light. Soon we "spring forward" and greet the vernal equinox. Sap is already rising here and it feels like something similar is rising within me. 

It feels good. It feels alive. It feels like a blessing.

2021

 

Hello 2021 and a good year wish to each of you. 

We're having our first full sun day today in a very long while, following on the heels of several days and nights of freezing fog. It's been a wonderland but under the influence of old sol and no hint of breeze the frosting is slipping to the snow below. Sunlight on the wall of windows on the new family room is filling the house with warmth and the cats are taking full advantage. 

I have a mental image of a dog coming out of the lake and having a good shake. It's the feeling I feel today. It's time to shake much off that stifles. 

It's time for a word for the new year. Stretch. On every level I hope to put it to practice. 

May 2021 be our best year yet.