Treading water

These are the words that can easily describe our days. I realize that these words have a seemingly negative slant to them, but that is not how they are intended. It is more like we are drifting through our new routines and have yet to find our groove. This is not to say we won't. I see it forming. Little glimpses throughout our day - still off in the distance, but getting closer all the time.
And worrying won't change anything. Patience will. Right?!

This time of year

It is a sentimental time of year for me. Something about the slight dip in temperature and the way the light softens it's blazing summer edges. I find myself reflecting on who I am, what I have done and what I am doing. And also wondering when it is that I will figure these things out.

Ode to a cat named Marshmallow

There is an empty space now. We are still finding white cat hair everywhere, and will most likely be for awhile to come. Our catnip is coming back to life after a summer of being chomped on. And the depression in the garden where she liked to sleep is still visible...kind of like she is just out for a stroll and will reclaim her spot any minute now.
"Plea from a cat named Virtue" by The Weakerthans kind of reminds me in some ways of her.

Light

It's on the move. The light that is. Appearing in different spaces in our home. Showing up not unexpectedly. For this begins the marking of the change of seasons for me....not in the goldenrod and asters coming into their own, not in the smell of warm coffee in the cool mornings, but in the changing of the light. And so begins the the circle of another season. It is upon us.

Lesson learned - again

Take one trip cut short due to a sick pet. Add one freshly cut key that wasn't doing it's job. Multiply by the speed of a storm moving in. Where does this get you? Hmmm. In the middle of a lake in a leaky canoe using Adirondack chair armrests for paddles. Righty-o.

And what lesson was learned? Well, sometimes things don't go as planned. But when you are given the opportunity to get out of town and hang out by a lake, you make the best of things. And what an empowering feeling that is. I am almost glad our day played out in the way it did.
p.s this is a picture from last summer at the very same spot. When things went according to plan.

Love the one you're with

I try. I really do try. But, hmmm, how do I say this without sounding ungrateful? City living is getting me down. And it has for awhile. Yet, here we are....still. We are all healthy. We have a roof over our head and food on our table. I get to earn a living without leaving our home and while raising my girls. But it still feels like a very important part of me is becoming smaller and smaller as each year passes.


I try and stem the flow. I grow a little bit in order to preserve a little bit.
But I want more. I want wide open skies. And quiet nights.
And I want less. I want less to be more.
Yes I do.

On this day....

that finds me back into the everyday routine after two weeks of none. And iPhoto not agreeing with my decision to include pictures in this post. Not to mention the rain clouds that persist and the amount of weeding that is staring me in the face, I am choosing to focus on how happy I feel every time I open my trusty book on Preserving and finding pictures drawn oh so many years ago now by my most favorite middle girl ever.
So, happy Monday my friends.