Self Employed Again

In another time I would be stuck in traffic at the hour I write this. Instead I get to watch the snow drift like so many internet Christmas cards, gently from tree to ground. They are not snowflakes but little pods of flakes not socially distancing but getting together to bring beauty and joy to my morning.

I sip my coffee as the sun touches a branch, a tree, a flower. As I sip the sky turns blue. How I love snow on trees against a blue sky.

I have friends awaiting the results of their covid19 test. Isolated in their home. I have friends recovering from this incredibly painful, life threatening, disease.

This morning an unexpected snow has let me have a few moments of reflection I otherwise would not have had.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LMHT16L?_encoding=UTF8&linkCode=ib1&tag=myblogs22-20&linkId=5fdb1372cd95738584debd0eb331a00e&ref_=ihub_oih-asin_B08LMHT16L">Under Armour Boys' Rival Fleece Joggers</a>

It has been a week or so since we ventured out but supplies are getting low and some pickups for friends are also on the schedule. What better day than a rainy winstorm day to venture into lines at Trader Joe’s and Costco. People are wearing masks and keeping distance. We have become adaptable and patient.

We have often thought of moving to the Portland area. Not just because we love it, but for many reasons.

1. I do a lot of judging of horse shows up that way for people I really like working with. Would shorten my drive from two hours.
2. Our children, my brother, and Connecticut friends, can take the train instead of having to drive, and my family loves trains. Perhaps we would see them more?
3. We go up there a lot on vacation. So why not live there?
4. I am a fatalist and believe things happen for a reason. With all that has happened in the past few weeks, it seems the fates have a plan, and I must listen.

Why we haven’t done anything about it before?

1. We live in an amazing town, with great neighbors, and loved our quiet corner of the world, out in the woods, but that is fast disappearing, time to move further out.
2. I had a job, remember, that is what started this whole blog. Now, there isn’t a job to tie me down.
3. We had three horses and moving them would be a pain. Unfortunately, we lost our old boy to a heart attack a few months ago. Now we have two, and a two horse trailer.
4. My husband is semi retired and he didn’t think the time was right. He seems to have changed his mind.
5. We have to get the house ready to sell. I hate selling houses.
6. Lazy? Scared? No job? Two of those I can overcome. The other, well will get on that.

So, here we go, another chapter. Might not transpire for a year, especially given the current circumstances. But you know what…Onward and Upward, and in this case it means UP north.

It often distresses me when FB posts “7 years ago today”, or whatever year and photo they randomly think might be a good one for me to see. Given the nature of the photos I post, it is usually one of my favorite, four legged, furry companions, no longer here.

Thankfully, my parents passed away before the age of cell phones, (my father would have loved the camera aspect) and FB. My mother, always hated having her picture taken. Neither of them will show up in my FB feed. There is a smiling photo of my father at my desk to keep me looking to the future and maintaining my optimism.

As my brother would say; “I digress”.

Today is April Fool’s Day and such a joke we are living in so many ways. This April Fool’s has me looking back and relishing the trip. Nine years ago saw me starting a new job. The one I no longer have. My husband and I had just moved into our little dream home, where my writing is now done.

Dogs have come and some sadly gone. Cat and horse have gone. Wonderful new neighbors and friends have joined the journey. My perfect children (note photo last post) are; well, perfect and there is a grandson. Also perfect.

We are all in quarantine. Hard for my husband. Heaven for me. Except for the family visitation aspect.

Stay well. Stay away (6 ft) and someday with luck, we can say “I survived”

In the meantime, I will be on the trails (mikicc.wordpress.com) or at my desk in the Summer Cottage, marvelling at this journey that has gotten me here. Onward and Upward.

First draft of novel number one on it’s way to the editor. I am living my dream. To quote a friend; “It is all about being happy discovering our skill and keep going.” Onward and Upward.

This strange new routine, set up by no one but myself, has my internal clock messed up. I can, should I so desire, stay up until One AM listening to a good book. The Virginian and Cumberbatch reading Sherlock Holmes are my latest guilty pleasures. No need to be at work, ready to go in the morning.

There is a pile of clothes in the corner. Dirty jeans, yesterday and the day before’s sweater. Clean shirt, underwear and socks my daily fare. I am not a jammies/sweats person.

Morning shower has gone back to the twice weekly bath or shower of my childhood.

I am here to hear the birds sing. To know that spring is coming because of the constant, song of the Phoebe, who keeps calling, and calling, and calling…..

The grass has a green tinge, though not enough growth for the horses to nibble. What is taking so long for the trees to bud, the flowers to bloom? Hold Hard! it is not yet April! April showers bring MAY flowers. March did come in like a lion. Thank you Covid-19. It does not seem to want to leave like a lamb. Perhaps because I am home, and here to see the anticipated spring dragging its heels, I expect the grey brown of winter to be magically gone. My internal clock needs to be reset. Or is the problem with my internal calendar?

So, it is OK to miss your children, grand children, parents. Better to stay isolated. Pay attention people. And, wash those dried out hands. Moisturize.

The previously mentioned sofa is gone and in place is my desk. It was hard, but time. Books are organized and ready for researching my two novels in the works.

Unfortunately no heat or plumbing but lights and music. Also no internet so I can hide away from the world while social distancing. The view from my desk is of trees, and birds, and horses. Life is what you make it.

I had to share this. What a great tale of a major career change. Perhaps in these troubled times there shall be more of us reassessing our current situations and pursuing our dreams. With luck we will all be better for it. Here is to the Joeys and the Mikis of the world! Onward and Upward

WWW.Coolworks.com/journal/joey/

Hopefully you can get to this site as I had trouble copying the link.

Almost 19 years ago it came to light that my adorable husband had a cousin he had not seen in years, living just North of us. I was soon swept up in her love of Easter. Her small house, crammed with local nephews and nieces and cousins was full of joy and great food. She taught us that you don’t have to be rich, or live in a “fine” house, or have matching Noritake China and Waterford glasses. We grabbed whatever chair was available and pulled it up to her folding dinner table set up in her tiny living room. Flowers abounded as did pastel colours. She decorated note cards with our names as place cards. Each had our name and were festooned with stickers specific to our likes and our personalities.

We then, over wine and amazing hor’s doeuvres, regaled each other with stories relating to each. She and I would kayak together. She loves dogs. Even her Archie who sometimes swiped a snack off the counter and at one time had caused a disaster by jumping up onto the counter and eating a chocolate cake. He survived.

Now, she is in a nursing home. We try to get up to see her as often as we can, but not this month it seems. So, we will write her letters and perhaps make some note cards for her to put in her window. Isolation can be good for those of us out in the woods with our dogs and horses. How lonely to be in lock down in a Nursing home. Take a moment and write a note to someone you love who is sequestered away. Today, my husband’s cousin, his sister, and my grandson shall all be recipients.

I am very goal oriented. Get me out raking leaves and even if the blisters show and the shoulders ache I will finish the square of leaf covered garden to which I committed myself. It is who I am.

However. There is a goal that escapes me continuosly, no matter how hard I try to achieve. There is in my mind NOTHING harder than writing the “perfect” query letter and sending it off to a publisher. Like gardening, one hopes that the seed that is sewn grows and prospers. My gardening prowess however is often destroyed by digging dogs.

So, as the first of many letters goes out, let me hope for sunshine, and success. This is a big step for me. Onward and Upward.