I just finished a novel in which the protagonist is on vacation with his girlfriend and neither he nor she are enjoying the leisurely pace, nor the absence of work, yet they promised each other that they would not slink into any work projects. They would force themselves to relax. Our protagonist hates doing nothing and sure enough, eventually, without sharing anything with his girlfriend, he gets involved with a serious work task. On the sly. Or at least without admitting as much to his GF. In the meantime, she does the exact same thing. And so rather than relaxing on the beach, they both lose themselves to their beloved work, though they avoid admitting this, slipping stealthily into their domains without so much as a whisper about what is really taking place.
I thought of that just now as Ed and I spend the midday completely absorbed in our very separate projects, not really talking about them, but losing ourselves into that which excites us, only it excites us separately. He doesn't like my project, I don't especially like his. Mine is travel, his is sailing. He is consumed by it right now and I have to admit, I'm pretty consumed by mine as well.
What we share is the comfortable knowledge that we are so not on the same platform, yet we enjoy a real intimacy, being different, but very close to each other. Weird how it all works out so well in the end!
One other notable difference is that Ed is solidly in his weird sleep cycle right now. At least weird in my book. He sleeps so late that I have given up eating breakfast with him. Sure, he tells me to wake him. But my gentle noise making downstairs (eg running the vacuum today) gets me nowhere, so I conclude he must really need the sleep. Likely he stayed up till past 4 last night looking at sailing charts. So, I eat my meal and then eventually he eats his, sort of together, but not in the way we are used to. Old dogs must indeed learn new tricks to survive in peace!
Outside? Well, a bit warmer, but still not tempting. My energies are a little lower than usual and I resist going for a longer hike. I almost think that my feeding of the animals should be enough for one day...
(just about every bloom you see in this photo is from annuals that have overgrown the tubs: in the Fall, they are truly our best flowering friends!)
... but Ed correctly reminds me that we have been rather physically lazy lately and that can't be good. We walk in the park. Briefly.
(We love to ride the motorcycle on the return very slowly; cars pass us, we toddle along, admiring all that is around us...)
In the evening the young family comes for dinner. This routine -- of Sunday dinners at the farmhouse -- has been disrupted a lot in the past weeks, but today it fits well enough into everyone's schedule and so we eat and it is lovely, because being with them is always lovely.
(someone got a hair cut!)
(big sister did not: big sister wants to grow her hair out, super long!)
(but little brother gut a trim! first one! in preparation for a big day tomorrow!)
(dinner; Ed's out hustling cheepers into the coop...)
And in the later evening? Well, I'm sure eventually Ed will lose himself in his project. I'm done for now. I get to put my feet up and relax! Like the protagonist in the book, I have completed and finessed my idea. Now I'll let Ed work on his. On the side. Until he has his own details worked out and is ready to rejoin me in our evening routines.
With love...
