December 12th

After bouncing around such weighty issues as candles and stoves and food prep and who knows what else, Ed and I have reached a new, wonderful level of calm and quiet understanding. And love. It's always like that, isn't it? When you get into a tailspin, you either perish or come out stronger. We've always chosen to hang on and ride out the turbulence and it has always (knock on wood) served us well. We are older and wiser and we know what's at stake! 

No, the stove issue is not resolved. No, I'm not lighting anymore candles this year or next. No, I'm not changing my cooking methods. Nonetheless, we are happily putting all that aside for now and focusing on other stuff. Like the fact that it is the middle of December, and the sun is out, and our house is so softly warm -- not too hot, not too cold, just perfect. 

My travel turbulence remains on high alert, however. I am considering a major change to a forthcoming trip and I honestly stayed up most of the night trying to figure out how to accomplish it. (It's complicated!!) I'm beginning to think that I spend more time on travel planning and rearranging than I do on the actual travel itself! I am always happy that I start in early, many many months in advance of a trip, because I do nab good airfares that way. But then I get inspired to move things around and from that base the trip wiggles and shifts and morphs into something else. This has been the pattern, and it is one I deeply like.

All this talk of cooking and traveling has really deprived me of needed sleep, so once again I'm not exactly high energy in the morning. (Usually this is my most productive set of hours.) I walk to feed the animals, noting that the feeding station had been disturbed at night, so once again we are on predator alert. 

Chickens in the barn, five cats in the sheep shed, one cat on the porch, one cat at the farmhouse. Done.

Then I cook up a breakfast for Ed and myself. He's working again at the machine shop today, learning some new technology or other. It's a filling and nourishing morning meal today, for the both of us.

There followed the tumult of redesign (of a trip) and very quickly it was noon and I realized my movement for the day had amounted to me moving my fingers across a computer keyboard and nothing more than that.

So I walk. Reluctantly. We're at freezing once again. The silver lining? Brilliant sunshine. Now, if only there'd be snow on the ground...

And in the afternoon, I pick up the kids, 

... but we do something different: we pick up some cookies at Clasen's... 

... and take them over to my mother's place. I think she has been lusting for chocolate covered gingerbread. Mission accomplished!

Evening: a cat fight outside, total peace inside. I have yet to figure out how to prevent these occasional feline skirmishes. I step outside, I shout a few obscenities at them, eventually the night calm is there, for all of us.