Happy Sunday, friends!

A quick(ish) smatterings today, as the weather is fine and the To Do list is overflowing.

It was a heavy on the work and house side of things week. Four Zooms in two days, which, for me, is a lot, and takes a huge outpouring of creative energy.

The bookcases and ladder are installed in my office at last, the kitchen table arrived, and that’s the end of renovations. Now we just need to hang the curtains, hang the rest of the art, and unpack about 20,000 boxes, and we’ll be done. It’s so easy to let the minor things slide, especially since we’re just plain exhausted with the whole process. With luck, I’ll get the books unpacked this week. They are really taking up too much space in the dining room.

It’s funny, I was so discombobulated when we first moved in. My kitchen seemed alien and difficult; I couldn’t find the right path from office to teapot. Changes in the nighttime routine meant I was forever remembering things I’d forgotten to do (change the cat’s water, arm the alarm) and a new gas fireplace meant I was constantly checking that I’d turned it off. Not being able to use the master bath for a month was a pain, but it too is complete.

Now, a month in, there’s a groove again. A rhythm forming. I moved the silverware and that solved the weird feeling in the kitchen. I swapped my desk direction to face the office doors instead of the window, and now the rug isn’t bunching up and the flow feels better. The cats certainly seem to love this place. They travel through the house on sunbeams, finding warm spots to curl up and snuggle. I think we’re all feeling more settled, and that’s a very good thing.

Now to turn back to a quieter creative life. The new book is percolating. I have a short story to finish. I have time to read again. Christmas cards are ordered, the turkey is in the freezer for our lone Thanksgiving. We are hunkering down, hoping to ride out the storm until the vaccines come. It’s all we can do.

Change is not easy. Change that we choose is tough enough — moving and renovating is high on the list of life’s major stressors. That we’ve all been forced to change our lives, our lifestyles, at once is remarkable. Any time I start feeling frustrated or sad that we can’t do something that in our past life we’d do without a second thought, I remind myself that you, too, are feeling exactly the same, and it truly helps.

And with what turned from a quick note to a blather, onward!

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That’s it from me. Consider adopting a pet from your local shelter, buy yourself some flowers, read a great book, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

Peace and hugs,
J.T.