these quotidian rhythms

oh, they are so altered…

each day i awaken and wonder at what my day will hold,

what new and unexpected turn it may take.

on hold are the days of list-making/achievement-seeking/accomplishment,

and in their place have been days of isolation, dependency, and limitations.

my main focus now is healing,

and i’m doing a rather nice job, methinks.

i’m sitting upstairs at the computer typing this post–

did you get the “upstairs” part?

the home physical therapist coached me on the stairs this week,

and i did it easily.

i must admit, i was excited about that.

it allows me access to my art studio and to my digital photography studio,

so i can resume some creative activity.

the biggest hole in my day is spending time with the horses,

something that will have a wait a bit yet.

physically i have made it out to the pens to give them some lovin’,

but that is on hold temporarily due to weather.

perhaps you’ve heard we’ve had some heavy rains here?

heavy as in ‘wide-spread flooding, road closures,

declared a national disaster area’ rains.

boulder county is an absolute mess,

and longmont was literally a city divided by the raging floodwaters

right through the middle of town.

the road we live on is closed because it is washed out to the north

and to the south of us.

we’re lucky–  our little wonderland is sitting high and dry,

relatively speaking.

muddy, yes, but no standing water.

our biggest inconvenience is that we received the alert to boil all water for

drinking, cooking, and dishwashing.

this makes me glad that i do have someone here with me all the time,

because i’d have a little trouble lugging pots of water between

the sink and the stove.

it’s a helpful side-effect that a solid week of school closures

makes the whole family available to help out.

i do love my peeps.

********

there are a few things i’d like to share,

starting with the surprise laying of subfloor in the barn studio

by my tribe the weekend after i got home.

thank goodness they texted me these images so i could “see” it happen!

yes, i do love my tribe.

you saw the bare bones of the studio,

so here is the subfloor after being carried up:

after the work has begun:

and upon completion:

note that all the random framing for past uses has been cleared out and the floor is wide open!

now, go ahead and squint…

can you picture the french doors straight ahead

to let in vast amounts of natural light and fresh air?

we can.

then comes the spraying of insulation,

some kind of wall board (undecided),

and spray painting the walls and ceilings.

one end is for easel work,

the other end for furniture work.

we’ll build some framed platforms in various sizes

to allow us to elevate pieces of furniture in process.

cool, yes?

apparently the get-well-soonies are doing the job:

i’m raring to go!!

here are a couple shots of rose and me the day i came home

that didn’t make it into the last blog post:

i looked rather like poo that day so i cropped myself out of most of them

and altered the rest.

walking down the drive to the corner of the horse pen i had a little help

getting the horses to stand still enough to take a picture (or perhaps several…)

you can smell the anticipation when they saw the girls heading for the alfalfa field!

although the horses all get along quite well and enjoy each other’s company,

this mother/son pair are perhaps the closest friends among our herd of seven.

what follows is a rather hilarious series on the power of FOOD with horses:

with all due respect, mother, this bunch is clearly meant for ME.

aah, this is equity in action.  we like it.

hey!!!!

** thanks **

ahem.  excuse me?

********

later that evening i wandered out to the baby pen as feeding began.

cormac was the first to come over, despite the disctaction of dinner…

he has the sweetest dispostion–  i think you can see that in his eyes.

mama was watching over the fence.

i think she would have come over if she could have.

then meadbh came over, too.

it was pure delight to feel their soft baby muzzles in my hands again.

once the big horses had been fed, however,

the distraction was just too great and they had to go pace the fenceline

until their dinner arrived.

after this the rains came,

so i missed out on trekking over to the pens for a few days.

yesterday, though, the sun came out!!

i sat out on the deck with sara and looked at shadow patterns on the lawn

for the first time in four days.

and despite an evening shower,

we were blessed with a brilliant golden sunset.

********

today has been a good day.

i’ve done some light housekeeping, cooked my own breakfast,

watered plants, and completed a blog post,

along with a brief trip into town for ice cream and flood surveillance.

in fact, i may just be transitioning back towards accomplishment.

well, who knew?!

and…..

look who got herself upstairs in the barn to check out the new subfloor

in the studio conversion!

yup, definitely kicking it up a notch!

life is good–

thanks for being a part of it!

xoxo