It doesn’t always happen in Montana, but this year, the first day of Summer feels like Summer! It is 75F at my house, sunny, blue sky and a light breeze.
Bear and I took a walk along the edge of the loop…the short loop walk. The lupins are blooming, the mountains have snow…happy Bear dog!
First Day of Summer 2011: a Bear’s eye view
My UPS guy, Russ…he and I are both lovers of shorts. Russ has been my UPS guy for 9 years. We have an annual contest: who puts on shorts first and who abandons them last. It is on the honor system, i.e. true confessions!
Russ delivered a package last week in shorts. I was in long pants. It was also the first time Russ and Bear met. Russ loves animals and had tears in his eyes when I had to tell him about Karl. But when he met Bear and heard that story, he just kept saying: “I am so glad for you!” Then he stepped out of his truck, looked me in the eye and said, “It is past the middle of June and you are wearing long pants”…
Yep, I lost this year. He was in his shorts and I was in long pants. RATS!
From the front porch…in long pants.
The Road Home.
It is several days until the official start of Summer, but here in Montana it looks like Spring – the green hay, grasses, trees are still the bright green of Spring versus the mature green of early Summer.
Time.
I am very aware of time. I am aware of how I spend it and of the limited commodity that it is. For almost 26 years I have worked as an independent consultant, paid by the hour. No one sets how many hours I work but me. I have been fortunate to mostly have had the luxury of working as much as I’d care to.
Through the Winter and into Spring as Karl’s condition waxed and waned I had to let go my fierce hold on time and just be there with him at his pace. There was a day when I consciously said to myself, “just let go of the need to control the schedule and just be…the only time that matters is time with he and Bob”.
A funny thing happened when I gave up that tight hold. Everything that needed to be done still got done. I kept my work committments AND made enough money. I ate and obtained supplies.
But, I was sometimes spending what seemed like hours, in the woods with Karl, on slower walks…on more walks. Most days were “normal” until early April but there were times that were not. It is hard to remember exactly now and I don’t want to try. What I do remember is the joy of just being with him and watching him smell the scent on the breeze, roll in the snow, play with a stick, look at me and smile.
I saved those moments. Some are on this blog, some are in my mind and memory. It was an idyllic time of intense awareness.
And now. Everything is different. Bear is here. He is a joy with a happy and generous spirit despite everything being very different for him, too. Bob, Bear and I – we are all adjusting to a new routine, a new schedule, a new way of doing everything. It is both good and challenging, but ultimately, it is “us” – the fambly* Summers – bright with the new growth of a new season: maturing as we grow together.
The Road Home: Green edition.
*fambly…from the Pogo comic strip.
Another cool, rainy day.
The kind of day that makes you want to nap the day away.
Some people did just that.
Rainy day boys.
Dessert for two’s adaptation of ‘Better than sex’ cake recipe has been calling me since she posted it over a week ago. This morning, I said, “Enough!…time for cupcakes” and made the cake recipe as cupcakes with a modification on the topping. The topping calls for making a syrup of pineapple and brown sugar which is added warm over warm cake to be absorbed…then a whipped cream frosting with toasted coconut. Instead, I threw my large, unsweetened coconut flakes in the syrup at the last minute and poured that warm, over warm cupcakes and topped with a dollop of my own whipped cream. My own whipped cream…made with a local (Kalispell Kreamery) dairy’s cream, a bit of sugar free almond syrup and cinnamon.
It all works for me :)!
If there are cupcakes, it must be Friday.
This week has had its challenges.
In the overall scheme of things, nothing earth shattering. But for me, for my life, some tough moments. That is the rub isn’t it… In each of our lives there is “stuff”. For each of us, our own stuff is what contributes to how we treat others, how we react and how we interpret everything that happens in our day(s).
My schedule is extra full – my work schedule, my Bear and Bob schedule, my Karl schedule… emotionally, spiritually, physically – I am pushing my personal envelope.
Then, tonight…the light. 8:30 p.m. An hour before sunset.
The light hit the trees, the woods, the mountains. Perspective changed. The light changed and it made me aware of how beautiful everything in my life is.
Evening light.