Awareness sharpens joy, don’t you think?

Sharp Joy – that’s what I’m feeling!

From “A Presumption of Death: a new Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mystery” by Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy Sayers

The above quote is a discussion between Lord and Lady Peter (Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane Wimsey), in the early days of WWII when Peter has just returned from a very dangerous mission for the Foreign Office. Harriet was living with their 2 young sons, Peter’s sister’s three children, a cook, Bunter (Peter’s valet extraordinaire who had returned earlier) and a housemaid … in their country home having closed up their London house. During Peter’s absence, Harriet did not know where he was or what he was doing (Official Secrets Act) and had very limited ability to communicate … some military address and heavily censored. At this time of the war, Germany was running roughshod over everything and things looked VERY grim for England and the United Kingdom. When Peter returned safely from his mission, it was obviously a huge relief … that is the setting for the 2 lines of their conversation.

I have never had that kind of drama or fear in my life, for which I am very grateful!

But for whatever reason, as I was gathering some photos and thinking about a post, I thought: “sharp joy!”, that is what I am feeling today. Maybe it is awareness … awareness of being in circumstances that I love, despite the weather and fire danger. Being aware that I am so very fortunate to live in a beautiful and comfortable spot with dear Emmett for companionship … while still missing Auggie terribly … but grateful for his place in our lives and all he brought Bear, Emmett and me.

It looks like the financial reorganization will resolve as I hoped … in two weeks. The bank seems certain and banks are given to being conservative, so while “not counting my chickens”, I am feeling that I will not need to sell and move into the motorhome. And while a motorhome adventure was/is not undesirable, there is a part of me that does not want to do that right now: heat, fires, general upheaval in routine and some motorhome maintenance needed. So, I am cautiously optimistic that things will resolve to give me some breathing room to stay in this house.

And the Jeep has new tires!!! Minor, but it has been one of those “back of the mind” things that I am so happy is done!

So … awareness that things are on the way to resolution after nearly 2 months of great uncertainty! Probably :)

Meanwhile …

It doesn’t look great and “slight chance of rain” on Wednesday … there was a slight chance 3 days last week and we got nary a drop! It is scary dry and we move to Stage II fire restrictions tomorrow (I think this should have happened weeks ago!!)

You can barely see a mountain shape through the smoke. BUT, it is not as smoky as some mornings … the sun looks like the sun vs an orange-red blob. And don’t be fooled … the woods looks pretty in the photo, but the reality is there is a lot of dead and dying vegetation. The paths are dried hard and dusty.

The fuchsia are not really “cut flower” things, but the baskets have such an abundance of blooms, that I have been doing some thinning. I hate throwing the gorgeous blossoms away, so … a bit of pretty for my kitchen island.

It is exhausting: walks, games of fetch, playing in the hose :)

Despite the fact that they are not aesthetically pleasing and a bit noisy, I am so grateful that the 3 roll around behemoth A/C units keep this little house comfortably cool.

But, I have 2 little fans for helper air. Both are USB powered, one is rechargeable…

Above is the rechargeable fan. It has a reservoir for water and ice cubes, then the fan blows a cool mist. I use it in the bedroom and on my desk. It is quiet compared to my floor fans and big A/C units so is perfect for when I am in a work meeting and also at night, if it feels stuffy-warm but I don’t want the noise of the big unit. There are lots of small fan options which I found via some of the RV YouTubers I follow. And I am a huge fan of rechargeable USB things.

The final contributor to the “awareness that sharpens joy” … the first tomato starting to ripen! There are a LOT of baby tomatoes on all of the plants. And lots of peppers: jalapeno AND bell. The rest of the herbs and flowers are all doing well. I am just thrilled and am having so much fun taking care of things and enjoying all. So far, no critter or deer damage.

Despite the heat and smoke and fire-scary factor, it has been a lovely weekend.

Sharp Joy!!