Saturday, June 25, 2016

.....and then she flew away


A couple of years ago for Mother's Day, Gerry surprised me with these crazy chickens. They have become our constant source of entertainment and they are fitting in nicely here at our new place. They have started following Gerry everywhere he goes, and if he calls them, "come on girls", they come running. Who would have ever thought chickens could be so great.


This year for Fathers Day, I got Gerry two blueberry bushes, and I flew Wesley home from California as a surprise! She could only stay the week but it was a great week. Much too short a visit, but we squeezed a lot in. We went to a local garden store and bought a bunch of flowers for planting, since she has this new love for plants. She went one day and helped me reset a store, since I still had to work some this week. We cooked great meals, watched TV at night, ate popcorn, talked, laughed, cried, she visited her mentor/teacher at her old high school. Her mind is full and many decisions will probably be made in the coming months. She left with promises to be back soon, and I believe she just might be.


We continue to unpack, repair, build shelves, plant, garden, explore, and discover here in our new home. We were so happy to share our new place with Wesley and she will always have a home here with us if she needs/wants it.


We took her out for breakfast this morning and then said goodbye at the airport. Always the hardest thing, but at least I have stopped crying every time she leaves! I don't have a lot of photos, I tried to refrain from pointing the camera at her constantly. Poor girl, thats how she grew up.

I am in awe of my child. She has fears and anxiety, she is seeking her path, but she moves on bravely and with strength in her heart. Some days her face is so full of her doubts, but it still shines so bright. I hope her journey though this life will be easier as she finds herself and finds the thing that will fit with her many talents.  My brave beautiful girl..... I do love that child!

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Home, at last

 We are slowly settling in to our new house. This past six months have been something of a blur for me. This was a hard won house, but worth every sleepless night, every tear, every angry outburst. Its our home. This is the first house I have lived in that has felt like me. Other houses we have lived in have been nice enough, but they never fit me. This one fits like an old pair of favorite jeans. Gerry and I have been a united force, battling everything that got thrown at us, and basically just holding each other up through it all. Amazingly, we never had one argument. We just fought the good fight for what we wanted.


This is my view as I pull out of the driveway. Our neighbor across the street, with their geese and their horses and a beautiful little pond.


 I found this Roy Rogers print in an antique store the other day. He was my hero growing up. I got up every Saturday morning and rode my broomstick horse into the den to watch his show, while my mom slept and my dad was who know where....  I didn't realize how connected I felt to western things until I started to unpack all my books. So many books about the west, Native Americans, ghost towns, decorating books by Mary Emmerling. I love the west, the way it used to be in the old spaghetti westerns.


 Gerry found this old wash stand in the woods, the previous owner left all this tack hanging in the barn.  I love finding treasure!


This is my new friend, my neighbor.  I can't remember her name, but she greets me every evening when I walk down the drive to get the mail.


I brought out some old friends. My barns are fitting in nicely here.


The other day, after a long day of unpacking and moving things around, I sat down in this chair in this beautiful sunlight and actually read a chapter in a book. When was the last time I did something so restful? It felt amazing, just sitting there and reading. This is the house we will retire in. One day, my days will be filled with sitting and reading. What a day that will be!


Gerry's drums have been packed away for years. We made a music room out of one of the upstairs bedrooms. Wesley's keyboard, guitars, amps, and many drums. Finally room for all of our toys!


I have my loom set up, slowly hauling crates and crates of books upstairs. Yesterday I worked on unpacking art supplies. More old friends....


The kitchen is an absolute joy to cook in. The gas stove cooks better than any I have ever had, the space is small but efficient, and I love cooking in it. We are working in the yard and house every hour that we have beyond our other work, and we stop around 8pm to grab a quick dinner, watch a little Netflix and then collapse in bed. A good kind of tired, finally.


Yesterday I washed all of our sheets and hung them on the line to dry. Is there anything better than crawling into bed at night with the smell of line dried sheets? I looked out from the back porch at the scene. Sheets blowing gently with the breeze, Gerry planting sweet peppers and blueberry bushes that I got him for Father's Day, the chickens following our new rooster around, the cat lounging on the steps, the faint sound of a horse whinny in the distance, and all was right with my world. At last.


We have a start on a garden. Gerry has worked to do some repairs on the raised beds. We got some tomato and pepper starts in the ground and planted some basil and some flowers. Nothing too ambitious, it is mid June, after all. Wait.... where did summer go so fast!?


The chickens love their new coop, perks of working for a company that sell buildings. I got a sweet deal on this one.


I need some rockers for the front porch, for days when there are no more boxes to unpack.
I realized last night as I sat out in the yard, that I am happy. I haven't been happy in a very long time. The sadness of Wesley's move to California, the stress of selling our house, trying to buy three other houses that we lost, finally finding this house, then almost losing it. Having a new, very difficult job. Its taken its toll. I suffered health problems from it all and I'm sure there was some depression there. But there was no time to wallow in it, just get up, and soldier on. This was the reward for all of it. The bright light at the end of the dark tunnel I wandered in for almost a year. This is a new beginning. This is good

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Epic move


It's hard to believe I am actually saying this, but we have moved and are settling in to our new home! Whew, this was one hard earned house. We started this process with the listing of our old house back in October, and tomorrow the final papers will be signed. Funds have been transferred from the sale of our old house and we close on the new one tomorrow. The seller was kind enough to let us move in this weekend prior to closing. So we packed up on Thursday and here we are. For the first time, last night we walked around in the yard and accepted the fact that this is our new house, and we are in utter disbelief that it has finally happened!


We hired Two Men and a Truck to move us. This is the third time this company has moved us and its always a pleasure. Their staff is professional, friendly and for us they have always been funny and seem to really enjoy what they are doing. It makes things so much better when people are handling your grandmother's heirlooms if you feel like they care. And they are pretty affordable.


I didn't even have to take my loom apart, they just wrapped it and handled it with care, and it arrived all in one piece.


I walked into our empty house for the last time and my heart began to beat a little faster. So many memories in this house, but it was really time to go. There were no tears, just a little lump in my throat and then it was gone.


 I have moved with a one year old, I have moved with two dogs, a bird and this cat in my car, I have moved in a tiny Volkswagon, but moving with this cat is the worst. She howls the entire time. Sometimes she craps, sometimes she vomits, sometimes she does both. I have tried putting her in a carrier, in a box, and this time I just put a milk crate over her in the front seat. And she proceeded to get her head stuck while she howled. If you saw my instagram, you know what I'm talking about!


I finally got her unstuck and let her just roam around in the car. All the while going 65 mph down I40.
She is about 16 years old, and I was afraid she might have a heart attack or something. But she survived and has explored every inch of the house. She seems content.


We went back for the chickens the next day because the coop I ordered from my company hasn't arrived yet, and we left them in their old coop for one more day. This is also epic, moving chickens, although they handled it better than the cat. Until we got to our new house and they met the neighbor's rooster, who apparently thinks he lives with us....


This is a pretty cool rooster. Our chicks freaked out when we let them out of the car. He didn't really attack them, but he wanted to get to know them, if you know what I'm saying. Etta, my more docile chicken, kinda the mother hen, is smitten. She thinks he's her boyfriend. He comes around here at 6am and starts cock a doodling. I hated this at our old house with the mean old rooster that lived next door, but for some reason I don't mind this guy. I got up, fixed myself a cup of tea, and went out in the yard to watch our chickens figure this out. He is like a border collie with some sheep. He herds them around but in a gentle way. He isn't aggressive and seems to really think this is his job, to look after my girls. Its so fun to sit on the porch and watch this.

I feel very blessed, relieved, exhausted, and I wish more than anything that Wesley was here to enjoy this with us. This house is amazing and I still can't believe it is ours. I'l post some fotos once I get some made. We have unpacked about a third of our stuff. Today we tackle the pod, ugh.....
But we are home at last.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Its Happening....


Today is my 31st anniversary. Gerry and I have been on a long crazy journey together and today is probably the craziest anniversary to date. We used to go on vacation every June 1. Then we had Wesley and had to wait for school to get out. Last year we spent our vacation in the mountains in a log cabin rental.

Today we are packing up our cars and taking some stuff to our own log cabin, our new house. We haven't closed yet, can't stay there but the seller is allowing us to move stuff in. We close next week. Our old house closes tomorrow. Its happening people. Two days ago we weren't sure when we would get to start moving and then I got home from work early today and Gerry was loading up the car.

Here we go!!!!