Saga, storm, silence

not to go on about the mundane craziness of a water damage renovation, but that saga is drawing to a close, finally. the house still smells like fresh paint, there are still a few light fixtures and two door knobs to install, and most of our possessions are in boxes or are piled in the middle of a room ... but it appears that we (partner and i ) have weathered this storm and are on the other side of an open ceiling  and a leaking bathroom. hooray.
during this chaos, our weather has been remarkably, unseasonably warm, with a few snow commercials (what qualifies as a storm here in neo-con civilized southern ontario).... but apparently there is a bad one coming this weekend, just in time for partner and i to drive into it as we head north to attend a silent sign language winter retreat weekend.
that's where i will be for the next few days. i must say, i am looking forward to the north, to the trees in winter, to the open spaces and sky, and to the silence.
whatever you all are doing to feel your own version of trees, sky and silence,  i hope you dwell in it deeply.

Go ahead.... make my day

Not to glorify Clint or Chrysler, but "the commercial" triggered such a shitstorm  of absurdity that I decided to play around with some intriguing juxtaposed one syllable words.

Clint does the squint

makes a mint

with a hint

says he di'n't

but his stint

winter sprint

still got print

since its glint

had the tint

of flint... 

what's next? a splint?

Missed Opportunity

Yesterday, February 1, was my dry date. 22 years of living clean and sober. Why, you ask, am I making note of it today?? Hmmm??
By some strange gestural quirk I accidentally clicked the minus key on my keyboard,thereby reducing my blog working screens to the size of a postage stamp. Well, maybe not quite that small, but pretty damn close. I then agonized for most of last evening and today ( in the glorious spare time I was able to find) over how this could possibly have happened. I am a grand ignorer of the obvious, apparently. Anyhow, partner graciously assisted me this evening in adjusting the plus key, and ta da, back to workable size. Please, no metaphoric innuendo here.....


....and taking up the theme of glorious spare time ( or inglorious, as the case may be.... and it is, in my case), I have had precious little these past 7-10 days. Sigh. Actually, that should be SIGH (!!). The water damage crisis I wrote about in my last post has been an adventure in consulting, choosing, purchasing, packing up things in the house, and more things and more things..... working with some really neat people, completely surrendering our house and its familiar spaces and arrangements.... but mostly it has allowed me to sit in complete awe of the contractor who is working on our house. And not only him, but the several other fellas who work with him. Amazing. I am fascinated by the craft of this practical intelligence, the ability to see pattern, distinguishing features, systemic coherences, integrated systems..... it's made this whole soggy episode a delight in ways I had not anticipated. So, here's to craft, however it is practiced.

My apologies for the break in visiting and writing. Can't wait to see what you're all up to.  ;)
Namaste.