Nancy Bartholomew

Back in the day, before kids, before major responsibility came my way, I would squirrel away all my vacation days and take 2 long weeks off to "Evaluate my Life."  I had a 20 year plan.  Really.  With goals that could be measured by the month, the year, five years on up to 20 years.

I did not take into account the wisdom that comes with time and age.

This probably explains why I don't have a house in L.A (Lower Alabama a.k.a Panama City Beach, Florida) with a private landing strip for my own airplane.  Thank God for that!

The first week of my 2 week retreat, I would spend frying myself to a cinder on the beach and drinking wine spritzers on the roof-top deck of my boss's beach house.  But the second week signalled the time of introspection and reevaluation.  I had goals for everything- my career, my personal life, my friendships.  No stone was left unturned.

This week away, up here at the cabin, felt like a miniature version of those old escapes.  I still have goals.  I still reappraise them and evaluate my progress, just not with the rigidity of my youth.  I was, however, able to hear the sound of my own inner voice again.  I did write- almost 50 pages- of something new. 

But I covet the old days of 2 week chunks.  I love the bliss of this place. The thing that comes with time and age is the knowledge that one day, all too soon, I'll have a lot of time alone.  My boys will be grown, with lives and families of their own.  So the good stuff, the memories and treasures, for now they're at home, in town. 

I'm big on being with my family in the moment, savoring every single bit of that experience and hoarding it for my motherhood retirement.  

That, and the taxes MUST be done... 

 As dawn breaks, so begins the day...

  

 Another rainy day in the holler.

I look at it this way- it's like having a soaker hose everywhere and that's a good thing for the gardens and the surrounding land.  We need this little savings account of water.  Later in the Summer we'll long for a stretch of days like this.  So it's all good.

Maggie wasn't about to miss out on her walk- even if it was drippy wet and cold out.  She insisted.  So this is her before

And this is her apres-walk...

She was worthless the rest of the day...but I've got 25 pages of new book. 

Nine rose bushes, one Echinacea, snapdragons, garlic, shallots- They're all in the ground.  Now, will they thrive? Who knows, but I had a long chat with them about it.  I welcomed them to their new home.  I promised to do my best.  And then, turned my back, hopped in the car and drove back to town.

I'm sure as soon as I left, the deer gave the all-clear signal and came running down off the mountain.  "Supper's ready!" Mama deer yelled.

It was a very productive weekend at the cabin.  We plowed, we hoed, we fenced, we dug- We worked hard.

And once again- We had help.  This time neighbor Joe brought over his tractor and helped level out the new garden area. 

Then we installed the deer fence.

Poor Lovey got so tuckered out, she fell asleep on the job!  Of course, she said she wasn't sleeping, just resting her eyes! But as hard as we worked the Eldest and his Lovey, I wouldn't blame her if she had been sleeping.

As usual, we played hard, too.

At one point, on our way up the mountain to view a possible home site,  we heard noise coming from the old, as yet un-renovated, cabin.  So Lovey and the Eldest went on Security Alert.

Intruders may not know this, but our Lovey is a Force to be Reckoned With and the Eldest is no slouch either...

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(That is NOT a cigarette in his hand, it's a shell casing.)

 By the time the posse was assembled, our mysterious intruder had come and gone- leaving behind an apparently unopened 10 gallon can of paint.

Strange, eh?