Life is Great

Did you miss me? I certainly missed you. No, I didn't catch Corona, or anything else for that matter. I have just been enjoying life. I really do appreciate all the messages and texts from ya'll. One particular message asked if I was okay, because I "was silent". Huh, I am not usually accused of that.

I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since my last post. Where does the time fly? Most days I don't even know what day it is. If it wasn't for the calendar app on my iPhone I would still be clueless. So much has taken place. Nothing that moves mountains or would be the next reality TV show but non-the-less exciting to me.

In a nutshell, I have been using all this free time wisely. Hope you have been also. I have taken pictures of everything, every day hoping to write about it that evening. But because I have a disease called All Or Nothing, I have been way too exhausted. I don't pace myself.

You know that chore list I wrote about a while ago, the one that is posted on my fridge and above my computer that I had ignored for so long? Well, I have been trying to stick to it, as well as work on the master list with un-tackled projects. Our yard is looking great and the house has been clean for 3 weeks now, a record.

I won't overload you with pics in this post like I did on another one. But today I worked on making tomato racks. Two years ago the ones I made were too short and fell apart before the end of the season. I think I over compensated this time. I have three of four done.

They are a little over 5 feet tall and hopefully rugged. I repurposed small trees I cleared from another part of the yard I am turning into a memorial garden, aka, a pet cemetery, not the Stephen King kind. Another ongoing project.

For now, here are my tomato racks, minus one. This is where the salad garden will be, just one of the many projects that has stripped me of all strength each day. Sun up to sun down shoveling, digging, moving bricks, rock, brush. Now, if only the winter would let go so we can plant. We have snow in the forecast again this weekend.

If all that work wasn't enough. I have been cooking up a storm, again taking pictures so I can post Foody Friday recipes. Maybe tomorrow I will post a good one for you. I love taking pictures of my creations, from food to piles of manure I just filled around a tree. It's all beauty to me.

I have also been a slave driver. I have a honey-do list for, well, Hubby. He at least gets to use the "Tonka" toy. Thanks to a dear friend, Randy for letting us borrow his tractor, Hubby gets to play making the work not so hard. Here he is working on the driveway.

Grass keeps growing in front of the garage doors. In years we would dig it up by hand and shovel stone back in its place hauling it from around the corner by wheel barrow. Very time and labor intensive. Keep in mind, that is exactly what I did for the walk-way before the tractor came. This material will pack hard and the landscaping cloth we placed underneath should ward off the grass for a few years.

All this work has done wonders for my insomnia and my thick middle as well this the unknown flap on my tricep that resembles a half filled water balloon. Also it has kept my mind off Corona. I find I have better days mentally if I don't feast on hours of news. I can't change what is going on and taking in so much doom and gloom was wearing on me. So I decided to check updates only for a brief moment once somewhere in the middle of the day. That way I don't start the day climbing out of a mental road block or go to bed with the latest depressing story. Because all in all, life is great.

Right before sitting down to finally touch base with you all, I went to the shore to take in yet another beautiful sunset. For years we never took the time to enjoy the blessings we have right here. We were always too busy with, work, kids, life. Then several years ago we began starting and ending as many days as possible with a trip to the shore - a mere 100 feet from the house.

How can one have a bad day when it starts like this

Sunrise on Cold Stream Pond, Lowell, Maine.

Or,

when it ends like this?

Then, while I was writing this, I could see the sunset morph into a brilliant pink that highlighted Katahdin's profiles. By the time I took the pic below, the sun burned through the pink setting fire to the horizon. Just gorgeous. Then it was gone.

Sorry the photo is grainy - I had to zoom in for dramatic effect.

Hope you all are well. If you are stuck in a place where it is hard to find such beauty around, just take a few minutes and pop here any time. I am happy to share with you.

Have a great night, until next time.

Emily

PS - I forgot to mention, I have some very exciting news coming. That's all I can say for now.