Keeping Focused

The early morning walks are the perfect place to start. Especially going to see what, if anything, has progressed on the house.

I love the walk through the meadow from the gym…and the details are changing in the grasses.

I got to visit with two electricians. One tells me that they do not place the dining room ceiling lights until after I move in so he can see where the table is placed. I think that is such a nice idea. He said he will give me a couple of weeks of living there to decide where that table will stay. And we went over again where all the switches go for turning things on in one place and off in another. The dimming switches will be added later depending on which lights I want to be able to turn down. He has a good eye and pointed out that you don’t want a four switch box paired with a three switch box….keep the switch plates even. And how he wanted to realign the heat vent in the ceiling with where he is placing the recessed ceiling light in the foyer…you don’t want a crooked line when you glance up.

The other electrician helped me make sure that upright two by fours were where I needed them to hang heavy pieces and told me about how he helped a lady hang all her African masks in a stairwell. Nice fellows.

I love how the electric wire spool is put on this roller tool to just pull off what is needed.

There is now a shortage of electrical boxes making it hard on builders and electricians. Luckily mine are already here.

And put in place. Now the house is ready for the insulation and drywall (sheet rock).

Another walk to the dam.

And this morning back on a very overflowing river!

I have packed up more boxes in the office and up here in the living room, dining room and some pictures off the walls in a bathroom. Once the things come off the walls I get out my paint and dab at all the holes and scratches that have become exposed.

It isn’t just dust that clings to these things but the memories as well. I don’t dwell, just cover them all up with bubble wrap or paper and then into a box and taped up tight. The dust and memories will still be there when I unwrap them in new surroundings.

I miss writing. I was going to go to a writers’ group this evening but changed my mind. Writing is such a solitary thing, an emotional outlet, a way to fix a thought on a page…a story. I wish I could get back to my short story about a woman alone and the things that give her comfort. I don’t need to share a part of her story with others who may interpret the sharing as asking for suggestions or input as to what happens next. Only the woman knows and she only shares that with me when the time is right. I just miss her and wonder what is happening as she hovers above the page. When all my things are in boxes and there are several cloudy moody days in a row can she and I have that conversation.

What gives me such a good escape right now is the drawing in my house building book. When I thumb through it I can see so much progress on the house. New pages this week.

Last night I had dinner out with friends and then lunch today with two other ones. The leftovers from both meals will become dinner tonight. I will have wine as well, and be glued to the television coverage of the January 6 Committee’s exposure of what truly was a dark time for our country. I watched the Watergate Hearings, the Clarence Thomas confirmation to the Supreme Court that exposed how little the powers that be believe women, the Clinton impeachment process, the two impeachments of a despicable president still pulling strings of the weak….so I will watch this as well. And what strikes me as so obvious is that by far the sorriest behavior lands squarely in the lap of Republicans. Their attraction to greed and power seems limitless….and always at the cost of those less fortunate.

So I am off to pour a glass of wine and think of the moral compasses so many other countries hold dear….

Til later…