Author Archives: Cathrine McLaren

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About Cathrine McLaren

Suburban Mom turned Mountain Woman, I am redefining myself as a happy, healthy, mindful writer. Step one in my journey is to write every day. and now Mountain Woman trying to redefine herself in rural New Jersey. 8/22 starting a new program of weekly writing prompts to tease out both my history and what I want the next chapter to look like.

Delicious Indulgence

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The ability to jump on a creative moment or thought as it arises is something I am so grateful for at this time in my life.  Without the demands of job, family or chores, I can take advantage of those moments of inspiration.  Yesterday as I was cleaning up after a full day of “loose ends” and the image of a photograph of a friend kept coming to mind.  Before I knew it the words of an original children’s story began to form.  In the twenty minutes that I had I quickly dashed to the computer and began typing furiously.  Six hundred words later, I was off to a good start, capturing the tone and pace of the story.  I envision the illustrations as paintings of the photos that inspired the story.  I have never even considered writing a children’s story, but after years of reading them aloud and encouraging the young readers in my family to love books, it seemed like completing a loving circle.

Today will be more loose ends, and organizing my writing projects to pair with my books of the moment.  In the area of paying it forward I left a comment for a poster on Gretchen Rubin’s Facebook page on her concerns about downsizing to a smaller living space.  I related my better than best experience of moving to my “Hobbit House” and the joy of being surrounded by only my most favorite things.  I hope it encourages her to make this change a chance to weed out the extraneous and surround herself with her treasures.

It is a clear and therefore cold early March morning in the beautiful Bitterroot, I will also be mindful to spend some part of the day outdoors to soak up the beauty and tranqility in the place I am privlidged to find myself.

Loose Ends

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I realized last night that in my enthusiasm to do new things, and find my happiness in everything, I have started more projects than I have the time to devote to them.  Today I will wrap up a few loose ends to allow myself more time to devote to the things that truly make me happy – happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy. Today will be a day of less fun tasks that will lead to greater happiness in the long run.

  • Finish vacuuming the rest of the house with my new vacuüm – that means the baseboard, the window sills, everything!
  • File or throw away every computer related CD & instructions – just do it!
  • Create order for my books in progress – too many
  • If I stumble upon something that I can wrap up in fifteen minutes or less I will do it now.

 I know that spring in western Montana is a little of this and a little of that but it may be on its way!  Last night we had rain, such a soothing sound that I slept with my window open enough to hear it.  This morning there was a dusting of snow but the sun is out and it has melted in the sunny spots already.  Another beautiful day in the neighborhood!

On mindfulness, I bought a little notebook to track all of my food and beverage consumption, which I will decorate to make the un-fun a little more so.  I need to pay more attention to what goes in my mouth, and knowing I have to commit it in writing may slow me down some.  I found an acronym from someone  who had been in rehab; I think it is  a healthy tool to use to bring oneself back to mindfulness in the present.  Ask myself:

  • H – Hungry?
  • A – Angry?
  • L – Lonely?
  • T – Tired?

And then use a mindfulness technique to become fully present while sitting quietly with eyes closed:

  • S – sense – what do I feel in my body? Cold, eyes tired, back hurts, blister…
  • I – image – what do I see with my eyes closed?
  • F – feeling – what emotions am I feeling right now?
  • T – thinking – what am I thinking?

By the time I go through HALT and SIFT I may have lost the urge to mindlessly graze – one can hope!  Time to start my terrific Tuesday – I can hardly wait to see how much I can finish today.

Grabbing Joy

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Sunday I planned to spend the day shopping, one of my less favorite activities.  But we had our first day of the year of temperatures in the 50’s and it seemed too fine a day to spend in a car or a big box store.  Instead I enjoyed my morning coffee watching the sunrise and the day warm as the birds made their presence known, sounding as joyous as I felt.  I was able to wander around the property looking to see what the melting snow had uncovered and feeling the soil soften under my feet.

Just before dusk as I was heading in I heard a rustle in the grass and turned to find the biggest flock of wild turkeys I had seen so far.  My best estimate, counting turkeys on the move being what it is, was at least sixty.  Although they are a less attractive bird from a distance, up close their feathers are iridescent and catch the sun as they scurry along.  Another sight I would have missed.

Seeking out moments of joy, even if it means a change of plans to soak up an unexpected opportunity can not only offer the immediate pleasure, but a happiness boost (now that is something they need to offer at Jamba Juice!), every time that I  recall the experience.  Just now thinking about turning around to see the flock come trooping out of the trees makes me smile.

Today I will turn my mindfulness to finding a sight or sound I can savor, even as I am shopping for the mundane.

Sunny Sunday

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The sun is out, and it feels like spring.  There are two robins in the tree outside my window cavorting and celebrating as well.  What a glorious way to start the day!  I am incorporating mindfulness (paying attention to the here and now) with gratefulness into my thinking about every moment. I am using what the politicos refer to as spin to change my thinking.  Last night during a roaring wind storm, during which I tend to worry about all sorts of flying objects and damage, instead I turned my thoughts to how lucky I am in a warm safe home, with a cheery fire and a huge selection of books; gratefulness.

One of the risks of this somewhat Pollyanna-ish thinking is the loss of being taken seriously, always hugely important in the past.  But when I framed it in a new way, would I rather be taken seriously and be unhappy or would I rather be happy and let the chips fall where they may?  I chose happiness.

Today I will sing, loudly, all the way to Missoula, dance when I dry my hair and put my purchases away, and laugh just for any old reason or no reason at all.  Happy Sunday.

First, First Friday

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First Friday in Stevensville Montana, celebrates local art and artists.  Most of the businesses stay open until at least 9:00 PM (hey, it is rural Montana after all!) and showcase artists and their work – often with associated activities or special treats.  The library often features performances, and last night was no exception.

Enjoyed an amateur duo, Opus 2, a couple of women in their 60’s (?) who played classical guitar at the library last night during the monthly event.   The turn out was great and the ladies tackled some very challenging ethnic classical music primarily from Spain and Latin America.  In the most touching moment, the duo played an original piece written for them, “Winter Dreams” and the composer, unbeknownst to them, was in the audience.

After the performance as people were chatting, I heard a couple talking about a group  playing Bluegrass Gospel called By Still Waters that were still at Morningstar Coffee down the street.  I walked down to have a listen and a mocha.  They are a trio of great musicians; bass, mandolin and guitar with a lead singer and lots of enthusiasm.  The owner of the shop pointed out the salad bar and suggested I make it a regular stop when I come into town on errands (or to work at the library).  Nice!

I also found out about another upcoming event at the library, a Powerpoint presentation on Ireland by a recent visitor (sounds so much better than some guy and his travel slides!).  In the spirit of celebrating all things Irish this month, there is a St. Patrick’s Day dinner dance at the Grange Hall with live Irish folk music and folk dancing, instruction provided, to the sounds of Celtic Knot and traditional Irish fare for dinner.  Another opportunity to get out and have fun!

Not for the squeamish

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Not that I have been overly freaked out by the various bugs and rodents that may cross one’s path in the suburbs, but I have risen to the level of nonplussed when it comes to dealing with the grosser aspects of country living.  A friend of mine who lives in central Washington near the Canadian border has waged an all out war on voles that decimated her garden last year and has tracked her body count on Facebook.  Country gals become a little tougher, (and find our entertainment in unique ways).  My personal vendetta has been houseflies, tons of them, with no let up in winter.  I have searched the web for ideas, and short of killing the dang things and removing their food source, there was little help.  I have heard anecdotally that flies are a problem in log and wood beam homes, but cannot find documentation or the answer to why?  I am stumped on the food source, as I have no attic space to hide a dead rodent, the garbage tucked away in a pull out, and I have never seen any activity near the cat items…so clobbering and cleaning up flies is part of the daily routine.  I am the proud owner of four fly swatters and my shop vac has a place of honor among the weapons of war.  Next up is sterilizing the interior surfaces in the hopes it will discourage the filthy little buzzers.

Yesterday when I went out the cat had left me a gift of a severed mouse head and the less tasty (I’m assuming) guts on the walkway to the garage.  I don’t really have a problem, anymore at least, of flinging them into the woods with a shovel, but I have to say even this newly minted country girl was not thrilled to clean the barfed up  indigestible parts of a mouse at 5:30 AM.  Thanks cat!

The trade-offs for which I am grateful:

  • Even on this gray morning the air is still, crisp and smells so clean
  • Heating with wood is one of the most cheerful ways to stay warm
  • The quiet is so soft, the birdsong so sweet in early spring, the stillness so calming

Today I will continue to practice happiness, gratefulness and mindfulness.  I will try a new activity, the First Friday celebration in town, to meet new people while “being Cathrine”.

A Typical Morning

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We all have our daily routines, mine just happens to include restarting the wood stove and hauling in wood from outside to get me through the day and the following morning.  It is somehow soothing and rewarding that I am directly responsible for my own physical comfort.  Well into my second winter I think I have this heating system down!  Lessons learned – dry, warm wood burns better (duh!) and I don’t have to start the fire from scratch every morning if I completely pack the firebox – 5 logs on average – before I go to bed and close down the dampers.  In the morning I still have a big bed of large coals and with the dampers fully open, a couple of logs start right up.  The not so side benefit is that the house stays warmer overnight as well.

I received gold stars for yesterday’s action items except for filing, sigh.  I am giving myself partial credit for hauling everything downstairs to work.  The other items:

  • So many blogs, so little time, currently I am going through book blogs to find three to subscribe to but haven’t settled on any yet except the one to which I accidentally subscribed, “Reflections of a Book Addict”
  • Explored items in the Happiness Toolbox – some of them are tough to tell why it is a separate item…hmmm
  • My three books at the moment are:
  1. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy, for its unlikely prose
  2. You Are not a Stranger Here, Adam Haslett, short stories that are sad yet kind
  3. Your Inner Fish, Neil Shubin, science at its best
  • Returned my test to the library and was given “homework”, the volunteer manual to read, I start today!  I also signed up for a class on using WordPress to help build this blog.
  • Covered the filing thing, I need to figure out a way to not drag my feet on such a simple task.

Today is more of the same, adding in the two hours of volunteer time at the library and starting my house fly eradication project…more on that tomorrow.