Category Archives: Daily Missives

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.

Small Step

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OK, so I will admit I have fallen under the spell of the Happiness Project.   http://www.happiness-project.com/  Who knew it could be this easy?  I am such a sucker for the tag line, “studies show”, and one of the first studies cited shows that taking immediate action gives one a boost and is the gift that keeps on giving.  My first resolutions:

  • Start writing again – a blog is a great way to start!
  • Volunteer – using my best self
  • Pursue the intellectual – read more challenging material, think about IDEAS!

Yesterday one of  the take action steps was to go to the local public library and submit my volunteer application.  I am embarrassed to admit it was the first time I set foot in the door so it may seem odd that I had already decided to volunteer there, but books are my thing, and I need to add some regular human contact to my otherwise rather isolated lifestyle.  So the library it is!  I was pleased to see that it was comfortable, well stocked, has current book offerings and has wi-fi so some of these missives may originate from there in the future.  It is on the other hand, a small town library and needs more space and a remodel – the floors are a serious tripping hazard – I see I have my work cut out for me.  What better place to offer my time than a house for books that needs a lot of work, I may be able to use some of that construction knowledge yet.

Take action today items are:

  • Work on this blog and find three others that are related or of interest
  • Work on my Happiness Project Toolbox – you’ll have to follow the link if you don’t know what that is
  • Choose three books that inspire me to mine for essay ideas
  • Return my “test” to the library
  • Work on one nagging item – filing

Onward…..

Order from Chaos

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As part of a larger personal project I found myself tackling the garage yesterday.  No small task as the weather conditions needed to be such that I could pull out all three vehicles; the truck, SUV and ATV/snowplow and leave them out all day while I regained some order.  Once I had a fire in the wood stove to warm it up a bit, the cold garage being another deterrent to this project, I began the process of primarily just putting things away as most of them have a permanent location. All of the storage and shelves were inaccessible when the garage is crammed with vehicles and I had started stacking items near the door.  Once order was restored and the garage swept, things I discovered:

  • I have projects in progress that had been forgotten
  • With a little reorganization I can put most things away when the vehicles are in the garage
  • There are packing materials that belong in a distant storage shed, that for the moment is impossible to get to due to the snow
  • That the garage does get nice and warm with the stove going
  • A warm garage motivates me to work on the projects in progress
  • I love the satisfaction of putting things in order

Another sunny day – this one will be in part for errands that take me out of the house and I will see other humans – yea!

When the sun shines

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I am so inspired this morning to work outside even though it is cold – I still find it amazing how much the sun has a direct effect on my mood and my energy. I sat on the porch step this morning just to watch and feel the sunrise, only later did I realize it was only 15 degrees…no wonder the cat did not want to join me. Our bodies are so in tune with the natural world, if only we pay attention. Mindfulness today and every day.

Hello world!

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I plan to use this space to create a journal of my life in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, but more importantly to put out some essays that have been languishing in notebooks or making brief but not thoroughly fleshed out appearances in my daily thoughts and conversations.  Stand by for a little of this and a little of that!