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Two weeks ago, with temps just above freezing and a foot of snow on the ground, we had:
- hail.
- ground fog.
- wind.
- pelting rain. Three inches of it.
- copious amounts of low-level lightning.
Ours was one of few houses *not* to flood, in a note of irony. (We’ve been fighting basement water for years.) Now I hear Minnesota’s been getting hit too, and there’s more coming. Jane, how are you?
It’s been the coldest winter in years, here. We’ve had regular drops to -40 (which is -40, no matter which scale you use). Even this past Friday morning. -37C. With the windchill, it was -46C. And Jackie’s tilling! Augh!
I am beginning to wonder whether the next Ice Age has chosen this historic moment of global warming hyper-awareness to ambush us. Has it been a weird year for anyone else?
Truth be told, Jackie, I’m not blogging either. I mean, a bit, but I think I lost my groove.
Likewise, I’ve moved on from a lot of my original homesteading ideas. In the beginning, it was sheer necessity. Like in the pioneer days, we needed to garden and can and mend and raise our own meat to survive. Dave’s job has since come to pay much better–and take much, much more time.
Other things have changed us too. Home isn’t a haven to me, it’s my work. It’s a job that gives no vacations unless I take them elsewhere. It’s also a massive network of unending renovations. It’s no haven to Dave in that sense. We were able to acquire the sailboat, and that takes us away in the summer whenever we can manage it.
I don’t miss the garden. I only feel like I should.
I’m out in space-time these days, rediscovering my drive to write speculative fiction that really examines the world and the way we think. It’s a refuge and a place of freedom. To me, it’s also a link to the past–to the sweeping dreams of the first part of the 20th century, to minds like Heinlein and Asimov and the questions they demanded of society. From their own perspectives, they saw things that were wrong and absurd, and they used fantastical situations to question their cultural ethic.
But here in my corner of Earth, the first snow is falling–we expect ten centimeters and already have an inch. (That’s the luxury of Canada, mixing measurement systems so flippantly.) I have regrets outdoors. I have hope indoors. I have stories begging to be told. I have questions.
What course of action will have the most impact on the world around me for God? How do I live with myself if I let some things go? Will I regret what I do keep? There’s not enough time for all the joyful things God made in this life.
Y’know, Jackie, I’m trying to remember that all the fun comes later. We have heaven and a whole eternity full of wonderful things. Here and now is the work season. But sometimes I struggle with how wonderful life is and how little I seem to catch as it goes by.
Well, gals, we’re beginning fall cleaning today. We’ve been away for a lot of the summer, camping and sailing.
Anytime we’ve come home, it’s pretty much been to dump a bunch of stuff all over and take off again. Not a recipe for a useful, pleasant home environment. So, homeschooling is being postponed at least a week while we straighten out this chaos. There are a lot of cobwebs, a lot of dust and a lot of misplaced items to get through.
What amazes me is how the kids pitch in and think it’s fun, as long as I’m doing stuff. I went to scrub down the cupboards (ew, greasy fingerprint layers, food splatters from my little cooks). Next thing I know, the girls want to help because it’s what mom’s doing.
Excellent. I think I’m going to use their gullibility for nefarious housekeeping purposes.
Here’s our place (not an autumn shot, obviously). Anybody else want to give an idea of what their corner of the world looks like?
The four of us live diverse lives with common themes. Check back with us often!
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