The Good Things Too in Everyday Ramblings

Not my usual pretty flower picture. This is the view outside my kitchen window this morning, day eight of our “weather event”.

My goal here is to focus on the positive. Just think, with no one going out or interacting in person, local Covid transmission has gone way down. I haven’t worn a mask in over a week. Cool beans.

I have enough space in where I live to have extra kitty litter, bird food, toilet paper, all the things. This morning, I was able to clean the bird feeder and the birdbath and with the help of my trusty poles get them out for the wild birds.

When this week on two separate occasions I was diving through my boxes looking to find my shoe gripers, I found all sorts of other things I had been looking for…my sewing kit, the slinky drain cleaner things, the square pan to make corn bread and maybe a cinnamon coffee cake.

(Sadly, I have still not found my gripers, I fully expect they will tun up once we are completely thawed. The special snow traction shoes I ordered just before the event have still not been delivered because UPS has not been able to get into the neighborhood.)

Our sad somewhat socially challenged mail carrier has retired and we have a new handsome young one with gripers. I saw him walk by yesterday morning on that sheet of ice you see there out my window.

He delivered a box I ordered of kitchen canisters. I am almost 70 years old and have never had my own set of canisters for flour and sugar and such. The recent purchase of powdered sugar in a plastic bag put me over the edge and I splurged and bought a set from the Vermont Country Store.

I had to go out to the mailboxes to get the box. Again, without my poles that would not have been possible. I was doing the tiny penguin step thing and so far, have not fallen. (Emergency Room visits for slips and falls are way up, all hail medical staff managing these things.)

Because a couple of years ago our power company had our streets all torn up and street trees removed (and replanted) to bury a power line from our local substation to the hospital complex up on the hill behind us we have not lost power so far. Unlike pretty much everyone else in town. And! I have had internet the whole time too. Score.

I am not taking any of this functionality or abundance for granted.

There is plenty to read. And I have been doing that. It keeps Carlo calm if I sit quietly and read. I will admit I went a bit profligate this morning and pre-ordered three e-books coming out this year in series I follow. I finished the latest in the Iona Whishaw, Lane Winslow series last night. I have read all those from the library but now I need to wait for the new one. I enjoy the Western Canadian setting very much. She has definitely been learning by doing as she writes the books. They are getting better.

A few new people have expressed interest in my classes. That has cheered me up. My morning class is fun and lighthearted and yesterday my former coordinator from the church joined us and enjoyed herself. She knows a lot of people. I am not thinking about growing the classes so much as maintaining them at the current level and for whatever reason folks do need to stop coming.

It takes the marketing pressure off me.

I feel lucky to have the resources to be sequestered like this for over a week. The simple things like being able to get the bird feeder out cheer me enormously. I am trying to avoid the political news at least but the border news is disturbing I admit. I do hope we can take action here and make some changes that reflect an appreciation of the humanity of all people.

You know how you read something someone writes and go, oh, I wonder what they are not saying putting a such a positive spin on things. It rings hollow. I admit I am experiencing challenges, days of irritability, frustration, procrastination, concern, even alarm, but I am focusing on being spacious and accepting all of that and making space for the good things too.

Last updated January 20, 2024