Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday, then Friday....


And so on and so forth....
Stone has gone up to Canaan, N.H. to help a friend cut firewood for winter. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive - maybe a little more than that, actually - and he stayed there last night and will probably stay tonight, as well. Our friend lives on about 40 acres of primarily undeveloped forestland right in the heart of the White Mountains. She and her third husband (and soul-mate) bought the property about five years ago with plans to build a simple house for themselves and turn the rest into a non-denominational retreat for friends, acquaintances, and future friends and acquaintances to come to for renewal and rejuvenation. They had just about six - maybe seven - years together when her husband died unexpectedly of sudden heart failure. They had cleared a large amount of property, but hadn't started building their house. When he died, they were living in a rented house in town. Since then, friends have come forward to help her, and the house, designed after old New England barns, with a basement that she spent all last winter in, and two floors above, is framed up waiting for a permanent roof, wiring and plumbing. Last winter was very hard on our friend, and she's been anxious to get the roof finished so that the rest of the interior can be completed, and she can move herself upstairs where she'll have some sunlight and bright space. So, whatever capital she has will go into that roof, and friends - including Stone - will help cut and stack firewood so that she'll have a free source of heat for the winter months this year.
I was looking forward to some "Me" time - relishing the thought of some SPACE, since Stone and I have been together constantly since last November when he was summarily fired from his job as a software engineer for a major New Hampshire medical center. Odd, don't you think, that it happened right on the heels of his sixtieth birthday? This, after some ten years of employment with glowing annual evaluations and steady pay increases? Now, suddenly, it seems that he "works too slowly". Ah, well. He's filed an age-discrimination suit, but we know how unlikely it is that anything will happen on that in the foreseeable future. Better to take stock of our resources and move along from there. That way, if anything should come of the discrimination suit, it will be a lovely surprise, but nothing that we'll count on, for sure. He was able to collect unemployment up until mid-July, when it reached its limit, but then the 13-week extension was signed into law, and he has applied for that. We're just waiting on them processing it. Luckily, of course, my job actually covers most of our living expenses, and he has applied for his SS retirement, which is due to start coming at the end of October. Then, hopefully, he can find some part-time work that will get him out of the house on a regular basis, as I do think that the isolation is wearing on him at this point. And I know that it would do wonders for our conversations if he had something to tell me about each day beyond having cleaned the cat box and watered the tomatoes. But, to get back to what I was saying, I thought a few days apart - and being alone in our apartment would be "just what the doctor ordered" for me. You know - an opportunity to eat a candy bar for supper if I wanted to - and loll about watching inane TV shows if I felt like it (the only TV he and I watch together are documentaries or some highly recommended movie - we've seen "What the Bleep..." a dozen times. We really must get the sequel.) or just plain loll about doing nothing at all.
It didn't turn out that way. One daughter was parked in the driveway when I got home from work. Her husband had somehow managed to lock her out when he and his mother left earlier in the day to take my six-year-old grandson to the zoo about 50 miles from home. My daughter came in to wait for his call saying that they were home and she'd be able to get in. So we sipped iced tea and chatted for a good hour or so, and then when she left, I had no sooner started to undress so that I could take a long, leisurely bath in my deep clawfooted tub when my other daughter stopped in with her little girl, and they stayed for nearly two hours. I had some of my clay out on the worktable, thinking I might play around with it a bit after my bath, but my granddaughter ended up making an array of turtles and fish and birds that I'll fire up next time I'm doing a batch of my stuff. Lately, I've been focusing on faces - tribal and otherwise - to use for pendants on leather thongs, and some small spiral goddess figures. But you never know what I'll be doing next. Maybe I have ADD - I can't stick to just doing the same sort of thing over and over again. So, by the time I got to my bath - and out of it - it was time to get myself to bed, and was I ever surprised to discover that I couldn't get to sleep! So much for some relaxing "alone" time!
So the picture is me with my quarterstaff. I didn't know it was called that until I read one of Ronni Bennett's Time Goes By blog posts. I'm learning a lot now that I've dicovered some folks my age here in cyberspace. I've also joined the Elderwoman network - the brainchild of author (and so much more!) Marian Van Eyk McCain. Something tells me that I'm going to have to start using my brains again, and I'm looking forward to it! Anyway, the picture shows a rotund me who has gained about seven - maybe eight (I refuse to step on the scale) pounds while visiting with my sister in N.C. I DID do some hiking and rock climbing (really!) but not nearly enough to offset all the eating. I moved around and exercised, yes, but if you only knew how much I ate....and am still eating. Good grief - I've got to get a handle on this. I've given myself until the end of this week to splurge. Then, I'll have to get back on the wagon. Ugh.
I guess I should do a little work. I AM at my desk, after all.
Z

No comments: