Re-building.

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(This photo courtesy of Sandra Dieckmann, Illustrator.)

These "not-Winter" days are days of re-building and re-construction. 

We've already re-built the house stairs (thank you, Garry, for your assistance) 

and now, Mister Jones and I are re-painting the house as we re-build us in the process 

of all this. 

Did you know our house is teal blue with fireweed trim?? 

Back in 2002 as we had the house built, we were instructed by the sub-contractor to choose colours for the house, a main colour, and a trim colour.  We stood together-yet-separately in the paint sample aisle, perusing hues and tones. When we turned to come back to each other again, we were holding the exact same colours: teal, and fireweed. (Excuse me as I tear-up, here...because as I re-build my love for Mister Jones, I see how we were at one time in our lives two souls who had the same longings.) 

This morning, I rolled out of bed and smeared Boudreaux's Butt Paste onto all my 

sunburned areas, including my face. (I hope you got a laugh out of that, smearing Butt Paste 

onto my face.) My body is intolerant of chemicals and all that sort of stuff, and this 

zinc oxide-laden skin protectant is about as natural as they come, at least as natural as they come when purchasing at Walgreens, which is where we ducked into when out buying more house paint at Home Depot. 

After my little zinc oxide ritual, I dressed and called the pack to me, 

and away we went up Coyote Hill, the goal being to water the garden 

and visit my prayer flag forest. 

As I stood by Ziggy's site of repose, I recited Sleeping in the Forest (written by Mary Oliver). 

I noticed little flowers peeking through the tall fireweed and other wild greens in the forest. 

Last year I was given columbine and forget-me-nots and dianthus to plant for Ziggy. 

I am suprised-not-surprised that the plants are already blooming. I also found myself thinking that if I were to sleep in the forest, I would want a site such as Ziggy has for his permanent sleep: amidst spruce and wildflowers and perennials and rocks and shells, and nestled behind the garden. 

Mister Jones stated this morning this day is a break day from painting. 

Silently I said Thank You. 

Out loud I said, "Thank you... my body and my brain need a break." 

So I am cleaning house and doing much-needed laundry and relaxing just a bit as Mister Jones pressure-washed the deck in preparation to staining it.

The inside stairs and the floors were hiding dustbunnies in the corners and there were dried waterspots on the floors. You see, I have not cleaned in a couple weeks, other things being designated in my head and in my heart as more important, such as sleeping-in, riding along with Mister Jones to various hardware stores, and garage-sale-ing, which is not my cup of tea, but he enjoys it, and as stated above, we are re-building us. It totally blesses my spirit and makes my heart happy when he proudly presents me with containers of shells and rocks for which he pay'd "only $1.00!!...I just had to, because I knew you'd like them." 

So, today, as I enjoy performing tasks I enjoy and listen to sounds of him pressure-washing the deck, I re-build the fragile walls of my spirit and re-bolster my heart, because, as you may or may not know, it is important to re-frame and re-construct ourselves sometimes..... 

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And, just because I haven't felt it nor said it in a long long while -- 

it's a good life. 

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