I was never good at socializing and I love my friends, but I have to have balance, so I pop out around Spring Equinox or when the thaw starts up here, whichever is most convenient, and begin my active time of the year. Sometime in October (note: last week), I finish up my work “out there” and close up shop for the year. During that time, I leave my house very little and focus on home and hearth and other things that please me. It is a blessed life and one I do not take lightly nor for granted. I am excited for it and grateful for it every moment. In order to fully appreciate the people I love, I have to back off for a while and hide inside.
As long as our power stays on, I am happy as a clam. I get a little irritable when the snow gets super deep, which up here is 6-7 feet, because it becomes difficult to get the mail or feed the chickens or get wood and do other normal, daily life things. Our last two winters were fairly mild and I could not speculate what this year will bring.
I have deeply enjoyed my foray into fiction writing and the current book, the first one, is plumping up nicely. I expect to release it and a kind of CUSP Lite book in November. The CUSP Lite book will be a very condensed overview since we are nearing Winter Solstice when the magical year begins. For those who wish to explore the CUSP concepts more deeply, they can go into the full book. Sounds like fun to me!
No festivals until June (and that one is a maybe), no outside ventures, very few trips into darkest Sacramento and then only for absolute emergencies. Trips to town once a week for supplies and an emphasis on introspection and self-change from the inside-out.
I spend a lot of time listening to the quiet these days. Where I live, it is quiet enough that sometimes, all you hear is the hum of the refrigerator and the soft shuffling of the dogs as they turn over in their sleep. My keyboard keys clicking are usually the loudest thing in my day until 4pm when the boys get home or 6pm, when Eric rolls in and the whole house lights up. Last week, I vowed that every weekday, I would do something major to de-trash our house and upgrade our standard of living in some fashion. I did that successfully every single day. I am evidently making up for that great effort by doing nothing meaningful at all day. It is almost 4pm and I have no idea what we will have for supper. I know it will involved some kind of lean protein and vegetables because that is all I eat after lunch, but I don’t know what it will be. Stir-fry? Chef’s salad? Who knows? Something blah blah blah vegetables something blah blah blah lean protein.
[All too telling: I was listening to “Peace in the Valley” on YouTube to commemorate my new tranquility and oops! “Your Wildest Dreams” by The Moody Blues was linked on the sidebar and I had to click over… Peace is lovely, but my wildest dreams go even further!]
In short, if you need me, shoot me a Facebook message or email. Don’t be afraid to invite me to do things because hey, it might be a day when I am feeling adventurous, but for the post part, I am packed away for the Winter along with the tank tops and pool toys.
I’m excited to put the harvest to rest. It was abundant and bountiful and I could not be happier. So much so that taking even more seems greedy, but for us there are still 2-3 weeks late, so I open myself fully to what the Universe chooses to provide. It has been a beautiful year and for that, I am truly and profoundly grateful.