Startings over

I’m cold. I’ve been cold all day. Give me one day of decent temperatures out there and the return me to single digits and I have completely softened.

It’s been snowing for a few days and once again the lines are soft and clean. The bird seed and rabbit leavings have another fresh slate on which to write. The cat, too, who prefers to leave her own leavings in the driveway (such a welcome wagon), has an empty canvas. The naked trees accept another coat of wintry wonder and the birds slowly dust them off.

I love snow. The newness of everything; grays and browns, worn and ugly, now pearly and innocent. Starting all over.

I can use a whole lot of startings over.

I’m readying myself for the enormous potential of my upcoming writers’ retreat. Reading a lot, gathering my lists, unearthing the airbeds from the frozen trailer in the shed. And trying to stay away from too much writing.

Computers and I, ironically and with no humor at all, don’t get on all that well. Screens make my eyes swim and my head hurt, but more than that, the positions I assume and the muscles I work (and don’t work) while utilizing the keyboard and screen, wreak havoc on my neck and shoulders. One good day spent without self-preserving control at the keyboard can wreck me for a month. You would think that I hunch up into some atrocious sight, possibly spend my computer time contorted into a small box with electric shockers strategically placed to discourage relaxation of any sort. But I don’t.

So I am limiting the writing and screenwork, mostly to necessary emails and dealings with Amazon. How hard is it to find a mattress pad that actually FITS my bed?

But the added bonus here, is that I am really working up a desire to write. And sometimes staying away is just the ticket. Hopefully that pans out nicely upon arrival at our gorgeous little cottage in the middle of nowhere, Wheeler.

A couple of days ago I got an email from AirBnB. “Pack your bags, you’re going to Wheeler!” If you live in the area, you might catch the problem with such enthusiasm. But as we are headed to one of the most gorgeous parts of rural Wheeler, I can grab onto that excitement and run with it.

Closing the lid,
KJ