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Coffee on a Rainy Sunday Morning
This post which was mostly written before Church last Sunday did not get finished and the week has sped by. Hopefully it is still okay. It has been such an eventful week in the world that this feels outdated, but its me and us in our small corner. So here goes……
In our neck of the woods there is not much better than waking to the sound of steady rain, it has happened twice this week when not predicted. It allows so much hope and we are so grateful. I am sitting at my desk right now looking out at a soggy yard and typing with the rain in the background. Its more thrilling than Disney. Do I mean that? Yes, I do. I think Disney is about joy and creativity but rain equals growth and nourishment and as the hope for that rises like a flame it is powerful.
Are you coming over in the rain? Russell just put a cup of coffee beside me, its instant, his specialty, I appreciate it but if you come I am going to grind some beans and make something a little more robust.
Were you to be sitting at my counter with me I would ask you “how are you?” I would ask, “how has your week been?” I might ask, “what have you been thinking about lately?” I would tell you some stories from our week that likely connect to some of the pictures here.
Russ and I enjoyed a night at our cowboy cottage in the calving pasture to wrap up Father’s Day. I was doing a little bit of blogging here. A funny little tidbit. You can see a little glow in the fireplace, it was chilly and Russ had got a fire going. I had just been killing flies, they love it in the cottage, I put the swatter on the stove at some point. Noone realized the melty faux pas. When we did, we no longer had a fly swatter. Shute. The obsession with shopping cart fun continues, this time its a Morgan and Gina combo at the Oxbow Co-op.We started a project with irrigation equipment this week. The creek beside our house is running well enough to allow us to transfer some water from it to the dugout which sources our winter needs for barn water. Here Gina and Russ are hefting sections of pipe into place.Russ and Ron are working to get the pump primed up with water. Morgan came in the house earlier this day and said to me, “Coffee is living her best life!” When I went out to be part of the action I could see exactly what he meant. She frolicked constantly while near the water.Here is something some people might find weird. I went away this week by myself, for three nights and two full days, to our favorite bed and breakfast in the whole world, just 50 minutes from home, for what I call “An almost silent retreat.” I had breakfast with others in the morning but otherwise was alone. I had only one rule, I only did what I wanted to do and never anything because I should. This is inside my extremely comfortable and beautiful room in this log home.I got myself a new Bible this spring, a coloring Bible with wide margins and lines for notes. I flipped open my Bible the first evening I was there and this image faced me. I thought, “hmm, if that is the first message I see and I am here, I best color that!” I did. It looks kind’ve busy, I was going for the colors of nature, water and a dock kind’ve, but anyways, it was good to help me start shifting gears.You might remember my girls, the figurines I have been trucking around with me, my reminders of family and friendship and especially my cousin, well, they got to come on retreat too.The B&B is located right beside the Carlyle airstrip. The first night it was so incredibly still I felt it was alright to walk on it, I would hear a plane coming. I walked the entire length of the runway, it took a surprising amount of time. Russ was not at ease with the fact that I felt that I needed this time away. Understandably, he had a hard time not taking it personally that I wanted to go away without him. For the sake of being honest I will say that we had some painful conversations about this. The thing is I have always been someone who recharges her batteries best with solitude. That solitude does not happen naturally in my life. As I left Russ popped this cooler onto the seat beside me. A cooler full of my favorite treats. He had shopped in secret. He was giving me his blessing. I appreciated it.While in Carlyle I found out our best option for a vaccine appointment soon was in Carlyle, the day I was scheduled to go home, so Russ came up and met me there and we had that awesome experience together. We had the nicest nurse who served both of us at the same time. In about 7 minutes she not only needled us both (with ultra gentleness) but learned about how long we had been married, how many kids we have, how much they each weighed at birth, who is brave with health stuff, who needs a hand hold, we learned how many kids she has, how old they are and where they live. Thank you Anita! You made it fun. Here we are in the recovery zone.Jill finished her last day of grade 11 on Friday. Thats a big yahoo. She was just wrung out after a really unusual year. We felt badly that she came home to a need for her help, her strength and her height were valued. We were reloading the irrigation pipe trailer to get it returned to Brock Thompson, who rents out this equipment. I helped unload this pipe but with Jill on deck I got to be Mama in the house and create a birthday meal. Russ and the kids accomplished the re- load.Gina turned 19 on Friday. I made this gawdy cake, I repeat, this crazy concoction is not a Jill cake, she would have made it infinitely more beautiful. If you are familiar with Jill’s cakes you will now see that she does not get her talent from her mother. Anyways, this had a sign go with it eventually, it said something like this, “Gina Bayliss, the red carpet stars of your chidlhood cheer you on as you enter adulthood and create your own red carpet moments.” The “red carpet” is fruit roll-ups. Its canned icing. The brownies underneath it all taste good! I did a bit of digging in the stored toys to find these childhood faves. Several are missing. We should have had at least one of the Wiggles on there.We had hoped Auntie Tammy would be free to join us for birthday supper, that didn’t work out, but Grandma Shirley was with us and we had some of Gina’s favorite foods, it was fun.Yesterday we did something that felt so exciting at times. We went to a drive thru graduation. Jill and Morgan sat on top of the car and we cheered for our friend Hannah Daniels. It was exciting. Even a small graduating class, 1 girl and four boys, can evoke a reaction as if it was my class of 200 in Saskatoon. So much pride and awe at how they have grown and what they have accomplished. We heard the service via an FM transmitter and were encouraged to honk when we would have clapped usually. It was great, effective at giving us that community experience. A selfie of the truck top graduation crowd.These pals have been friends through thick and thin, it meant alot for us to join with Todd, Heather and John as they celebrated with Hannah. This was taken at the tail end of events after the community had done a drive by parade.Heather, the hardworking Momma of the graduate and I. I feel so silly that we didn’t capture pictures with Hannah the graduate. I passed my phone to Jill to grab pics from on top of the truck but was surprsied to find this picture in my gallery later. I really like it. A birds eye view of a moment in our life. It illumines the growing out of my hair, tenderness between Russ and I and Jill’s enjoyment of fun shoes.
As Far As The Eye Can See 