summer – Juanita Collins

July 27, 2015July 27, 2015

Watching the laundry dry

My favourite room in the house is my covered porch. It’s a living room, dining room, library and laundry room and solarium all rolled up into one special space. Today it’s the laundry room.

I don’t have a clothes line yet. For now, I use a laundry rack. And I dry the sheets and towels over the railing. They benefit from a bit of solar bleaching, too.

It smells really nice, sitting out here surrounded by the smell of fresh laundry drying in the sun. And it feels kind of cozy and secret, the way the sun filters through the cotton.

Sitting here on the porch swing watching the laundry dry reminds me of being a little girl. I loved walking between the lines of damp laundry on the line, my hands trailing along the lines of cool drying sheets…a secret hide-away.

Misty certainly isn’t complaining.

Do you have childhood memories of laundry drying on the line?

August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

Just Write {6} The Hallmark of Summer’s End

Driving in to work this morning down the wilderness highway from Fox Lake

we pass the first clusters of school children standing in the clear morning light at the ends of long driveways

waiting for the first glimpse of the yellow school bus to appear on the horizon.

Tendrils and wisps of fog rise from the wet chip-sealed highway

making misty the dripping scarlet leaves of fireweed gone cotton

the blown wild roses, the foxtails and cold-stunted aspen.

These fledglings scamper madly amongst the hillocks of wet grasses

lunches packed securely in backpacks of hello kitty pink and batman blue

unaware of the long vista stretching before them

thinking only of this moment

this first day of school

this hallmark of summer’s end.

This is my 6th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments. I am linking up with The Extraordinary Ordinary.

August 7, 2013

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – August “Office” Edition

FOR TODAY

Outside my window…it is overcast but I can see some blue between the clouds.

I am thinking...about how much I would love to be lowering my stress levels at a dance workshop right now, hip-dropping myself into a sweaty ball, or howling with laughter over a silly joke with a girlfriend. Yesterday, alone in the office, I dialed up a Middle Eastern music station and worked to Amr Diab, Hafiz and Oum Kolthum. I have never done that in the office before. Since I am alone in the office again today, I am thinking that I might just do it again.

I am thankful…that my recovery from menopausal depression is withstanding the stress of these last several ~~days~~ weeks and that I have learned to recognize, acknowledge and ACT on my feelings of tiredness and stress before they overwhelm me…to be able to say “this is about me” and say what I need.

On another note, I am also thankful to feel inspired (and, yes, even impatient!) to rejoin the dance world (are you surprised?)

In the kitchen…since I am writing this on my lunch break where I work at Yukon College, my kitchen of the moment happens to be the top of my desk, which has a half-eaten sandwich hiding somewhere amongst a pile of paperwork on it at the moment.

I am wearing…leggings, sandals and a tunic top. Not the most appropriate office attire, but the campus is quiet so it’s okay.

I am creating…I have just spent the entire morning formatting a draft MOU between our Bachelor of Social Work program and the University of Regina. At home, I’ve started a new project: making a quilt out of hand sewn hexagons. I can’t have only the ONE project on the go after all…two is definitely twice the fun.

I am going…to pick up the truck after work. It is in the shop getting camper bars put on. Yay camping! Then to take Samson for a walk. Then (maybe) to a gals night out going away party. I say “maybe” because I am unbelievably tired emotionally – and it feels like a lot of work to go anywhere but home.

I am wondering…what possessed me to write this during my lunch break. You don’t really get a lunch break when you stay at your desk. I’ve already been interrupted a half-dozen times to do work, lol!

I am reading…Royal Weddings – a Harlequin Romance book of three short stories about girls who meet princes-in-disguise. This is sheer unadulterated, brainless, entertaining summer reading and I am not going to apologize for it!

I am hoping…that the scale doesn’t reflect the crap I’ve eaten this week. Stress eating. Yuck for gut.

I am looking forward to…getting some exercise. I feel antsy and wound up. And getting home to sew.

I am learning…to make neat little hand sewn seams that the Queen herself would be proud of.

Around the house…since I am at the office, I’ll say “around the office”. We are in the middle of moving, so everything is in boxes and discombobulated (don’t you love that word?)

I am pondering…ugh. Do I have to?

A favorite quote for today…“don’t ask me, I just work here”

One of my favorite things…well okay…I will admit it…I love shopping. I do. God help me and my bank account.

A few plans for the rest of the week…no plans. I’m just gliding along day by day, enjoying the summer.

August 1, 2013

One Yukon Minute: hail storm at Fox Lake

July 29, 2013

Sunday Morning Sunshine

The sun has come out after a showery
Sunday morning
and I have taken my handwork
onto
the deck.

The air smells of wet wood,
soil
and lake
water.

Quiet and still, I hear a gull calling in the distance.

The campers in the campground next door
have not yet emerged
from their tents
and their travel
trailers,
and I savour the moments
of stillness
before their children
re-discover the chill of the water
and dogs
begin the business
of chasing squirrels from the trees.

Across the lake, a lone fisherman
drifts,
and I can hear the faint tick-tick-ticking
of his
reel.

I sit in the hot sun
until I begin to feel the trickle
of sweat
behind my knee
and behind my neck,
under my hair.

Eventually
the quilt becomes
too hot
to hold on my lap.

I put stitching daisies
and feathers
aside
until the cool of the evening
entices
me to return
to it
once
again.

July 23, 2013

Cabin Living

Well, we’ve been living at the cabin for 3 weeks now and I am enjoying it immensely. We don’t have electricity or running water, but we do have propane lights, fridge & stove, and a wood stove for heat when it starts to get chilly. Surprisingly, the hardest thing to adjust to was not having any TV or internet! I was a bit shocked to realize just how much time really spent zoned out on the couch. After the first week of feeling like I had ants in my pants, though, I’ve figured it out and am liking the quiet time with books, handwork and the radio. CBC has really great talk programming and I’ve started looking forward to listening to favourite shows while I hand quilt or do other hand stitching.

Here’s my log cabin kitchen:

How do we stay clean with no running water, you may be asking yourselves…we heat water on the stove, fill the solar shower bag, and shower just like everybody else. Except we can’t stand and luxuriate under an endless flowing stream. Showers are shorter, but just as enjoyable.

I brought some pots of flowers to make it feel more homey, and so that I can say I’ve got a garden…and the first thing the ants did was set up a colony in the tomatoes. I got tired of trying to scare them away. So now we have an ant farm in a pot. I guess they can’t hurt anything…

It also takes longer to commute to work – an hour each way. So we get up earlier, of course. And at the end of the day, we take the dog for a 5 km walk before driving home, which means we don’t get home until about 7pm or later if we’ve had to stop for groceries. After preparing a nice supper, doing dishes & taking turns with the shower, we only have an hour or so to settle down with books/crafts/radio shows before bedtime. Sometimes we watch a movie on the laptop (which is recharged with solar cells).

So there you go…my summer-time life in a nutshell!