Month: July 2014

Our deck is weather beaten and yet may be the best room in the house in my opinion. It’s on the eastern side of the house. On it is a large grill, a deep freezer, and some furniture. It and the back stoop are the best places to sit on the farm. The deck is where I have my outside kitchen in the summer.

Summertime brings days too hot to cook in the kitchen. It’s too hot to do dishes inside, and it’s too small inside the kitchen to get much done most days. Don’t get me wrong, the kitchen on the farm is my kitchen, and I love it. However there’s no nice summer breeze coming in the kitchen, and there is no gorgeous views like there is from the deck.

So, it’s my outdoor kitchen. I can plug in any electric appliance out there, and before long, there will be a deep sink out there as well. Tonight with my trusty cart, I hauled most of the dirty dishes outside and listened to the radio while I washed and dried the dishes. I feel energized, which never happens while I’m washing dishes.

So, first thing tomorrow, after my mandatory coffee and prayer time, I’m going to head out to the deck and finish setting up my outside kitchen. I insist on keeping our food in the house except for cooking. I’m nuts, but not insane, and I’m going to cook out there until it’s time to start the woodstove in the fall.

That’s about it. I’m a little tired, and I’ve got to get my bed ready yet tonight. Take care,

Louise Ann Benjamin

Good Morning, the coffee’s on this morning if you want a cuppa. Dad’s just waking up a wee bit, and I’ve been out for the first smoke of the day.

It’s lovely out there if you want to go sit on the deck. There’s a bit of dew but that’ll burn off once the heat hits. We have a couple of deck chairs I can grab from the basement for you. This time of day is really lovely to sit out there and listen to the birds, ya just gotta watch them swooping around out there.

The view past the trees in the yard just cant be beat. I love watching the sun rise over the trees don’t you?

Excuse me a minute while I grab another cuppa, can I get you anything? There’s creamer and sweetener or sugar for your coffee if you like.

If you are feeling a little peckish, we have some oatmeal available, or I can scramble you a couple of eggs.

Why don’t we head out and have a smoke together? If you don’t smoke, do you mind that I do?

Yep, Dad and I have to go to town today. There’s an auction going on. We’re hoping to get back before Hot Harley nights starts at 6:30. Oy well, actually, we are hoping to be back before noon-thirty.

No that’s just some humdinger they do downtown, it’s load and noisy.

We just are going to look around a bit, at the auction and see what’s there. We’re not planning on getting anything really.

Oh we do need to stop at the store and my cousin’s house as well as a few errands. However it’s all good.

Please excuse me a minute while I freshen up.

Oh Thank You so much for coming over! I hope to see you again soon.

Take care, Love you Madly!

LAB

Hello all,

This morning I awoke “naturally” at 7am. I was thrilled to death to actually be up and back on schedule again. Holy Crap it’s been a ride.

Today’s mischief includes, but isn’t limited to:

1. Tackle the kitchen with gusto
2. Scrub down the dining area
3. Clean out the car
4. Have a shower
5. Cook 2 meals

The kitchen, with my husband’s cancer and necessity of being away from the farm has devolved into a scary mess. I need to identify strange smells, and get them taken care of as well as argue with some level of success at the dishes. Dishes are not my favorite, but they are the thing that must be done.

Scrubbing down the dining area is also a necessity. The dining room is also my office, and the clearing house for all mail products. It’s another area that has been neglected, okay the whole house has been neglected, so it’s my job to get things back on track.

Cleaning out the car simply means moving everything back into the house on the farm. I have a large load of clothes in there that needs to be washed, dried, and put away.

The shower, my caveat to selfishness here. I actually have some more self care work than that to do.

Cook two meals, well, not really, the one meal, will involve hotdogs. I insist on figuring out what to make for supper though, and I’m going to be making it out on the deck to make my life a little more comfortable.

That’s about it, I’d better get busy. Have a good one.

LAB

Its time to settle down on the farm for the summer. At almost 9:30AM, I need to get busy working on the kitchen, cleaning the living room, etc… However I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors yesterday, and her words haunt me.

She complained about a writers group she had briefly joined. She was the only author of that group. The other writers were complaining about the muse hitting or other utter horse manure, and she kept thinking about what she does to write.

She talked about sitting down and writing until the word count is made. And I agree with that. Yet I haven’t been doing it. I’ve been distracted by cancer surgery and ER visits and by hospitalizations. I’ve been distracted by family drama and by working on this and that. By organizing two households etc…

I haven’t been writing. I haven’t been painting. I haven’t knit in a long time.

Sitting here on the farm, I want to cry, because I’ve mucked up ever so many things.

Yesterday, I took the Hubs back to Worthington, his “ONLY HOME” and I wanted to scream the whole way. I felt like vomiting, I felt the urge to crawl away.

I can’t do those things.

You see, my “ONLY HOME” is this farm.

I understand.

I hate what he is doing, I’m terribly worried, but I can’t fight his depression, I can’t fight his anxiety, and I can’t fight his alcoholism or drug addiction.

I can only fight my own.

So, this morning, I’m sitting here, writing my word count on the blog, and praying that the Hubs is okay. Have a good afternoon, I’m going to be spending mine with soap suds and a Rosary.

LAB