The telephone rings and I answer groggily from under a
blanket on the couch. It’s my next door neighbour calling to see how I am
feeling, if I have anything to eat for supper. You gotta love small towns!
I’ve been couch and bed-ridden
for two days, too lethargic to move, to think, to do anything other than stare
blankly and sip fluids. For me the hardest part of living on my own is being
sick, although I have been quite content to stare silently at the birds picking
at choke cherries in my backyard trees, to watch the ice on the pond recede in
the afternoon sunlight. Basically to sit and space out, getting up periodically
to refill my juice, make some toast, put another log on the fire.
On Saturday I came home from a visit to Ashcroft and
Lillooet for a district Boy Smarts conference and painted prolifically, finishing four paintings in
the afternoon and into the evening. I found myself wanting to start another
project with all of these half-finished canvases loitering in my workspace, so
I had to get them cleared out before I allowed myself to make more mess in the
artistic sprawl of my studio room. How lucky am I? Sometimes I just can’t
believe that I have a studio room! Another beautiful part of living the rural
lifestyle. When I’m feeling up to it I will post some photos. All but one are
slated to go to different friends, although I would be happy to just hang them
up on my own walls, which is quite a satisfying feeling. It’s not always that
we artist types make things we actually like. But sometimes it happens, and when it does I
always feel thankful to the muse for showing up ready to make something
beautiful.
This writing thing is still going strong, although
thankfully I was over the daily word count before the flu hit me. I have 8,000
words left to make it to 50,000 by this Friday. Easily possible, and I am going
to keep going after the 30th because the story is flowing more
smoothly and easily now that I have written through the cobwebs in my mind. It
only took 30,000 words to get there, but who is counting? This project could take me years to finish, but I'm okay with just letting it come as it does.
I’ve also been going through some photographs that have been
collecting proverbial dust on my hard drive and plan on getting some printed
out to put up around the house. I have all this wall space, and have been
meaning to do this for years now, so maybe tapping into the energy of this
creative tsunami will help with my follow-through. The thing is that I get
overwhelmed with choice while using those computer stations at London Drugs. Do you want glossy or matte, boarder or boarderless, what size, colour
or black and white, how would you like to adjust your colour? I usually come
with a memory stick full of disorganized photos, hoping to pick and choose. All the other city errands of the day press themselves upon me as I sit there in front of the screen, overly sensitive to the
time ticking by, so I go through a few and then abort, freeing up time to take
care of more immediate needs, like getting groceries and renewing my car
insurance.
I’ll let you know how it all goes.
Went for a wonderful cross-country ski with a friend just
outside of Bralorne on Sunday, hours before sickness came knocking. The sun was
shining from a perfect cloud-free sky and the snow was cold and light, throwing
sparkles into the air behind us. Amazing. Looking forward to some more days on
the trails soon. I’m supposed to be headed down to Vancouver this weekend for my best friend’s 30th birthday party, weather and health permitting. And to print photos. And get groceries.
Well, I should get back to staring blankly in contemplation.
In comparison to being sick last year, this time it is much smoother. Perhaps
it’s because I have friends here now, so I am no longer starving for social
interaction. Perhaps I’m just more accepting of my whole situation here. Maybe I have
developed a comfort with this whole living alone, sitting in solitude thing.
Perhaps it is all of this, and more.
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