if I could wake up every morning and still smell like campfire
my hair
my clothes
having tumbled into bed too sleepy to change
dust on my feet
marshmallow on my cheek
sore strumming fingers...
that would be the mark of a life well lived.

Uker Night

Hi friends,

Days are marching along, how about you kick back and relax with us this coming Tuesday (3rd Tuesday of the month) to strum and sing?

We've a number of people on our mailing list who aren't able to join us each month (or ever, due to distance!) I'm going to try to remember to start posting copies of the songs we've been messing around with on the facebook group so you can find them. (Northumberland Ukulele Orchestra

If you're new to the mailing list and haven't been able to come check us out, or are feeling a little nervous, don't fret pet! Pick up your uke and come learn along with us! Our biggest goal with this group is to make music accessible and FUN. Any skill level is welcome, we'll team up with you to help you along in the sticky parts.

How we run the night: We aim to start at 7pm, but if you're hungry, or just too excited to wait for 7, come early and eat dinner with us. Dinner happens downstairs in the pub, Uking happens upstairs in the front room. We have a song book of sorts, and we go around the circle, either teaching a new song, sharing a song we've been learning, or picking a song from the song book.

Coming events:

Cobourg's busker fest Saturday June 12. Our own Ruth W can be found Uking in the streets

July (date- and rain date- to be announced) Ukey-Q ... A BBQ and campfire with our Ukes (no Ukes will be burned).

August- we'll finally cave in and play downstairs (open mic style and a few from our song book together) in front of non-Ukers... maybe we'll make some converts.

So that's it for now, if you've got a song to share, please bring some extra copies with you next week.see Uke soon!

LMB

hobbits are suppose to be small

one of the charms of the house was this cat door that led to the pantry... I pictured the Bunnies passing in and out of it, free to roam with a safe retreat....

um.what was I thinking? he's nearly the size of the door!

love

I have friends who make me smile.
My heart hurts with the joy they bring me.

I wish that I had words.

the first of many

Today my new life with just one job starts.
the sun has been shining.
plants have been dug.
watered.
ukuleles have been played.
bunnies have been kissed.
seeds have been purchased.
neighbours welcomed.
old friends chatted with.

and it's just past noon.

count down to something

it feels good to be muddy.
digging in the warm dirt.. dirt warmer than the air.

I'm peddling as fast as I can, and I'm not keeping up. I can make it the last 5 days.

Yesterday I came home to an empty house, with no where I needed to be for 17 hours. I dropped my bags outside the door, took off my shoes and picked up my shovel.
I hunkered down in the garden for the next couple of hours. I dug a new flower bed for tall privacy plants (from seed) this year- next year a hedge will go in the back of it to screen out Mr."I'm BBQing STEAKS TONIGHT!".

The dirt worked it's way under my nails- on my toes and my hands. I scraped rocks, I moved hidden treasures (I think I found the hulk's arm and gi joe's head) and chatted with the kind neighbour next door. I worked till I hurt.

And it felt good.

post secret

This week's postsecret postcards were hard to read.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm failing her for not commemorating her in the ways that others do for their own.

seasons

I posted this to my facebook page today...

there are lots of changes going on, the rumor mill talks fast, so you've likely heard that I quit my day job- this is just one step in a series of things that I need to do for myself this year.

I'm cutting back, the cell phone will be gone (for real this time) by the end of the month. The tv is gathering dust. I've dropped some extra activities. I'm going to focus on some things that I need to focus on.

I've just cut the feed from my blog to facebook- I'm hoping to write more without the pressure of many people reading (if it's out of sight, it's out of mind). I'm going to go for walks, I'm going to take naps, I'm going to catch up with friends, I'm going to dig in the dirt, I'm going to find joy in the things around me.
I'm pretty pumped.

Best life ever.

block head

When I make a plan, I procrastinate to the end, but I finish it.
That's what I do.
Most of the time.
Or, When I make a plan, I go whole hog and burn out along the way, and give up hope that it'll ever happen. (That's the messy one)

Those are my patterns. I recognize them, and I try to work around them.

BUT.
I'm happy to say that I've broken that trend and finished something that I'm pretty darn proud of. I quit my job on Friday.

I reached my goal (the hobbit house), and now there's no need to live the life of a workaholic.

Some people are surprised when I say I've left my unionized Monday to Friday position in favour of working at the group home- but when you get down to the math of it, and what makes my heart happy- I've made the right choice for me.

After today, 7 more shifts at the day program- my last 12 day stretch.
I did what I set out to do, created some independence for myself with the Hobbit House- now I'm going to enjoy a job well done.

What are you going to do with your time?

HA!

strong hobbitses

Strangely enough, a fence that took me two days to take down, took me only 3 hours to put back up again...
The house is looking like my house.
The yard is turning into my yard.
I'm feeling a real sense of accomplishment.
it's good.
Taking some advil tonight will also be good.

today:
pulled the last fence post out of the ground at the front of the house
moved the hot tub into the yard
put the fence posts back in
rebuilt the fence
planted onions/ created 2 new gardens
drank some beer
visited some friends
chased a rabbit
dug weeds
met some neighbours.

next I'm going to sit in that tiny hobbit bathtub and try to soak off some dirt- the hot tub won't be hooked up for a few more weeks.

oh, and I quit my job.

*grin*