A Busy Week

It’s Friday again! How the heck did that happen? Time just moves too fast!

Last week, we brought home a trailer load of boxes that had been in storage since our move to the cabin in 2022. We meant to get the totes out before now, but – as you know, life happens. When I first worked on the pile, unboxing and deciding what to keep or pitch, I became overwhelmed and cried.

Part of the reason we hadn’t unloaded the storage unit was that for nine months, we were busy running back and forth to my Dad’s in New York to help care for him. We also spent weeks there after his death, sorting through the things he accumulated during his life with my mom over 64 years of marriage.

I haven’t had many emotional moments during that time, but I did last week. I’m not sure what I was crying about – the loss of my dad or the work of sorting through “things” that I found overwhelming. Finally, I stopped and cried and recovered, all within a couple of hours. I was what some would call emotionally labile.

By the next day, my husband told me to do a couple of boxes a day (he was also going through boxes) and then do something else. That made me feel better. I was able to go through six boxes in two hours that morning. Pitching things I hadn’t used in three years was easier than I thought.

We’ve whittled down the pile by now, and I haven’t had any more meltdowns.

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It’s been a great week for poetry. I started on Monday by attending a Poetry Pop-Up that Jone Rush MacCullogh held. It was a very enjoyable way to spend an hour, and I met two poets, new to me.

I learned that there are several publishers accepting submissions, and it inspired me to do more research on Wednesday. I wrote three new poems, too. I’ve been editing them, triple-checking the rhyme scheme, and rereading to my husband, as he is my captive audience.

This nourished my poet’s soul.

My gardener’s soul was satisfied by getting in the garden to plant more natives and vegetables.

My teacher’s soul was satisfied by finishing a piece of enrichment curriculum on monarch butterflies. I posted about that earlier in the week, here. (Where it can also be purchased.)

Now we are getting ready to go on another trip. We leave early next week to go to San Francisco, Yosemite, and Sequoia National Park. My husband and I are both looking forward to it and hope that we’ll find that the parks are functioning well.

Artist, author, and educator Michelle Kogan has the roundup this week at her blog, More Art 4 All. Thanks for hosting, Michelle!