Let there be kindness

I received a gift today that was special and simple.  It said volumns.  

What do we want in life?  We want to know others are out there for us.  

Too often we feel alone, unloved, unwanted.  We are not,

 but sometimes it helps to be reminded that someone cares 

and is thinking of us......

no money spent other than a stamp, some time and some thoughtfulness...

from my sister Ceci in the mail today, a kindness that made my day in a big way.

the kids

We do not own big dogs.  

We own a giant breed Great Danes. 

 I live with them 24/7 so I forget that others find them big as in BIG.  They can be overwhelming even to us, but overall they are GENTLE giants and silly dogs.  

6000 pictures

My computer, my faithful 10 year old laptop with minimal memory decided

 not to run CD/DVDs so I decided it was time to think

of a realistic replacement....something slightly better 

with more speed and more memory 

so I didn't have to worry about my computer gagging on pictures or programs.  

Mac was a thought but then I have to start all over again

 and that as tempting as it was got ruled out.  

There are so many choices and none wrong.  I finally told Tim to help me decide.  Unknown to me he hit staples and bought me an inexpensive dell 

with lots of memory and a mouse and keyboard with strings.  

Those had to go but so far Dell has been good.  

Like all transitions, we had some change pains.  

About a full 24 hours of wondering if this was a good idea or a really bad dream.  

It is now coming together with programs recognizing each other. 

 Pictures are still a bit of a nightmare which I can not cope with until I am feeling strong.  I really need a good software program for photography  and haven't found that as yet so.....

and my office software has not arrived so my desk is full of two computers 

with competing mice.....

it is good it has been raining as it ties me to the computer fix.


Well computer woke up this am sort of....no pic on monitor, any monitor.  
Not good ----so computor going to the ER at staples....OUCH
don't we love technology?  NOT

The saga continues.....word is that the patient is all rightl  It was not a deadly disease.

changes

Today was the start of change day.  

I smudged the yurt and that is a story unto itself.  

Having done that I started with the underneath, raking leaves finding misc treasures, ours and Jordan's. 

After 4 hours of  Hot and steamy I came come home to an invite to do Pie a la mode at Apples Acres.  Off we went for "lunch".  Yum.    

We walked over later together with the dogs to evaluate what stays, what gets trashed, what gets added.  

I have washed all the linens and will take them back tomorrow. 

Early on I cleaned the green slime off the propane tank. That was nasty and makes the biggest difference.  How silly that the propane clean up meant so much to me but it did.

Parts of the deck will need replacing.  

I took apart a little garden at the foot of the steps.  It was not happening and almost painful. Another garden on the other side needs some TLC and plants may go where the annuals were pulled out. Or maybe wildflower seeds.  

Love the rocks under the yurt and the plantings  --- 

some of the plantings work, some do not.  

Rebuilt a part of the stone where it had collapsed.  I have raked a million leaves out from under, brought some things to be trashed from underneath. 

Not sure on the desk, and assorted of the roughly built additions, the shelves, the saw horses.  They will probably be re-homed or trashed.

Need a new step for the outhouse.  

Tim has taken the wood and cut it for firewood. 

Trimmed some branches over the outhouse and will clean the roof when a vent is added.  

We need to clean the vinyl.  

This is the bestest space and needs a little TLC so others can feel the wonder 

of this circular space.  Overall not much needs to be done.  

Need to take a deep breathe, stand back, and after letting it tell us, 

pull it together in a good way. 

hearing

I am going to post about hearing.  

The gift of listening is huge - really listening. But before you listen, you must be able to hear.  Listening is impossible if one can not hear.  My daily life is with one who can not hear.  It is to me big, to him obviously not so.  I have more or less given up.  I can only fix me.  I have planted a million seeds and so have others, family and friends and I thank them for speaking up. Their concerns were not heard,  but sometimes one does not want to hear the unpleasant.  

 The bottom line is we all have issues we deal with, and some problems we can fix and some we cannot.  This to me seems fixable if one wants to hear the problem and address it.

It is tiring not to be heard so I have stopped speaking as much.  Does it matter, does it make a difference? I doubt it. One tires of trying and when one is dealing with an adult who chooses stupid One must step back, take a deep breath and allow the other to be stupid. For those of us who like to control and direct this is not easy.   Hoping that not hearing voices, telephones or sirens will not kill the other.
Bottom line, I would love to be heard, not to listen to the TV at high range and so much more, but it is not mine to fix or it would be fixed.

transistion

This morning I visited the yurt.  It is such remarkable space.

It felt good to stand in it.  It is in transition from rental back to ours.  

I have missed the space and the space around it. 

In the years it was being used,  I tried to be respectful 

of that space leaving it for our tenant. 

 I love all of the land here.  In giving up the space I felt a hole. 

 The rental did not work as I had hoped.  It was not bad, 

 a bit of a disappointment.  Perhaps my expectations were too high. 

Towards the end It felt unloved and uncared for.  How sad.

 Our tenant had moved on, at least in her heart.

Will we "rent" again? 

 In talking with my sisters, 

and my friends who have rented,  and my boss who has a rental

 (can you tell I felt I needed advice) 

one message was repeated

 rent in exchange for work, collect the rent,

then pay for the work as it is done. 

Okay, got that for future.

The magic tenant is out there somewhere.

The one who wants to live on the land,

work the land, love the yurt and the land as their own.

It is how I always rented.  We lost money when renting

by improving them like they were ours. 

We put in kitchens, built additions and decks, fenced, painted.

 I shall put it back out to the universe that the yurt needs to be used well, 

be it by us or overnights, weekends for friends 

or R & R  outings for non-profits 

or the magical long term.

In the meantime, the magic tenant is out there

waiting for our paths to cross

 and they will.

seeing

I take pictures.  Some I love, many I delete.  

This pleases me.

truly get this

an exercise in fun

Today after a lunch at Krista's, Janet and I stopped on the River Road in Hiram 

and took pictures.  We both were pretty much shooting the same things.  

then we came home edited and compared.  

Nice to play with another, see what they saw.