In the mean time

I am slowly learning to expand my boundaries. I am an early early morning person. So just before sunrise, I decided to go look at a different place than our ridge to watch the sun come up. It wasn't really going to be a fantastic brilliant dawn.

But I thought, let's just drive around the countryside a bit and take a look.

This is a gravel road called Brookville Road, I drove down this road years ago when I took it to get over to the highway during bow hunting season to get some donuts at the bakery in town.

In September and October, this road at dawn has so much to offer in fall light and fog.

The shot above was at the end of September 2017. The camera was a point and shoot camera that had a pretty cool zoom on it. [I wore that camera out by 2019]

Saturday morning I thought I'd go back to the ponds to see if the Swans were still there. I grabbed the big lens and brought a smaller one. By the time I got into the river valley, I realized I wouldn't be able to see across the pond because of the fog. 

So, Charlie and I took our time and drove through the hills and valleys looking for something amazing and interesting. We found that and spent about an hour finding valleys, fog, trees, rays of light through the fog, and whatnot.

But I'll share that later. 
When I got back home, I got to work on my storage project. For all of our years, hubby insisted on having a large trunk in the house. It was a huge ugly shipping sort of trunk. It took up too much room in our tiny house and served no purpose other than to hold some of his Highschool books and an old Teddy Bear that was his when he was something like 6 years old.

Let me tell you, it smelled inside of it. Musty and icky. I rarely opened it other than to confirm that nothing in it was something I needed. This had been a bone of contention ever since I'd first lived there. A behemoth of a trunk that was not useful. 

I did later learn that Rich had stored this in his barn for years where he and his first wife had lived. [ewww, explains the musty smell]

These are photos that include a portion of the trunk from before our house remodel. To hide the trunk, I often put a table cloth over it. The TV sat on it.

Well, we no longer have Morris [the dog] or the bricks, or that heater.

Here is the living room now. The blanket on the couch is for the little dog how likes to hop up there. With the trunk gone, the room has opened up so much!

This was in the kitchen area for ever. This shot is from when I was trying to decorate for Christmas. I used the trunk to display my polar bears doing things. In the summer, it was a place to drop mail, keys, and junk. By the time we added several bottles of 02, the walker, and other items this summer, the space on and around the trunk became a disaster area. The little table on the left is an old farmhouse entry way table.

I've kept that. I'm going to find a nice spot for it somewhere and add the old water pitcher and washing bowl to it along with towels.

So to make a long story short.

I decided to order this....

After all, I've built really hard Lego Builds, so how hard could this be?

I sure learned a lot about cabinets, hinges. and drawers while making mistakes and doing it over again.

I learned how to fix and replace the hinges on the Lazy Susan by studying the hinges on this thing.

And finally, I got it all cleaned up and put together.

Tah Dah!

Done. Finished.
I'm getting another one to go around the corner from this one and replace where the trunk was. The storage really helps me with things that were just stacked around the place. Now the house/kitchen area looks very tidy. 

In another week, Ill be building again. I guess I do like 3D puzzles.

I wouldn't have taken on this task at another point in my life. But I thought this would be a good thing. Yes, it isn't top quality, but it is useful and I like it.

Mindful time

Sitting by the Creek

I hear the creek's waters
and look down through the reflections to watch
for signs of trout.
I see the sky and trees
instead.
I see the sandy bottom of the creek.
The patterns of the currents in the sand
and mud
that is crisscrossed by pieces of branches,
logs,
from a past flash flood.

I came here to think and to have some
quiet time. 
Sure that a revelation would pounce 
into my head.

Instead I am mesmerized
by reflections and 
patterns.

And I realize
this is
really what
I
came for.