Rest & Relaxation, Much Deserved

   What a Saturday! What a grateful first half of a weekend.

   After too many consecutive days of working too hard for too long each day, Handsome has finally joined me for some slower paces and quieter rooms. I could not be happier. I have been at the farm all week, but with him here I really feel at home.

   Late last night M Half and I returned from a really fun book club dinner with eleven fabulous women and agreed it had been one of our best days ever. We said our sweet dreams to each other and went our separate ways. Then I crept into bed and found my guy already on the edge of a delicious, sleepy coma. The good kind of coma that overtakes a person warmly, gradually, heavily, like an old, weighty quilt in a cold room. Even in the dark I could see the cloak of rest all over his body. We let the History channel usher us past midnight and into the deepest recesses of sleep. I woke up at some point with confusing images of Andrew Jackson and Jeff Bridges from Tron. Weird. But it all made plenty of sense at the time.

   This morning we all enjoyed perfect coffee as the sun was yawning over the farm. I made biscuits and either cheese or veggie omelets for everyone. And M Half and I crammed in some more lofty conversation about things like food origin (trying to exact our convictions without being judgmental). Her visit was drawing to a close. She has been at the farm since Wednesday and today is traveling to Colorado for an annual snow shoeing event with her good friend and fellow book clubber Kerri. (Hi Kerri!) But this morning we all lingered for more friendship, stretching the hours a little too far, allowing M Half and Mia some extra bonding time. 

This photo was actually taken on Friday during an all day cuddle fest.

   After saying goodbye to M Half, Handsome and I explored our neighborhood for a while looking in vain for garage sales and auctions. We returned home and saw that his sweet parents had delivered some little surprises for us in our absence, and we got a giggle. 

This is a salvaged plywood box reserved sternly with an inked up strip of masking tape. 
We have big plans for it around here.

   We sneaked inside (as if someone might try and stop us) to recharge our batteries a little more, eat some lunch, cuddle, and nap. It was so restorative.

   Eventually we found our way back outside. Back into the sun. To warm our own feathers.

   Handsome worked on Daphne's hooves for a while and checked her sore muscle, which is getting better every day. Daphne cuddled while I brushed her, and the chickens supervised.

   Dusty, the girls' little gray and white horse, has been due for some rope time for a while, and today he got it. He did so well! I watched comfortably from the edge of the field, joined the entire time by Mia and part of the time by Daphne. Handsome looked pretty good holding the lungeing rope and whip, too.

   A few more hours of generally soaking up the sun, ignoring the cold wind, and nibbling at projects here and there, distributing treats to our four-leggeds, and our afternoon was full. Nearly every moment of being outdoors Mia was on my lap.

   Today I had the pleasure of watching my overworked and over stressed husband gradually untangle himself from everything that had put him under that heavy cloak of rest on Friday night, mostly from the collective weight of it all. After a plain but heavy carb dinner of spaghetti, we have been continuing this marathon vegging. Almost new. Getting closer.
 
Wait, we might need tomorrow off too.
xoxoxo