Birds, Baths, and Epsom Salts

"Do you want to go for a walk this evening?" That's all Dave has to say to me, and I'll cancel anything and everything to take a little tour around our little spot on the mountain. It's been such a cool, wet Spring that progress on the cabin addition has stalled out. The joining of the existing foundation to the new will require quite of bit of hand-digging. I'm sure the weather has delayed the crew on other on-going projects as well. We've decided to work on the few things around the cabin that are under our control. Conrad came up a couple of weeks ago and did quite a bit of tree trimming and scrub oak clearing.

With the trees cleared away from the little red A-frame, it brought attention to the one thing I've wanted to change about the cabin ever since we signed the papers. The color. Red is a lovely color; but I always feel a little like I'm approaching a barn or shed when we pull up to the driveway. A few days ago, I picked up a sample quart of paint and made a few swipes on the siding with a cheap foam brush. "Just to see". LOVE. We spent a Saturday painting the reachable parts of the front. After three color changes of the front door we ended up with the exact color scheme we were going for.

As with so many projects, we got diverted with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Yellowstone with a few of the kids and grandies. We tucked away the paint cans, brushes and rollers, and I changed my focus to prepping food for the trip. Of course the first order of business was to bake a fresh batch of sourdough. This week I tried a blueberry, lemon loaf, and a focaccia for sandwiches. I also made a little blueberry honey-butter. And at this point I'm on a baking roll (no pun intended), and made a simple cherry crumble for a little after-hike treat; mostly because I wanted to sprinkle a little of the beautiful French blueberry petal salt on top that I'd recently purchased from Ballerina Farms.

We got our boots on and went on and headed out. The mountain is finally turning green, and the volume of frogs and birds in the evening is almost comical. All creatures including the humans are happy about warmer temperatures.

As we approach the cabin, we both "Aaahhhh" at the new colors. And as with all projects, we start talking about the next things we ought to do; change the porch light, the door knob, stain the deck and replace the railing.....the list is endless. For now, we'll switch gears and start packing for our camping trip to a different mountain range. It's such an odd feeling now; leaving the peace of our mountain home to experience a similar yet entirely different part of the world.

Later that night after I had prepared food for our upcoming trip, I walked out to the side of the cabin where the deep-freezers are  (hopefully not for too much longer) to put it all away. I stood still for a while just to listen. The creek is running fast from the Spring snow-melt, and the soft breeze blowing through the needles of the pine tree was nearly intoxicating.

"In just over a month we'll have the longest day of the year and they'll start getting shorter again.", I can't help but ponder this when a moment seems nearly too perfect. I remind myself to just be immersed in, and not get caught up in the thing that is going to happen next. I come back into the cabin and closing the front door behind me, I see the blue suitcase Dave has set out for me so I can start packing for our trip. "I'm just going to not worry about the future, and enjoy the moment."

Instead of packing, I run a bath with some Epsom salts."Hey! I won't be able to take a long soak like this for a few nights, so I'm doing it now!"

My version of living in the moment.