Sometimes expression is difficult.
My “former partner” was the subject of a discussion recently. I didn’t know what to call him! He was my first true love, and that love continued until his untimely death in 1996. We lived together, we were not married, although he wanted to marry. He is often in my thoughts, and always in my heart. I ended up calling him “my former partner”, which seems so flat.
Life is a funny affair, you never know when you will come full circle and discover your own tail.
It is another busy day, here at the country house. After cleaning the masonry heater clean outs, I tackled the main firebox. Luckily most of the fine ash fell through the grate and into the ash dump. There were a few clinkers, which I scooped up and threw into the fire pit.
Next on my list was the little cast iron stove in the family room downstairs. I cleaned the glass. Then I cleaned the ash bucket. The ash bucket looked so good that I decided not to use it, because then I would have to clean it again. I didn’t think that one through! So I shovelled the ash into a large plastic bucket. Since the last fire was last week, there were no warm coals. After emptying the small ash dump tray under the stove, the removal job was done. Then the cleanup began. The wood stove and hearth are looking shiny and used!
I also began to clean the screened in porch. Attila used it over the winter to store firewood, so it was a real mess, and dirty. I got it swept out, but have to wait until we get the arbour out of there and into the garden, before washing the floor.
The realtor and his entire team are coming tomorrow morning. I anticipate a good photo and video shoot, it is supposed to be sunny. Our house has a lot of windows, so when it is bright outside it is bright inside too.
There is much left to do before the arrival of the realty team!
Attila did some painting of the new stairs during his brief lunch break. I offered to do more, but he said no, he would do it. I think he has his plan of attack all worked out and doesn’t want me to interfere with it.
I killed the wasps nest in the old gas BBQ that resides on the deck. It has to go to the dump, but will probably end up in the shed at the back until Attila has a chance to make a visit to the dump. I arranged the lawn chairs on the deck, carried the lounge chair up, washed the spiders and dirt off of it, and observed that I have to vacuum the deck again, more stain has peeled.
I have a list of little jobs, it never gets shorter because as I cross things off, more little jobs pop up.
Attila and I are tired, but are managing to keep going. We eat well, and we are sleeping well. There just isn’t any down time right now.
Soon I will be leaving for the little house in the city, and Attila will be left here to handle the house viewings on his own. I am trying to get the house into a condition where Attila need only attend to cooking his own meals, bathing, doing his own laundry, and doing a minimum amount of daily cleaning to keep the place looking ready for potential buyers.
Already Tank is packed tight with items that we are moving to the little house in the city. Soon we will pack a lot more into the car, which I will drive to the little house. Attila will travel in Tank, to join me after he gets home from work on Saturday.
We have way too much “stuff”!
There is a frost alert for tonight, so the planter I bought to hang in the arbour will be staying in the living room until tomorrow morning. We haven’t planted anything this year.
I think this entry may be as scattered as I am feeling!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
14°C
Date: 4:00 PM EDT Wednesday 13 May 2015
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.6 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 13.7°C
Dewpoint: -1.4°C
Humidity: 35%
Wind: W 15 gust 30 km/h
Quote
“True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.”
Joseph Addison
1672 – 1719
I’m scattered just reading about all the things you have done and are doing! Amazing. Now how come you are going back to the house in the city? I must’ve missed something along the way….
Bex, two little words are my motivation for heading to the little house in the city: Black Flies. They have started, but aren’t swarming yet.
Another reason has popped up, Attila has taken on a part-time job! Boggles the mind, doesn’t it! He is working with a contractor, and next week he will be heading directly to the contractor’s job site immediately after he leaves his day job. If I stayed at the country house, I would not see him but for a few brief minutes a day. Time to leave!
Attila really likes his part-time job, looks forward to it all day long at his day job. Go figure. I am a “work widow”! He will take a prolonged break from the part-time job when I return in the summer, when the black flies and mosquitoes have died off a bit.
Of course, the stay at the little house in the city is what I PLAN to do, and my plans, well, you know, my plans hardly ever work out the way I plan them!
Maggie, while I wish for you to have a qualified buyer sooner rather than later, I’m also hoping for a goodly handful of viewers, just so Mist will have visitors. It’s great that she’s picked this time of her life to be social–as long as the company keeps coming.
LOL Wendy! You are right! Mist will enjoy the whole experience, bless her soul. She has settled down now, so much so that she has returned to using subtleties to get what she wants.
I was charging through the living room, bent on doing something with the broom, when I felt her eyes following me from the corner of the room. I turned to see her sitting calmly, almost serenely, by her food bowl, which was empty. She made not a sound. I dropped what I was doing and immediately attended to getting food into that bowl for her! She quietly sauntered over to it, once it was filled, and had a light snack.
Maggie, I’m thinking that if the country house does sell that you and Attila will move to the city house, collapse in quiet heaps for a week or two, and then start looking for things to do! Your lives are so active I’m not sure how well either of you would handle true retirement.
Oh, and maybe the cold will kill off your black flies for a while. *fingers crossed*
Best of luck with getting the house up for sale!
You might be right about Attila and I looking for things to do, I already have a list! I want to setup a rainwater collection system, have a big garden, travel in the summer to the camp and stay in a trailer, visit family, attend free events (we don’t have pensions, so we will be looking for free things to do because we will be spending our $ on food and shelter). Then there are a few crafty types of things I want to do, and Attila is a visual artist with no time for art for the last 20 years, so I am hoping he will take up his brush again. We are always “getting into something”, as my Mom would say.
It is interesting about black flies, the heat kills them, the cold only slows them down. They will be bad for a month or so, then the mosquitoes will start. If we have a hot summer both types of biting insects will have died back significantly by July.
Thanks for the good wishes re the house sale. This is our third pass at it, and the realtor is young and very ambitious, so I think it is our best chance yet. The realtor we had last year drove by a few times today, checking us out. We aren’t listed yet, but I have made my decision about who our realtor will be!
Terra tells me the third time is a charm!
Maggie, what a dark horse you are! I’ve been reading you for years and you’ve never once mentioned this earlier love. What a loss for you, and how fortunate you were to find Attila and enjoy a good love again.
I do feel very fortunate Kate! The loss of “my former partner” was devastating, to understate the feelings involved, it is still very close to the bone. If I could have gone with him, I would have. But my children needed me, and that was a blessing that kept me going. I still feel him, the tug, the longing; life goes on, and has offered me other treasures.
Finding Attila was an unexpected and wholly joyful experience. How lucky I feel to have had such a wonderful first love, and to now live with my best friend. It reminds me of the saying, “When God closes a door, he opens a window.”
I can understand the idea of looking for free things to do, DH and I won’t have pensions either. At this point, we’re looking at selling our house some years down the line and investing the profit into something like an annuity.
I was going to suggest looking at daytripping.ca for interesting things to do but I notice they don’t go far enough north. Searching on “daytripping Muskoka” brought up all kinds of interesting websites, though.
Maggie, My head is spinning. You and Attila are so busy! I know only good will come of it. I hope the house sells quickly. It does sound like a very nice house. Once the photos are on site can we see them?
Black flies, now I understand!
I also would love to see photos. Until then… my goodness! You have been busy busy!
Though I’ve been married twice and divorced twice and none of the divorce stuff was fun, as time has rolled on I’ve been mindful of the glorious love we shared and the many good years spent together. My unfair hindsight vision has determined I chose poorly and for the wrong reasons… my more mature self realizes I do best alone. 🙂 I was intrigued and marveled over the separation sadness you experienced this winter when you and Attila were separated for long stretches. To my way of thinking, it sounded like the perfect balance that would’ve possibly made my marriages work. Solitude is my unfortunate preference – but I’m also able to be exceptionally happy for those who pair well. Love.
Teri, retirement seems a long way off for us! Right now Attila has two jobs, I am basically retired, but Attila is not. I am hoping he can retire a bit early, so that we might have some retirement years together, but that may not happen. We are trying to make the most of any time we do have together!
Nora, the pictures aren’t out there yet. I am a little nervous about linking them to the blog, might be better to send the links to those interested in an email message, so let me know if your in for that. 🙂
Reenie, I grew up the eldest of six children, the first five one year apart in age. It was like running with the wolves, we were a pack, we were very close, we were never alone. That is what we were used to, and that is what feels comfortable to me. I can spend time alone, and quite happily, but I miss my “pack”.
My Mom said an interesting thing when she was here on Mother’s Day. We were sitting on my coffee table, which serves many purposes. It is square and we were sitting back to back.
“This is perfect,” she said, “It seats four people and they can’t fight with one another because they all have their backs to each other. You kids were always fighting!”
I laughed, because it was true, we were always tussling with one another, the way baby animals do!
We are all different Reenie, which is something I find endlessly fascinating! I am glad you enjoy solitude, and are able to enjoy companions when you choose to do so! You are such a positive energy, being around people all the time must take a lot of energy, and mean that you need time to recharge.