Sunday, April 06, 2008

Bliss.

Today was a perfect spring day. Sixty-five degrees, breezy, sunshine-y all day long. Absolute awesomeness. I got some laundry done (yay), made a new crock-pot lasagna recipe (needs a little tweaking but yummy anyway), cooked no-bake cookies (always excellent), tried baking seven-layer bars (still cooling so the jury's still out), cleared the dead perennials from the flowerbeds (exposing new growth underneath, bonus), grocery shopped with Ken (double bonus) and walked around the woods near our house with Ken (triple bonus). All that plus I've made a little headway on the short story that's due May 1st. I honestly don't know what could have made this day any better.

Okay, okay, maybe an e-mail from an agent wanting to see a full manuscript. Other than that, though ... nothing. And, hey, the day's not over yet, am I right?

As Ken and I walked through the woods earlier today, I realized again how much I need to live in the country. We always talk about buying a house in the woods, and today just completely reinforced that notion for me. Friends of ours live in the country, and a few times a year they have bonfires. We go and eat food and drink wine and listen to the quiet and look at the stars and as we do all those things, I can actually feel my soul become peaceful, like I've found a piece of me that's missing. Today was a good way to recharge the batteries.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, damnit, that's what I miss living in the city. I grew up out in the country, and yes, there's a piece of me missing everyday now.

Glad you had a rockin' good day, though!

kate.innuendo said...

Our dream is a little house in the woods someday too. Hopefully retirement home...far from Indiana....if there are any woods left by then....

What I hate most about moving from a smaller city to a larger one is TRAFFIC NOISE and AIRPLANES. BAH.
And it never really gets DARK dark.

Someday I have daydreams of living REALLY in the city, in some hip area, in some little apartment within walking distance to everything and not owning a car.
I think I would only want to do that for a couple of years, though, and I think that's a young person's lifestyle so time is running out. But then again, if I am widowed someday I am not sure I'd like to live in the black woods. Maybe I'll have a condo in some pleasant part of a pleasant city and walk everywhere then. Hmm.

Kelly Swails said...

Sean: Nice to see you back, buddy!

K8: Yeah, I know what you mean. I've often thought it would be cool to not own a car and walk everywhere and live in the middle of the hubbub for a year or two. I'm edging into the years where I think that is cool less and less, though. And you're totally right about the city never being dark. I remember that was one of the first things I noticed when I went to college in St. Louis. At night ambient light would just stream into our room; it was like sleeping with a huge nightlight. My Chicago-native roomie didn't notice, but I sure as hell did.

Anonymous said...

Nice to back, thanks! Still lying low(ish), but I still need to catch up with folks, ya know?