• A base coat of white for the rehab project.

Today, I’m going to open up the kit that Barbara sent me. I need to find those pieces, like the door, that are missing. I also need to fill in some holes. Those slots you see on the left and right are for the porch, but my vision doesn’t include a porch, so they need to be filled.

And all these rooms need a base coat of white, as well. Not the floors, but the walls and ceilings. I’m going to go with a different color for the shingles and I’m trying to remember if I did a base coat of white for the shingles on Hummingbird Cottage. I’m betting I did. Once I’ve done all that painting, I’ll start in on the exterior stones.

I’m starting to make lists, which is a good sign that I’m finally engaged with this project.

Why is it that I am suddenly into this project when I have lots of work to do outdoors? Couldn’t I have ‘scheduled’ this for the winter months?

Oh, Claudia, your ways are mysterious.

• It’s sunny today. The temp went down to 25 last night. So it’s still cold. By next week, the nighttime temps should be in the forties and I will no longer have to shuttle the Boston fern back and forth between the porch and the living room. The only thing I’ve done outside is to move two chairs back to the funky patio. The Adirondack chairs and the wire shelves are still at the storage space. In the meantime, I can start raking some of the Item 4 back onto the driveway; a tedious job, but it must be done.

• We watched a beautiful movie last night. It’s on Netflix. It’s Our Souls at Night, starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Don watched it last year when he was staying in the city and kept urging me to watch it. We finally did. It’s simply lovely – a story about loneliness, being of a ‘certain age,’ and finding love when you least expect it. Such fine actors. This is the fourth movie Fonda and Redford have done together and you can tell they like each other, that they’re comfortable with each other. If you haven’t seen it, do watch.

We find ourselves craving simple, quiet films that concentrate on characters, that explore the everyday. This one is like that. So is Paterson.

• Don and I have been talking a lot about quality of life, of what we want this time in our life to be. Much is this is generated by the constant assault of this administration, the 24-hour news cycle, and the challenge of what we should let into our lives and what we should shut the door on. Just as we wouldn’t let just anyone into our house, I think we have to do the same thing with our consciousness. We’re trying to find the balance between taking action when needed and the peaceful, quiet life we want to lead here in the cottage. Though I don’t do organized religion, so to speak, I do believe in a Higher Power, God, Divine Intelligence, whatever name you might use. I’m very spiritual. I try to live a life that is not based on my ego, but oh, do I miss the mark – and frequently. I have so much to learn. Don is on his own spiritual journey.

All this is to say that we want to live a peaceful, loving, and joyful life as we move forward. We’d like to travel more. We want our cottage to be a haven, not a place where we are constantly expressing anger or outrage or feeling anything akin to hatred – all of which I have felt during the past two years. I no longer want to give someone else power over me. And that’s entirely my choice.  It’s my responsibility. And that goes for the small annoyances and interactions, as well, even tiresome comments on this blog. They’re extremely rare, thank goodness, but I just need to let them go.

I’m rambling here, but it’s been on our minds a lot lately. How do we do what is right, what we believe is morally right, and come from a place of love, while still acknowledging the cruelty or reprehensible nature of the action? How do we protect our lives here at the cottage? How do we move forward in peace? I don’t want this portion of my life to be fraught with anxiety. Neither does Don. Changing that seems daunting at times.

It’s an ongoing process, but a necessary one.

Happy Tuesday.