We woke (a wee bit too early) to the sound of thunder. Big thunder. Thunder that shook the house, along with flashes of lightning. Early morning thunder doesn’t happen very often. As we made coffee and opened windows, the thunder kept rolling; long and loud booms coming from over the mountains.

It was wonderful. There were no high winds; just thunder, lightning, and eventually, pouring rain. We have more coming today and tomorrow.

Sort of a magical way to start the day.

Thanks for all your comments yesterday. I’m not sure what to do. Ad income, by the way, comes to me simply by your visits to my little spot on the Internet. It doesn’t come if you read the blog from an email but don’t come to the actual blog. Anyway, the costs of hosting this blog and maintaining its security are covered by that ad income. In the last month, I’ve had to renew and pay for my host for another year. My security just got renewed yesterday. Soon, another form of security will be up for renewal, as well as the services I use to back up the blog. So I’m in the midst of paying out money for those services and having to make a decision about emails at the same time is a bit overwhelming

Most of you weighed in yesterday on the way in which you visit the blog and I really appreciate it. I think I’ll try a survey of sorts later this week – here and on Instagram – to see just how many people really need that email delivered to them, as well as if they’re even reading them anymore. Then I’ll make a decision based on the results.

I’ve started another Roseville painting. This is where I left it yesterday and I have much more to do. I try to find a balance between being too critical and accepting that it’s all a process. So far, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve created.

Now to find a tabletop easel. This one is too low and I end up with shoulder pain because I’m hunched over while painting. Shoulder muscles and neck tension are an issue already – always have been – and I don’t want to make that even worse.

Our days lately – we do our usual morning things; drinking coffee, waking up slowly, reading, meditating, Don goes to a virtual meeting at 6:30 am, I make our second cup of coffee and we chat for a while, then I write the blog and have some oatmeal. After all of that, Don goes upstairs to write music and record and I paint downstairs in the kitchen – along with, of course, all of the chores that need to be done on any given day. I like that we’ve found spaces in which to create, spaces that shift and change depending on just what it is we’re working on at the time. Dollhouse? Upstairs. Painting? Downstairs. Don sometimes records downstairs if I need the studio space. We are very sensitive to each other’s needs so we adjust as needed. This is a small house, so we need to be respectful and flexible.

I’ve had a hard time reading lately, most likely because I’m immersed in painting and gardening. It’s fine. I’ll shift back to reading more at some point. I’m not worried.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.