A gray day, but the temp will hit the fifties. Then heavy rain tomorrow, with the temperature on Friday back down to the thirties. But then, from Saturday on, temps will be in the fifties and sixties. Huzzah!

The current puzzle. I worked on it for a few hours yesterday. It’s titled Village by the Sea  and it’s from a 1938 issue of The New Yorker, although the time period seems to be a decade or so earlier, given the horse-drawn cart and the women in long dresses. I like the cheery colors. I’m now to the point where I have to fill in all the trees and the road.

Time to order another one.

I’m going to work on the windows, trim, and baseboards in the English Cottage today. I ordered an unfinished wardrobe for the bedroom yesterday, as well as some kits for two different tables. I don’t know whether I’ll use them in the English Cottage or not. They may be destined for the Beacon Hill.

Don and I were in gratitude mode during our second cup of coffee. The view from the living room sofa into the kitchen always makes us happy. We realized that this year marks 20 years since we moved east. How can that be? We took off for the drive cross country on Don’s birthday that year. He turned 50. We turned our lives upside down in order to take a risk out here. I gave up my university professorship, my work at the Globe. All because we wanted to take a chance on something new while we were still relatively young. And somehow, after renting for four years, we managed to buy a house and carve out the lives we wanted to live up here in the Hudson Valley. Yes, our mortgage payment is hefty. Yes, we went through years in which we worried – every single month – whether we would be able to pay it. The stress was sometimes so enormous that I can’t adequately describe it to you. But we had faith in our decision and we kept slugging away and somehow, miraculously, we never missed a payment and the bills were always paid. We’re two freelancers with an income that changes every year. We aren’t like many of you who bought houses when you were younger and have paid off your mortgage. We met later in life and we started this house owning journey in our mid-fifties. We acknowledge that we won’t have the disposable income that is freed up with a paid-off mortgage. It is what it is and it’s absolutely worth it for us. Though I wouldn’t mind winning the lottery!

Big on my gratitude list: Don. He is the only person I can imagine spending my life with. He is the perfect partner for this adventure and I am grateful and humbled by the miracle that brought him into my life.

Okay. I guess it’s St. Patrick’s Day, though I don’t celebrate it even though I’m English, Scots and Irish, as well as German. If you do celebrate, have fun.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Well, I’m all thrown off by the time change. When I woke up this morning and checked the time on the cable box in the bedroom, I thought, “Wow, I really slept in!” I carried that thought with me as I came downstairs and then Don reminded me it was actually only 7:15. Nevertheless, the time says it’s much later and I have a deadline for this post.

So it will be brief.

It’s sunny today but we’re due for more wind this afternoon and evening.

I’m just about to finish A Chelsea Concerto  and put it aside to write this post, so I’ll be going back to it shortly.

I finished the puzzle:

This was the hardest one yet. So many dark colors; dark blues, grays, purples, and black, so it was often hard to figure out what went where. Early in the afternoon, I finally hit that place where everything seems to magically go in place. Finally! This is entitled: Monday at the Met, Monday being the traditional day the museum is closed. So you see the subjects of paintings, having exited their respective canvases, eating ice cream, and listening with headphones to a music player of some sort – this is circa 2001, so I’m not sure what was the rage at the moment. It’s awfully fun, this cover. The artist is Edward Sorel.

The next one is quite different and I’ll start in on it today.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.