I don’t think I will be doing that again.

It’s too much for Scoutie. She tends to want to move around on the back seat and yesterday, for some reason, ended up on the floor several times where she was wedged in and couldn’t get back up. I had to pull over and help her up. Bless her heart, she doesn’t have the Border Collie ease of movement that she used to have. And I would get frustrated because she wouldn’t ‘stay’ on the seat in a safe position and because I was driving, I was powerless to help her until I could find an exit ramp.

We’re exhausted, especially dear Scout.

She was happy to be home for a brief period of time, yet she was unsettled, as was I. It’s a strange thing, this living away from home. Though we’ve done virtually nothing to this hotel room, it has become our little sanctuary. Then, suddenly, we’re back home, but only for a few hours….no time to take possession again, no time to embrace our little cottage. Just chores that have to be done, things that have to be packed to bring back to Hartford. After opening the windows, I watered the plants and immediately started mowing the front lawn. That took some time. Then I cleaned out the porch gutters, as best I could. Then I ordered a pizza because there is absolutely no food in the house. Then I went online for a bit. I spoke to Don. I talked to my neighbor. I vacuumed (something I didn’t get to do before I left.)

Scoutie wasn’t eating because she was unsure what was happening. She sensed that we were ‘between’ places. And my little cottage that I love so much wasn’t really ‘home’ at the moment because I couldn’t take possession again.

Does that make sense?

The other night I was talking to Don (pre-trip home) and I said that I didn’t really want to make the trip. That even though this was a temporary home, we had our routine here and I didn’t want to leave. He got it. He said he understood because, even though we both would like nothing more than to be in our cottage, our energy is here, in Hartford and New Haven. We’ve done what we always have to do on the road: we’ve created a life here.

So it was somewhat of a relief for both Scout and me when we got back to the hotel around 7:30. Both of us were exhausted. She ate. I watched baseball. My shoulders dropped a wee bit.

Monday, we have to move all over again. But the apartments, though not nearly as nicely decorated as the hotel suite, are fairly nice and we’re even closer to the park. So, that’s the upside. The downside is having to pack everything again and make trips back and forth in the car and then get Scoutie acclimated.

Back at the cottage (taken with the iPhone):

Zinnias and leaves on the ground.

There’s been very little rain back home. Seriously, I’ve never seen the rivers so low. The day before I went back home it rained for about 24 hours here in Hartford and, since we usually have the same weather, I assumed it rained at the cottage, too. Nope. So the zinnias in the Chicken Wire Fence Garden are shriveled. The morning glories are still blooming all along the fence. The zinnias in the barrels are doing fine. The hanging plants died, which I expected. And the potted impatiens, all still on the porch, but moved to a place where they might catch some rain water, are doing very well indeed. These are the impatiens that I nursed through the winter last year. They’ve now been going strong for well over a year!

Don’s deep in the midst of Tech Rehearsals, long ten-hour days. We barely have time to talk. I’m back in rehearsal starting this morning. Scout is sleeping.

There’s a new post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page this morning.

Happy Friday.