Expectations....

I think that there is a song called "Three O'clock in the Morning" or maybe those are some of the words in a song, but it is three o'clock in the morning right now which is maybe why I thought of the song. I feel like we have so much to do before Kim and Oliver and Holly and Sean come for a visit, and I wonder which of that long list will not get done. Oh well, it's better than it was and they are here for us, not the house, right?

I read a paragraph in a book and it said " - and I suggest that it is your judgements which keep you from joy, and your expectations which make you unhappy". When you expect you leave yourself open to disappointment. To allow the moment to be enough is a choice that we can make and prevents those disappointments that cause us sadness or anger in varying degrees. In my life, unknowingly, I have practised this philosophy a bit. For example, I have never insisted that my family remember my birthday and have always been somewhat surprised and pleased when they did. Mothers Day is another day that bugs me. I think that you must raise your children when they are young, to be honest, kind, trustworthy, etc. But if you raise them with the expectation that they will meet your needs as they become adults, you are asking for trouble. They are different people than you, and their choices will be different than yours would be in the same situation very often. The things that are important to them are not of value to you so to expect from them is setting yourself up for grief to come. If you don't expect them to remember your birthday, and they don't, then you won't feel bad. If you don't expect them to want to come over every Sunday for dinner, and their lives become so busy and full that they don't, then you won't feel bad. If you don't expect them to seek and follow your advice in every instance, and they find their own path in all things, then you won't feel bad.

Instead, watch with interest and acceptance, the route that they travel as they go through their lives. And if they seek your advice ocassionally, or if they remember your birthday this year, then live in that moment and enjoy the joy that that rememberance brings.

Ambra met the vet today!

I had to call the vet today for Ambra. She is such a piggie and it got her into trouble today. I used to feed them pellets all the time remember? But I haven't been able to find a basic pellet like that here and the basic mix that they have here for horses is actually more oats and corn and a teeny bit of pellets. Well she wolfed her pellets down and it got stuck in her throat. I sure sympathised with the feeling that she had. So she is standing there, sort of paralysed with anxiety and drooling and foaming at the mouth and every so often getting stiff and straining to swallow, sort of. Well it wasn't more than ten minutes of watching her and I decided to call the vet. So the vet came and tubed her which consists of pushing a big tube through her nose and down into her stomach and then we poured numerous containers of water into the tube to wash it all down. She was so good about the whole thing, I was amazed. Didn't fuss hardly at all. You would have been so proud of your magic pony. She is a grumpy girl but she is still a good horse. So anyhow, now she has big rocks in her feed bucket so that she is forced to push them aside in order to eat them in little bits instead of big mouthfuls.

Anyway, just thought you might like to hear about the latest about one of my girls.

Loves of my life...

I was just going through my pictures and saw some of my favourite folks. Aren't they a good looking bunch? And especially the really little one. And little Liam loves his Grandpa. You can tell by his smile, little cutie.

Cracklin' woodwork, yikes!!!

The woodwork in the old part of the house gave me a run. We had decided to paint all the woodwork because it is old and not anything special or worth hanging onto the wood look. So I started priming the bedroom doors, and then put a coat or two of latex on it. And the more paint I put on it, the more the new paint crackled! Ahh! What do I do to stop this! Having nothing to lose, I tried a coat of oil base and fortunately it stopped the cracking effect. So now I have painted the old dark wood stairway rail and doesn't it look pretty! I can hardly wait to get all of it painted. Makes it look so fresh and nice don't you think?

And the work goes on, and on, and on....

We are getting closer to being able to take a breath on our renovations. We have had more nights than I like to think of where I put down my paint brush at about 10:00 so we haven't really been able to keep up our blog like I would have liked, but I am going catch up a bit now. Lots of pictures and lots of changes going on.

We decided to put a porch over the entrance that we seem to be using more than the kitchen entrance. Standing in the rain while you are trying to find the keys just lost it's charm after the first time. So the man building it for is is "Odd Job Bob". He's very nice and as well as appreciating his skills, we have come to enjoy his and Sue's (his wife) company. Interestingly, Bob is a true gypsy, born and bred. He came from England and was born into the Traveller's life, so he has lots of interesting stories to tell and story-teller he certainly is.

And Don has been going gang-BUSTERS on the old stove wall. Bashed out the old brick with a sledge hammer, wrecked his arm again in the process and then has been putting the wall back together in preparation for putting on the new brick and heat shield. He's learning things he never thought he would have to!

Our yard (garden?)

There is so much to do, the list that is in my head goes on and on as I search for sleep. My body wants to quit, but the brain marches on. As I look out the window, I see the garden that needs so much work because, for the most part, it doesn't yet exist except in my mind. Right now it is only a yard. It is a little easier when you are renovating an old garden, because then there are bones on which to hang the flesh that will fill it out and make it your own. But when the bones aren't even there, where do you begin? Don once said that my plants should have wheels on them because I am forever moving them. He is right of course because even now, I have planted about half of the plants that I bought when we moved here, and there are at least five that are not in quite the right place. But now I will leave them until the spring because I don't have the time to make those adjustments.

We do have a nice little patio to sit on and it is kind of pretty to look out over part of thed field. It is sheltered from the wind that sweeps around our place. Well, most of the time it is sheltered and when the wind blows, the aspen that grows beside the yard shivers and tembles and is so very loud. It is like living beside a waterfall because of the sound!