thankful thursday

Today I am feeling so thankful for Minou in my life.
He is travelling for work and I miss him.
I do not always show him enough appreciation for being his wonderful, quirky self.
He is kind, funny, sensitive, tender, principled, passionate, playful, determined,
loving, forgiving, silly, creative...
and basically a soft-hearted solid rock of a good person. A good man.
A total kid at heart. An adult in the day-to-day.
He believes that love is in the details, in what you do.
I am so lucky that we met all those years ago and have grown (up? older?) together.
My sweetie.

mood magic

I keep thinking about a term I read long ago in a book called Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg.
That term was "wrestling with the tofu" (or how about "wrestling with the futon"-ever tried to move one?)
It's the process that one's mind can go through when sitting down to meditate.
Or in my case, trying to overcome inertia or grumpiness.

Rather than wrestling with my own mind (sounds so complicated), I resort to linguistic tricks.
When I am sitting on the couch with my laptop and need to get up and get moving,
telling myself "You know you need to go EXERCISE" just makes me feel teenage rebellious.

So instead I use...it's time for a little Mood Magic!
Once my shoes are on and I'm out the door (with my trusty big brown dog), I feel instantly better.
And that elevation lasts for hours. Effects are doubled when the sun appears along the way.

Minou used to complain when I headed out the door to jog, leaving him alone with two tiny p'tit minous.
He learned over time to say "Good for you--it's good for your heart".
These days I bet he's pretty glad for the existence of Mood Magic.
I'm much nicer to live with because of it.

Some days he even says "Don't you want to start your day with a jog?"

How about you? What's your Mood Magic?

v-day

Happy Valentine's Day!
My sweetie knows the way to my heart. That Minou Man is so thoughtful.
Look what was waiting for me on the table at breakfast.

A pound of organic French roast coffee, plus Voodoo Doughnuts for the p'tit minous.
Hope your day was sweet as well.

a wednesday walk

Today is Wednesday, the midway mark for my work week.
Minou phoned me mid-morning to remind me of our Wednesday lunch meeting.
We used to try to do this weekly, but fell off our schedule during the visit of his maman.

It was such a nice surprise. Immersed in what I was doing, I had forgotten about our tradition.
Instead of eating lunch together, we decided that today we would go for a walk.
And it was perfect. He brought our big brown dog and met me at work, and we went off to walk the bike trails next to the river. It was so much fun to walk hand-in-hand watching the joggers, bikers, families, and ramblers in the park, along with the river through bare trees on the bank.

A weak but very welcome sun came out. We soaked it up.
A beautiful hour together.

And...nothing purchased. No money spent.
What's your favorite simple pleasure?

sorting

Usually in our home, it's Minou who prefers to hold onto things. He is sentimental and a historic preservationist to boot. So when he suggests sorting things, I jump into action before he changes his mind, and never ask "Are you sure?".

As we convert our storage attic into a sleeping space, a lovely Attic Addition, we need a new storage site. We don't have excessive amounts of things to store, but there are some. Camping gear, suitcases, younger-kid toys, and boxes of papers and letters and mementos and such.

It's the papers that are the most difficult.

Our plan is to create a storage space under the stairs. What is currently under the stairs is a large metal cabinet intended for architectural drawings, which Minou rescued from an office where he used to work. It's so big that when we built our little house, we had to build in a space there, a hole in the wall, so that it would fit.

It has to go. It will go to the garage, so that if Minou ever has his own office space out of the house it could still be used. But in the meantime, the top half of it is full of family things that need sorting.

Art paper.



Kids art and school work, organized (mostly) by year...



Framed artwork we are rotating, and National Geographic maps.



Framed family photos and artwork awaiting frames.



Oh it's a big job.

conques

Another snapshot of summer warmth.
A day trip from our home base in Luc, Aveyron, a hamlet of maybe 24 people.
I loved the cathedral St. Foy (not so much the windows by Pierre Soulages).

I loved the details of the stonework.

I loved wandering around the medieval town.

 

 

I loved the time with Mamie. It was very hot and steep for her, but she was a good sport, always.

 

 



I loved the patient streams of pilgrims coming and going from every direction, like lines of ants, with their backbacks and walking sticks. Someday I'd like to walk that route with Minou.

minou & me

The boys, p'tit minous un et deux, have requested to not be visibly present in this space.

Minou has made no such request.

He is such a cutie.

 

 

Sometimes a little silly though...

 



 

Attic Addition

Here are those photos of our future retreat under the eaves...

before:

Notice the luggage, the sentinel Nutcracker, and the piecemeal fiberboard flooring.

 

after:

Notice the framed-in window, new light boxes, insulation batting, and the beautiful pine decking.

Doesn't it look more spacious now? I am so grateful for the help we have had to create this space, from friends who are generous with their times, skills, tools, and support.

Here's the next step:

A truck full of rigid insulation waiting to be cut (yucky job) then fitted into the ceiling.

I will have to be patient this week, as Minou is busy with other projects.

 

It's moving forward. At least once a day, I pull down the ladder and poke my head up into the Attic Addition to breathe in the pine smell and dream about a peaceful space of our own up there.

 

 

 

moody

I'm in a mood.

I shed a few tears over the Japanese house last night, then let it go.
Its sale is pending. It was snapped up once the price dropped--so low, but too high.
(I stopped tears quickly as P'tit Minou Deux said "Mama you're making me sad...")
The open, empty space. The Shinto temple aesthetic. It was lovely and unique.
I hope that whoever bought it will love it and live in it, not leave it as a university rental.

Here we are. Dreams aside. This is my home... la Maison des Minous.
And it is a sweet one. Well-insulated, wood-framed windows, trees all around, and the garden.
Also lovely and unique, in a warm, friendly, simple, crowded, cluttery way.
We built it from the ground up. (not really, but designed and watched it built)

Warm and friendly and simple is good. Crowded and cluttery, no.
I'm ready to part ways with Things. I want less of them. I crave open space.
I need fewer posessions than I own. I desire to break the emotional ties to them.
Expect to see progress on that Attic Avalance within the next week.
Tonight, I want everything to go.

monday morning goodbyes

Off went the minous this morning. So early it was almost still the night. I miss them already.I can't wait to be reunited, across the ocean, in a few days. It feels unreal.
But our connection is real. More real than separation. Love is most real.
I'm sniffly and sick today. For the past few days. Feeling tired and achy.
May my loved ones travel safely.

thankful thursday

Oh my Minou. He is a superstar husband. A superstar human being. I am very, very lucky.

Here he is going out to get the mail, while I remain on the couch with James.



Here he is bringing me the cold coffee that he made me a while ago & I left on the table:

He is saying "Full marital service!"

Je t'aime Minou!

thankful thursday

This week I am so, thankful that Minou is OK after a bike crash Sunday evening. He was just getting onto a single bike/ped lane over a bridge when another cyclist came careening off the bridge and crashed straight into him. Minou and the other rider were both knocked to the ground.

His face is bruised and his neck is sore, but otherwise OK.

So grateful.

Sweetness

Guess what day was Wednesday June 29th? That's alright, I didn't remember either.
It was my late day at work. I arrived home at 8:00 pm, tired and starving after the bike commute. I ducked into the house for an egg carton and bowl and back out to collect eggs and greens for dinner. Dinner washed & cooking, feed the cats, feed the chickens, feed the dog...what's that on the table?

Roses? A card? Chocolate? What was going on...?
A special day. 15 years since the church wedding & big party that marked our second wedding. Minou and I were married twice in the month of June, once at the beginning and once at the end (there were two full moons that June too, which happens only once in a blue moon). We generally count ourselves as doing well if one of us remembers one of our anniversaries. We both remembered the first one this year, so of course I forgot the second. Completely! But Minou didn't.

He enlisted some local help (on the part of my mom) to gather some mementos he knew I would like...because sometimes I can be traditional like that. I was so tickled by his sweetness. I had to have a little cry because we are apart.

Nothing to do but smell the roses, eat some of the chocolate, and break open a bottle of wine while waiting for the time difference to allow a phone call.

Thank you my sweet Minou. I love that man.