A Day in the Life

I just have to tell y’all about the perfect day I had yesterday. It started in the morning when the hubster brought me a cup of tea in bed. He brings me tea in bed every morning! Unless it’s the weekend, when I always wake up first, and then I bring him tea in bed. Our morning cup of tea ritual is our chance to have a few moments of conversation and connection before the busy day starts, and before the Drama Princess wakes up and starts chattering. (Tea is also one of the few things the hubster is allowed to make. He’s sort of frightening in the kitchen, I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before.

THEN I got a phone call from an on-line friend who lives in Wisconsin, and we had a nice talk.

After my phone call, I got up and checked my e-mail and blogged, then made breakfast with our eggs and some locally made organic sourdough bread, and butter from just over the Coast Range (about 30 miles away, give or take a few miles). And I finished off my last bit of toast with some home-made apricot jam from Oregon Apricots. Mmmmmm . . .

After breakfast I got dressed and put some black beans in a bowl of water to soak for lunch, and then started a batch of polenta. Once the polenta was in the pie pan cooling, I spent a nice long time smudging the house with some loose incense I purchased from Summersea Herbs. It smelled SO GOOD and the house just felt delightful when I was done . . . very serene energy. After the smudging I took a basket outside and picked enough flowers for a bouquet (my first of the season, other than some daffodils last month). And then I gathered dandelion greens and flowers, violet leaves, mallow leaves, and bittercress leaves for to complete the lunch.

I had just finished when my friends arrived; we walked around outside for a while identifying weeds and visiting the chickens, then went inside so that I could give one of my friends reiki. After reiki we ate lunch; I baked the polenta, seasoned the beans, and sauteed the garden weeds with some fresh garlic and chives. Then one of my friends did some energy work/massage on my back, which was amazing and delightful and I felt so much more relaxed after!

They stayed until about 5:00. After they left I roasted chicken for dinner, which we had with the last of the polenta from lunch and some roasted garlic.

After dinner we spent some time outside with the chickens! Now the weather is warmer and the grass is lush, we’ve been letting some of the chickens out in the evening for a few hours of supervised free-ranging. We’d love to allow our chickens to free range all the time, but the number of dogs, coyotes, raccoons and possums roaming our area makes this choice most unwise. The chicken tractor is our answer, as I’ve mentioned before, because they still get fresh weeds and insects frequently–but it’s nice to let the ladies roam free occasionally.

Yesterday evening was one of those idyllic evenings when the slant of light sheds a beatific splendor over everything, and we watched our glossy-feathered Rhode Island Reds rush around the field in an ecstasy of grazing and scratching

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Kismet, the neurotic Siamese, even emerged from the house; the chickens really make him nervous:

Our apple tree is blossoming in the most amazing profusion, and the ladies really enjoyed walking under the tree and eating fallen petals like candy. Can you blame them?

The new chicks are teenage chickens now, and they are pretty little ladies, aren’t they?

And finally, because I am apparently obsessed and unable to control myself, check out this gorgeous dandelion seed head:

I’ve never understood why anyone would see this as anything other than beautiful. Am I crazy? (Please don’t answer that question.)

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. Ever have one of those days where you’re truly happy, and you KNOW you’re happy? That happens more and more these days, as we slowly build the life we want. I have so much to be grateful for.