Change Is Hard

March 17, 2013
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Restless barn addition

I was restless today. I needed to be out there doing something. Alone. Do you ever long for an adventure just for yourself? The sky was blue but it was cold as mid March is want to be in Michigan. I took the camera and left with no destination in mind.

I ended up, as I usually do, in farm country. I didn’t find a lot that inspired me enough to want to get out of the warm car. But I found two barns for my collection.

It’s huge.

These are not my family’s barns. I really do need to do that…photograph the house and barns where my mom grew up. But these two caught my eye among the many barns I saw today.

It’s bright.

My adventure was not so exciting. But it was mine.

And that’s what counts.

Old

March 17, 2013
by dawnkinster 20 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

The weather people remind us that last year on March 17 we had 75 degrees (23.8 C). This morning when I took Katie-girl out for her morning jaunt it was 22 degrees (-5.55 C). What a difference a year makes.

The heat wave we experienced last March, no matter how much we enjoyed it, was a very bad thing. Many of our farmers had no crop last summer, most of us lost trees and shrubs. Though I long for spring I will wait, albeit impatiently, until the appropriate time for warm breezes and flowers. Meanwhile — Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of you! Enjoy some Irish Soda Bread and some forced forsythia that Katie and I cut from a bush in the yard last Sunday.

It’s blooming in the house today.

March 16, 2013
by dawnkinster 26 Comments

Living life big….or small?

Wonder who’s going to live here?

I commute to work every day, often driving through some very wealthy communities. For years I’ve been watching a couple of really big houses being built even though our area was hard hit by the recession.

I’ve watched these homes go up painstakingly slowly and wondered why. I’ve wondered who needs so much space, wondered what all the rooms were for.

Must have lots of bedrooms.

At the same time I’ve been reading blogs written by women living full time in RVs…some of them in very small places. The life of living small has always intrigued me. Many years ago I told my Mom I wanted to grow up and live in an RV full time. She said that I’d always want some home base, and maybe that’s so, but I don’t think way back then many people were living full time in RVs; certainly it wasn’t a movement it seems to be now.

I recognize that I view life on the road with rose colored glasses and by reading blogs I have come to realize a few of the realities of life in a fourteen foot recreational vehicle. The dumping of tanks, the challenges of cooking, finding internet access, doing laundry. Safety and health issues add even more levels to the discussion.

Still. I look at the photos of miles of dessert in the front yard of a small RV, or the canyons and mountains glowing under an evening sun and my heart is tugged.

Could you do it? Could you pare your life down to essentials…and would those essentials fit an RV life? Or are your essentials such that you need more space? Which would you rather live in? The new build? Or the little trailer in the yard?

Which provides a more interesting life?

I’m torn. But it’s fun to dream regardless.

Lots to think about.

March 12, 2013
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

So tired

Have you ever been so tired that you can’t even make it to bed? So tired your legs and feet ache, your hands tingle and your head seems to be in a fog?

That tired?

That’s where I am right now. A long day at work followed by a long rehearsal has me sitting here wondering how I can get myself out of the chair and off to bed. How to make myself go to sleep.

But my mind is running circles around my physical self. Lots to do at work. Should probably work late tomorrow night. But have lots of music to practice too. And the dog needs to work on heeling before class on Saturday; she can’t do that by herself. I need to order dahlias for next summer. I was supposed to do that in January. Should find the order form. We have no groceries in the house. What will we have for dinner tomorrow? I think I was supposed to call my college roommate last night. Or tonight. Can’t remember for sure. I promised some people at work that I’d develop a self employed training unit by the end of March. What’s today’s date? Good I have time. Our next concert is the end of May. How many weeks does that give me to practice? I really want to run another race…but I haven’t run in two (or more…how long HAS it been) years. I should try to run one day after work this week, see how it goes. Wonder where my running clothes are. Haven’t seen my running watch in a long time either. Guess I don’t really need a watch, it’s not like I’m running fast. The guestroom needs organizing. Probably could find my running stuff if I did that. And I need to look for that photo of my brother and his friend as kids, I promised to send it to them. It might even be in the guest room closet. Should get organized.

Yep. Should get organized.

Or go to bed.

Tired.

March 11, 2013
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

Another weekend another park!

I walked a long way!

Good morning everybody! Katie here. My Mama took me to the park again yesterday, but I can only give you the short version because she says she has to go to work and doesn’t have time for all this dictation.

So anyway, we went to my favorite park, but there was so much snow melting that we ran into this:

Pretty wet out here Mama!

I said we could go right through it but my Mama is a wuss and said it was too deep. So she bundled me up and we went to another park.

This one was a lot dryer and there were lots and lots of people there, riding their bikes and running and walking with their dogs and other peoples. I was very very good. We practiced some distracted heeling…cause I was distracted until I remembered the treats!

Got treats Mama?

We walked a long way. See that first picture up there? What? You don’t believe I walked over 7 miles? Huh. So you know me pretty good don’t you. Yep we walked one mile and then we turned around…and since it’s four miles to the end of the trail and 4 miles back on our way back to the car we could pretend we walked the whole way!

One mile is still a long way!

Oh hey! I almost forgot to tell you! We were almost back at the parking lot and this family was just starting out with a big standard size black poodle. The dog was all over the place. The Dad was busy texting someone and the Mom was trying to get the dog under control. My Mama told me to “HEEL!” and “watch her” and I did, I walked right by the spinning black dog without looking at it!

And you know what the Dad said after they got by me? He said, “Did you see that dog? That was a good dog, did you hear her say watch me and the dog watched her! Why can’t you do that?” And my Mama laughed out loud. Yes she did. Cause she and I know that doesn’t just happen without a lot of work.

I’m a good girl!

But I am a very good girl. Yes I am. Now I need a nap. All this talking so early in the morning wears me out. Too bad Mama has to go do that work thing.

Yep. Too bad.

March 10, 2013
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Waiting for spring

Weather people say it will reach 50 (10 C) today. So what if it might rain a little too…we’re still excited.

It’s been a long winter and I am not alone in waiting impatiently for spring.

Stoically waiting for spring.

Lately it seems even inanimate objects are waiting….waiting…

Lonely slide

…waiting for the first soft spring breeze tinged with warmth.

But there is hope. Yesterday on the way to doggie school I spotted a red winged blackbird preening in the top of a tree. I haven’t heard them yet but I am sure I will today when Katie and I go to the park to play.

Missing the children

In fact last weekend while Katie and I were scuttling around avoiding the bitter wind I’m almost sure I heard a sandhill crane’s cry. And earlier in the week I’m almost positive I saw two of them standing on the ice in a marshy area as I was driving to work. I just caught them out of the corner of my eye but I’m sure those were cranes and not geese. Almost sure.

Right now our morning backyard still has snow. (Click on photo to ‘see the light.’)

Morning sheds light on hope

But we’re betting on the weather guy that this afternoon will be amazing. And we listen to Mr. Cardinal as he sings with joy.

Ode to joy

March 6, 2013
by dawnkinster 17 Comments

Can you buy a new brain at Costco?

I’m having the weirdest day. Is ‘weirdest’ a word? Hmmm…looks sort of, well, weird. Anyway.

This morning as I was leaving for work I wanted to change the car radio from f.m. to a.m. so that I could listen to the traffic report but I couldn’t remember how. I pushed the wrong button several times, confused. Darn small buttons anyway.

When I got to work I asked one of my employees to work on a problem file and she told me she would not. I did not react well to being told no. I felt this red hot rage rush up my body from the soles of my feet through the top of my head until it consumed me. I hung up on her and then took a walk to calm down. My reaction was totally out of proportion to the infraction and my boss had to talk me down. Darn employees anyway.

After work my husband met me for dinner before we went to the hospital to visit Aunt V. Some little girl in the next booth was laughing a lot and loud and I wanted to crawl over the seat and strangle her. Totally ruined the dinner. Darn little kids anyway.

By the time we got to the hospital I could hardly wait to get away again, as if I could not stay in my own skin. Darn noisy, smelly hospitals anyway.

I’ve been nominated to serve on an advisory committee to monitor some truck stuff and I need to send in my resume and a couple of other documents. I needed to get that together tonight and I couldn’t find my resume on my laptop. Eventually we found it on the desktop computer, and husband emailed it to me. Then I couldn’t figure out how to get it to a place I could edit it. Then I did get it edited but couldn’t figure out how to save it. Eventually I just sent it the way it was. Close enough. Darn technology anyway.

While I was looking for my resume, searching through documents stored on my laptop, I came across the rough draft of a (very) short story. I have no recollection of writing it. It’s pretty good. It might have been a dream I had. Or not. Maybe I didn’t write it. But how else would it be there. It’s not like me to copy something into a document. And there are parts of it that seem like something I might write. But I don’t remember this story at all. Darn memory anyway.

One of my college roommates emailed me earlier today looking for the email of another college roommate. An hour ago I sent her the information, cc’ing the roommate she was looking for. I thought. But just as I hit send I realized that the cc was actually for one of our community band librarians…whose name is not remotely similar to my college roommate. So then I had to email her and tell her to ignore the totally confusing and irrelevant email and resend the original email to the appropriate party. Darn it all anyway.

My brain seems to belong to someone else. A much older and extraordinarily confused someone else. I’d like to exchange it please for the one that really belongs to me. Or at least for a newer model. This one seems to be wearing out.

I’m going to bed. I hope tomorrow makes more sense.

I have my doubts.

Wordless Wednesday

March 6, 2013 by dawnkinster 18 Comments

March 3, 2013
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

Mama failed miserably at adventure

Katie here. Mama promised me an adventure this weekend. She’s been so busy we haven’t done anything fun in forever!

So this morning she said we were going to the park. I got so excited, running in circles, getting under her feet, running from door to door because I couldn’t figure out what door we were going to use that she forgot to bring my treats! Failure #1 Mama!

Then we stopped at my favorite park and I was so excited I ran around in circles and got all tangled up and Mama kept saying something about having to pee and I figured she was talking about her so I kept running in circles, winding the leash all around her. Then I figured out she meant she wanted me to pee, so I did, and then she hustled me back to the car! What the heck?! Failure #2 Mama!

So we drove for a long time and finally she parked and got me out of the car. We were at her favorite park, high up on a hill and it was windy and cold. Just my kind of weather! I dragged her down the hill, she kept saying ‘easy….easy’ cause she was afraid of falling – it was really slippery. When we got to the bottom of the hill I wanted to sniff everywhere, but there was lots of mud and Mama kept saying she was cold. And she had that stupid camera too, so I didn’t get to sniff around too much. Failure #3 Mama! And on top of all of that, this is the only picture of me you’ll see from this” great” adventure. See our car way up there?

She made me sit up here. I didn’t like it.

So Mama bundled me right back in the car again! I was disgusted. She drove around some more and then we got out in a more sheltered place and walked for awhile on the bike path. We saw lots of people out running and walking. I even got to bark at a couple of cars, but then she yelled at me and made me go back to our car. Geesh. Failure #4 Mama!

So all in all this was not that great an adventure. I think she owes me another one.

What do you think?

March 3, 2013
by dawnkinster 23 Comments

Need a puppy fix.

I was enjoying Sara’s photos of 2 year old Chewy back when he was a puppy. Aren’t sheltie puppies just the cutest! I need to dig out some Katie puppy pictures.

It’s Mr. Squeaky!

Of course most of her very early photos are in a photo album I call Katie’s first year. Bet you did not know dogs can have baby books! But there are a few in digital form for me to share.

Mr. Squeaky wore her out.

I think everyone needs a puppy picture once in awhile. And a puppy AND green grass? Perfect!

Finding fun anywhere

Thanks for stopping by!

This is MINE!

We’re off on our adventure now!

Spring. Sigh.