The Finale

Day twenty-one was a spectacular day. I hiked through a truly magical forest with pals (bit of a spat with some ornery raspberry bushes but I won) and then exploration of a marvelous property that included a really-seriously?-yes-damn-straight outhouse and a chair rescued from the shrubbery which is going to look splendid when refinished. Burbling creeks and train trestles and gardens lush with burgeoning treasure.

I climbed up and sat in a tree house built into an apple tree with branches dripping fruit, a wellspring of future piedom. Hidden within the boughs I could hear the wind symphony, a series of waves that washed the worries from the world...I wanted to sleep there.

The humidity has blissfully dropped. Tomorrow I will gesso and mix pigment, and begin. (slowly, I swear) Tonight I sip whiskey held in my right hand. I toast three weeks of challenges and disasters and a dollop of humility...and am so damn grateful to have the medicine we do.

The cicadas are singing. Summer is stunning; she's arrived draped in shades of green and the scent of vitality. I cannot believe 21 days have passed. I've loved meeting you here daily, but a challenge its been...will you miss this? I will.

Typing with two hands and no brace is like flying.