Counting the days...

I mentioned before that Rick was going to Seattle for a family and friends reunion. He's driving, so it will be about a two week trip. That's a long time for us, since we spend almost all of our time together. I could freak out and feel lonely right off the bat, but I've been planning to use the solitary time creatively, and possibly even productively. I have that silversmithing set-up that's been neglected since August ... and a lot of reading that never gets done... and writing. I've been thinking for years that I'd like to be a writer, a serious writer, a consistent writer. Ha! said the Universe and handed me beadmaking instead. No complaints about that, but I still seem to have the tug to write, so maybe I'll start one of those books I've been thinking about...

Natalie Goldberg helped me a lot with the getting started phase, years ago, when I read Writing Down The Bones. I still love it. Still have it in the "to read" stack. Natalie used to live in Taos, and talked about it a lot in her books. She's at least a little bit responsible for our moving here. We looked at Taos because she said she loved it. She didn't steer us wrong.

So here I am, in Taos, a self-imposed recluse for a couple of weeks. I'm not nervous with Lucy here with me... she tries to eat our friends, so I know she wouldn't tolerate intruders. She and the goats and cats are good company. And well, so am I. I just never seem to have time to hang out with me. I'm planning some serious frou-frou spa time here. Mud on my face. Pink toenails. Chick flicks. The works. And still... I miss Rick already, and maybe because I'm counting the days until he comes home, I suddenly came up with the idea to create a calendar for you. Something pretty, beady, download/printable one page at a time, and best of all, free to you! Watch for it in December. Then you can count some days of your own.

Lucy is looking kind of sulky this evening, so I promised her pizza. Maybe she'll let me paint her toenails too...