Maureen Bush

Renovation Woes

We’re renovating again. We’re back to chaos, distractions, dirt everywhere, and pizza in the living room because the kitchen is deep in electrical equipment and drywall dust.

Last week, the hole in the floor in our back entry was repaired. This week – electrical – old lights out, pot lights in, odd repairs because we’re in an old house.  Holes in the ceiling, in the walls, and a bare light bulb dangling over the kitchen table. It’s a nice look.

New lino in the back entry on Monday. And every day workers are here, there’s dirt everywhere. That should really be nice as the snow piles melt into lakes to wade through.

But it’s exciting, too, and I’m hoping some of that will filter into my writing. When I can write, around the drilling and hammering and discussions of why we can’t put the light where we want it because of the odd construction of the house.

Maureen

A Break from Writing

I decided to set aside writing for a little while – to let my current manuscript sit, while other people read it, and to not start on a new project. I have a long list of other things I need to take care of, and this seemed a good time to focus on them.

Except it’s not working. I feel unsettled without writing, by days filled with important tasks completed, but without that quiet time immersed in a story.

I think I’ll have to pull out my notes on the new project, and start to play, at least a little bit every day. Perhaps then I’ll be more effective getting all those other tasks done.

Maureen

Piikani Nation

Thursday I was in Brocket, working with kids from nursery school to grade 7, talking about stories and writing. Brocket is in a stunningly beautiful location, just east of Pincher Creek, hills and river valley overlooked by the snow-covered Rocky Mountains (it was just hazy enough for the photos to not turn out).

I was shown all the projects the kids had worked on as they read Feather Brain: big paper maché dinosaurs and tiny clay ones, drawings and paintings, and booklets with chapter summaries and drawings that I got to sign.

I was sent away with two gifts: a Piikani Nation T-shirt, and a lovely hand-beaded leather barrette, which made my younger daughter very happy when I gave them to her.

Maureen

More Renovations?

After our endless bathroom and front entry renovation last year, we’ve decided to go ahead with a kitchen reno. It’ll be much easier, we’ve been reassured. The shopping has definitely been easier, as we know where we’re going and what we’re looking for, this time. And it’s just one room.

Until our water heater broke, we discovered water all over the back entry, and, while wiping it up, discovered a suspicious sponginess on the floor underneath the washing machine. When the sponginess dissolved into a hole when we poked at it, we added the back entry to our renovation plan.

We’ve pushed the washer back into place, imagining it plunging through the floor and vanishing. Today we discover how far the damage goes.

Maureen

Skating On Lake Louise

We spent a couple of days in the mountains, reading by a fire, eating good food and exploring. The weather was constantly changing, with sunny, clear skies on one side of the valley while dark clouds settled in stormy and low over mountains on the other side. This morning we skated on Lake Louise while it snowed, the light so flat we started to lose visibility of the ice surface.

Our younger daughter kept us entertained on the road with epic music, from The Lord of the Rings, of course, but lots of other music, too. It was wonderfully fitting for the grandeur of the Rockies.

Maureen