A Monday to Enjoy

I slept later than I wanted. Gotta start setting that fricking alarm. Gotta start riding that bike every morning and lose this enormous ass that seems to have grown back there.
Jay and I went to breakfast in Lancaster. It was so beautiful with the fall colors and all. Driving on the country roads that are becoming so scarce. I started working on the fender of a bike, and taking photos for an article of the process.
I had a fire going in the fireplace as it was kinda chilly. Then I hear Jay out there with the lawn mower. he was gonna pull the tree off the dog kennel. A few weeks ago, when I was helping Bart move down from up north, we had a big windstorm and the top a huge deadtree broke off and plunged thru the tin roof of the kennel. So Jay threw a rope around it and we pulled the tree into a better position. Then we used straps to hook it to the mower and tried to pull it out. I had to help the mower as the tires kept spinning.
But we got it out. Then Jay got out the chain and start cutting it up. His back is still in rough shape from when he spasismed during the seizure three weeks ago. Plus he's having a hard time with it getting it to cut through the wood. So I asked him if I could use the chainsaw and cut it up.
He looks at me like I'm nuts. Now ya gotta understand I have this silly fear of chainsaws. That is I used to. My dad had a little chainsaw that I loved to use. Back in the early 80's I used to heat my parents' house with a woodstove that I had built myself. My boyfriend Derek started helping and as was his custom, he really got into it, buying these big chainsaws that scared the hell out of me. So I stopped handling the chainsaws. The early 80's was a rough time in New England, many people were out of work so lots of people heated their houses any way they could. Standing deadwood was a precious commodity. We used to cut our wood in a city park. Now we weren't supposed to be there, but we were discreet and there were several others doing the same thing.
We had found a stand of maybe 6 big trees and arrived to cut it at the same time as another group of people. So me and Derek are standing there, chainsaw to chainsaw up against the other group. They were ready to take it further. Can you imagine? Two groups fighting it out with chainsaws? We backed down. Screw that.
Those were some desperate times. We were all laid off work just like so many other people. I made money any way I could. I used to collect cans and bottles during festivals, like the Fiddle Fest in Hartford.
So here I am today, 24 years later. My now husband has no idea I ever even touched a chainsaw. So I take the chainsaw, and next thing I know, it's just like 1980, I'm slicing through that stuff like baloney. Moving the saw through the wood, slicing off a piece, pushing it aside, moving the branch, hodling the wood in palce with my foot and repeating it over and over. It felt good. It felt so natural. Jim just stood back not believing what he saw. I had that entire tree top sawed up in time at all.


The weather was perfect. Warm enough but with a touch of fall snap. The bright sun streaming through the yellow leaves on the trees. The earthly smell of wood fire in the air. A home and a husband that I love.
Mia called me later on. She's doing ok. I think she's doing real well after the farce she endured last weekend. She wants to come up this weekend. Now I have that car show to do, but I'll make time for both the show and her.
It is now 11pm. My studio is shutdown and it's time to dialdown and relax before bedtime. I really should write for a while and maybe I will. I have to make time most everyday for writing.
I'm happy.