Makes me happy...

           I’m no Martha Stewart. I think I’ve made that clear before. However, after spending the afternoon unpacking my elephant collection, I’m not sure I should even speak her name. After all, anyone who actually owns and displays over a hundred elephant items and photos has crossed the line and no longer cares about the rules of decorating. Whatever. They make me happy.

            This house makes me happy. Even with the rain pouring down and some of it dripping on the laundry room floor, I’m still happy to be here. The way the house is laid out suits me. Now that I’m adding more of my colors and things it feels more comfortable and more like home than our old house ever did. I can’t say exactly why, but it just does.

And the peace of it still soothes me. No dogs. No dusty traffic. No distant but disturbing yelling. Just the wind and the birds. I love to see the rabbits playing in the yard and deer running across the back pasture and the cows standing by the front gate. I love to hear the doves cooing and the mockingbird calling and the swallows diving in and out of the porch eaves. I love to stand at the kitchen window and watch the water ripple across the pond.

I started working in the garden yesterday. The former residents had goats in a large pen out back. That’s where I’ll plant a few things this year because it was easy to clear of weeds. There was a brief lull in the rain and I managed to plant some gourds and beans. I have tomato plants, but will wait a few days to put them out. Today the whole yard is a flood.

This will be the “flood of 2007” for many people in our area. We’re on top of a hill so we just watched the pond swell and the creek overflow. But others have water in their homes. The rainfall has been 2”-6” for the county since Thursday. But I think most of it fell in about two hours this morning. Too much too fast.

I will spend this week painting, writing, and researching. For those of you who read my stories I have begun to post on “Stories Too Long” again. I’m sorry for all of the delays. Moving, school, you know…