Spring Rain

April was too cold and now May is too wet.  Water stands in the fields and the farmers I’m sure are getting impatient.  For me, I’m aching with each weather system which travels through.  My fingers are swollen and sore.  My legs hurt and it’s hard to walk. 

Now that I’ve whined, it’s also May!  This means grilled food, spending time outside, and warmer (not today but most days) weather.  Yes the sky is gray and the rain beats down like a powerful waterfall but the grass is green and eventually it will ease up and we’ll have flowers and leaves on trees and plants in the garden. 

Each night I’ve either been writing or reading.  I’m wandering through different books and enjoying them.  At the same time I’ve got stories bouncing around in my head and I want to get them out.  Just last night I worked on a scene.  I saw this scene in my head, knew the characters, knew the feel of the scene and the tone I wanted to hit.  A little dark with a the light pushing in from the actions of one of the characters.  Normally I let stuff like this simmer to see if more develops.  This scene has hovered for over a week but never went anywhere else.  I didn’t see secondary characters and I didn’t see a story just this one scene.  But it didn’t go away.  I thought – okay so I’ll write it and it will go in my slush pile and get out of my head.  So last night I wrote the scene.  I liked it.  It came across how I wanted mostly.  So I thought all right I can move on.  I wrote in a different story and then went to bed. 

I’m trying to sleep and this scene is back in my head.  I liked what I wrote.  I thought it hit all the right notes.  But apparently my head didn’t think so.  I started editing it in my head.  I need to add this and I want to add that and I need to describe this better.  I don’t know if there is a story to go with this scene but apparently I need to get this scene RIGHT according to whatever muse is smacking my brain around.  I know I have a messed up brain but come on.  I have stories to tell.  I’ll fix the scene today so I can hopefully move on to other projects.  If all the scenes for this story are as determined to get written, it’s going to be an interesting journey.

Cocoon

Snow and rain are supposed to be creeping into our area.  The weather system is wreaking havoc on my joints and arthritis making my day pain filled.  I’m curling up under warm blankets and going to see whether my fingers will work.

It’s like a weight – a large and heavy weight on my body – when the weather does this.  Every joint feels like it is being pushed on, compressed really tight and at the same time pulled apart, like the pressure in the joint is so much the joints are going to explode.

I’ve taken my drugs.  The only other thing I can do is keep warm and rest.  Sleep is the refuge which masks the pain.  When the levels get this bad, all I want to do is sleep.  Sometimes if I sleep for a little longer, I can get up and manage for the day but other times – like today – sleep is only an escape.

It is going to be a day to put on movies or tv show and curl up under warm, warm, blankets.  While everyone is watching the skies for rain or snow to assault and make driving difficult.  I’m going into a cocoon to try to keep warm and ease some of the pain.

Right as Rain

Finished the JD Robb book – Devoted in Death.  It was good, a little bland but overall good.  I read a bit in Cast in Sorrow by Michele Sagara.  However, it was raining last night and the sound of the rain, the thrum of it lulled me to turn out the lights early (for me) and go to sleep.

As I lay in the dark, words rushed into my head (no surprise there) and I turned on my phone and spoke them into the phone which then copied them down.  When I have time, I’ll see if they make a poem.

There is something soothing about the rain and thunder.  It seemed to roll through last night.  I ache everywhere with my arthritis but the sounds, the clean smell, all of it just seems to sooth me.

This morning there are amazing clouds, from white to grey to darker almost black.  The formations are incredible.  It looks like someone smeared a brush across the sky with different colors.  They’re moving pretty quick, changing the scene as they go.  It’s beautiful.

Determined to Finish

View outside my office window

The weather in Wisconsin has been a series of rainstorms washing through on a daily basis.  I love thunderstorms – the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the rain on the roof – all in trance me.  Watching a storm roll over the land is amazing. 

What isn’t so amazing is how my body has been reacting to these storms.  I’ve got arthritis so generally everything aches when we are going to have a storm.  Mostly, I manage with the pain as it comes and goes with the weather issues.  This last week though, I’ve had throbbing sinus issues every time a storm comes.  Essentially the left side of my face feels like the pressure is going to make my head explode. 

This makes it difficult to do anything – edit, crochet, talk, breath.  I’ve been doing all the right things – eucalyptus, heating pad, tylenol, extra allergy meds.  Still the pain is there and I deal. 

What frustrates me most is I’ve still got four and a half rows on the afghan to finish.  I’ve got all the yarn I need (finally) and all I need to do is sit and crochet.  The problem is I can’t because my head is going to explode. 

I’m determined that this weekend those last rows will get done.  I will have the afghan off my to do list and on my DONE (finally freaking done) list.  It is gorgeous but I’m tired of working on it.  I want to work on something else – anything else at this point. 

Once that one is done I’ll be able to look at the other three I have piled up behind it and start on one of them.  I’ll also be able to look at smaller projects to get done for holiday gifts.  I have several things I want to experiment with – stitch sequences I want to try, patterns I want to try and there is always the colors and texture to consider too. 

Before any of that fun can start, I have to just finish this one freaking afghan!  It will be this weekend.