Time to Get Busy

I don't know where to start? Soap? Sew? Spin? It's all waiting for me. All my "coping mechanisms" are ready to put into action. I typically have an "off" day or two when Hannah and Luke leave, and I am doing a little better this year. I have not yet sniffed Luke's pillowcase, but I do stare at the sofa where he bedded down at night and I've gone out to Hannah's trailer to check for anything I should mail to her. I got to the PO this morning to mail her IPod, which was left when we jumped out of the car to hurry into the terminal. We only had one hour before departure and I had to register them for kid-travel. The IPod had slipped under the seat, a tough break for Hannah as there was a FOUR HOUR DELAY before they took off. Poor Hannah - she confessed she didn't bring a book to read, and without an Ipod she was bereft of any entertainment. I offered to buy her some beauty magazines from the candy kiosk but she said no thanks, and stared off into the distance with a sad face for most of the time. It was miles to go back out through security to the parking lot but in retrospect that's what I should have done. I just mailed it to her this morning. Luke and Mia played and laughed through the delay and I loved watching them fool around. I came back from NJ last night after a lovely visit with a St. Elizabeth College professor friend of mine. We combed through two used-book stores together in Morristown and Madison and had a great time. I came away with a cheery summer-reading book, The Highland Clearances, about the Scottish Highlanders being abandoned by the Clan Chiefs and replaced with sheep. I also came home with Albion's Seed, a fascinating book about the four pathways of British immigration to American. I heard a graduate classmate give a presentation on it at Montclair State and I've wanted to read it ever since. I would also like to read The Help, which is all the rage right now, and will be reminiscent of time in the South with my mother's people while growing up. There won't be time anyway, as I am way behind in making product for fall shows. It's a little too quiet here today, but I am used to being alone, well, being the only human on the farm. I am surrounded by many sensient beings, but none who can hold a conversation. Matt was laid out on the sofa when I got home, exhausted from saving energy and sick with something going around the office. Dishes were piled high in the sink, garbaged day was missed. He said, YOU'VE got a dead sheep in the barn. When he says "You've" I know it is bad news. I searched all over the barn and barn yard today and darned if I can find a dead sheep. Maybe it got up and walked away? I don't mind being alone. I'm kind of used to it by now. I think alone-ness is a good test of character. If you can't stand to be alone with yourself, then you've got a problem. I'm going to finish a couple of bags I started, then maybe take a short nap. Very shortly my days, and weekends, will be taken up with work, then setting up and working shows. It's a heady and validating experience when people buy my products. We'll see how the economic decline effects sales. Maryland was down this year, and when Maryland Sheep and Wool is down, well, that's bad news. Bad news all over the place - London is burning as rioters run wild. How are they going to put on the Olympics next summer? Children are dying like flies in Somalia. I have farm worries myself. There is a chill in the air, a reminder of what's to come all too quickly. My silk underwear and Carhartt suit is ready to go, but not too soon I hope.