On Saturdays We Play!

We've made a pact--we can play on Saturday if we work on Sunday.

Living in the backcountry means there is a lot of work to be done just to maintain a place. Grass, lots of it, to cut. Weeds to pull and cut. Gardens to plow, dig, plant. New gardens to make. Stonework to repair, a new stone-walled garden to build. Deck rail to build. Porch to clean up and paint. Porch furniture ditto. Pruning, transplanting, mulching, fertilizing.
Chicken house to clean out. Get pigs this year? No time. Brushhogging to do. Brush to cut and burn. Get baby chicks? Maybe.

And that's just the beginning of the list. Because all this work also requires trips to hardware and feed stores, lumber yards and greenhouses. A trip to town means an hour on the road, plus time to shop. So trips are consolidated, many errands done in one trip.

But on Saturdays, if I'm not storytelling, we play. We go to the Downtowner for breakfast, visit Rachel to see what new in her antique shop, get good coffee at Court Street Station, talk to friends. If there's an auction we go to that. If we feel like driving, we go to wherever we feel like going.

This past Saturday was about as nice as a day can get. We went in early to mail a package to son Tommy in Germany, then drove out and ordered a new carport-garage building. After that, it was back to town to visit the consignment shop (and pick up $22.50--yay!) to see if there were any work jeans there that fit Larry. He scored two pairs--no sense buying new jeans for a bricklayer.

Then it was on to Court Street to see Rachel and get coffee, and then to an auction just outside of town. It was one of the best I've been to, but I was good--my house is full, and if I buy anything something else has to go. So I bought only a pretty little green enamel teapot, a box of embroidered and crocheted items, a quilting hoop and stand for a friend, and 6 hand-woven rugs.

We had to leave early to meet Donna Wilson, my partner in planning the storytelling series for this summer called Stories by the River. We got a grant from ORBI for this project, and Donna is designing posters, etc. She and our friend Suzy joined us for dinner at the Mexican restaurant, and then we all went to the poetry reading.

This was my second reading this week. Who would think it could be fun to read poetry aloud? What makes it great is being able to share why and how a poem was written. I had a great time and even Larry enjoyed it, to his immense surprise.

We came home to build a fire in the fireplace, drink a glass of wine, and watch the DVD about Junior Holstein, my husband's cousin who is an old-time fiddler. The DVD tells it just how it is, moonshine and devils in the chimney and all. We spent an evening with Junior a year and a half ago, singing and talking about old songs. He's quite a guy, with his own demons and troubles, but one of the last of the old mountain fiddlers.

A great day--and on Sunday, we paid for it by working hours in the gardens and yard. But it was worth every minute.