Back to the Real World

Cozy cabin. Fire cracking in the fireplace. Wine on the deck chilling in the cold night. Full moon. Mountain winds. Snow on the way. Pot roast cooking on the stove. Dog tired from a long walk. Kitty on his chair cat-napping. All is good in the New Mexico mountains.

But the day approaches when we have agreed to leave and go back to Texas. We have one more full day and then we shall depart. I have mixed feelings. I'm ready to go back and check on things, see how Daddy's doing, if the fish survived, how much rain we got while we've been gone. I think the animals will be happy to be home. Time to pay bills and come back to reality. But we won't be back here until April at the earliest, and that makes me sad. I do love it here. Don't know if I'm ready to say I want to live here full time. The winter is pretty raw, and from what locals tell us, the worst is February and March, so what we've had so far is nothing.

There are lots of things I want to do here, though, to make it more homey, more aesthetically pleasing, at least to me -- updating mostly. Paint and some better furniture. One day a new kitchen. But all that will come in due time.

My SO's son called yesterday. Think they want to come up when we're here again in Spring. And my son wants to come in June, my aunt in late summer. Seems we'll be having lots of company for the next few visits. But I will bet that ends after a while. Nobody will enjoy it here as much as we do. It's a kind of out of time feeling, a relaxation that's hard to explain. No outside interference besides the television, and even that's channels from far-off California.

So we will leave, but we'll be back. And maybe I will bring a manuscript with me next time.

Onward ....