It's a grey, not-terribly-cold day at the farmette. Yesterday, we got quite a good coating of snow. The white stuff came down hard and fast with the wind all day. So today is cleanup.
I love the look of the farmette after a big storm. Crisp and clean. Like some celestial camper took melted marshmallows and plunked them on the trees and bushes around the property.
Digging out for us is nothing compared to the poor people of Newfoundland. 75 centimetres in basically one, 24-hour period. Cripes. There was one woman living on Gower Street in downtown St. John's who was just getting the roof of her car dug out during an item on the CBC station. Can you imagine? I don't want to.
Anyhow. I was supposed to go to a big ag. conference yesterday down in Guelph, but I'm going to catch up with people after the fact for a story I've been commissioned to write. I've gotten to the point in my life where white-knuckle driving is to be avoided if at all possible. My commute for the first year we were here gave me some pretty good scares, so not taking any chances any more.
Getting older will do that to you. It also gives you licence to not give quite as much of a shit about what other people think. My friend Claire has an expression for it. The F#$%k It Fifties. I've taken it on as my motto, and I'm going to own it.
I'm not talking about being a complete wanker about things. I'll always be super serious about my business - because I love doing it, and because my clients depend on me. I also actually take better care of my body now than I ever did in my twenties, with regular long walks, yoga and strength training.
But I'm de-stressing about the little things - like worrying about how perfectly clean the house is or freaking out about whether I'll ever get another job. I also try not to get extremely worked up about the big orange-haired things - but with the way the U.S. President is behaving, it's not easy, and I find I do fret sometimes about our world.
Overall, though, I've adopted much more of a go-with-the-flow mentality because the flow I'm in right now is a pretty darn good one. Even shovelling the walkway has become a kind of Zen thing for me.
I'm also doing lots of the things I want to do. Like hanging out with my sister, soaking in a hot tub, listening to oldies music (can't believe the 1980s is considered 'oldies'), reading rippingly good murder mysteries, cuddling kitties and knitting presents for my loved ones. It sounds so old fashioned - and may be it is. I don't care. I'm in my F$%#k It Fifties.
Well, I've pontificated enough, I think, for one Sunday morning. Rob's still out there, working on the driveway. Until next week.
