Dazed and Confused
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I have been sitting here this morning with my hands folded in my lap, trying to both wake my brain up and calm it into some sort of order so that I can think of what to write about. These days, a medication I am taking says that I have to wait a half hour after I get up to have my first cup of coffee, so I have been working on yet another sort of “new normal.” I was thinking about what a strange time it has been in so many ways. The virus and all that has gone along with it, in addition to this spring’s weather, have really distorted my sense of time, and this delayed caffeine thing has not helped a bit.
Yesterday we had a family mesquite-chopping party in a field near our house. Since I came late to the party, I ended up with a wimpy garden hoe instead of a pick-axe, so I became more of a spotter. I plotted out some transects to walk, scanning the ground for little mesquites and prickly pear. If a person stays on the road and looks across the field, it mostly looks like brown grass seed-heads, but walking amongst the tall grass and looking down into it reveals an enormous diversity of plants. Most shocking to me is that there are still bluebonnets blooming two and half months after the first one I spotted on the ranch. But, with the exception of a few brief scorchy spells, it has been exceptionally cool this month. Add to that, the rain! We have had an actual rainy season this year right when we are supposed to have it. This year is a nice long spring instead of a short little spring with summer rushing in early, which is what we have most often.
As a natural-born introvert, I stay home as much as possible, and thankfully, I am able to work my job as the vice president and GIS analyst for Spring Creek Outdoors, LLC from the office at one end of our house. Because of this, the pandemic has not wrought as much change for us as it has for most, but there have been some changes. There was my son’s graduation from A&M that passed quietly, there was a big trip I had been planning for a year that was cancelled, there was not holding or playing with my granddaughter (this streak ended two days ago, praise the Lord), there was the annual Family Party that had to be cancelled, and there has been lots and lots of cooking. I did not realize how often we were getting lunch on our errands trips into town or how often someone was picking up supper on their way home from one thing or another. I am cooking through my pantry and freezer, getting out my old cookbooks, using all my vast collection of cooking equipment, and running through the whole stack of plates nearly every day. Thankfully my husband is a great dishwasher!
My normal ways of planning and of ticking off hours and days have been scrambled, and I am still trying to figure out what day it is, what month it is, and what I am supposed to be doing next. I have a feeling there are a lot of people in that boat with me. For now, I suppose we all will keep doing the next right thing and believing that at some point, life will become orderly and normal again. As for me, the next right thing is that first cup of coffee. SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com