Personal Essays

Smoke on the Mountain

/ Katie / 32 Comments

How are all my followers on the U.S. east coast and in Canada doing? Because around here, it’s a haze of smoke.

I don’t know if you can really tell from this picture. It honestly almost looks like fog on the mountainside. Everything looks just a little soft around the edges. And it’s been like this for days.

I’m writing this on Thursday. My nose is killing me. My eyes are burning. I’ve got an air purifier running. I’m NOT going outside, and we’re limiting Annie-dog’s time out there, too. I did pop out on Wednesday for an appointment and evening trivia, and I gotta tell you, I came back in smelling like wood smoke. It’s supposed to rain here tomorrow, and I hope it helps. I can’t imagine what it’s like being closer to the wildfires.

I sound like I’m complaining, and I really don’t mean to. I’m lucky. I know other people are dealing with this on a much bigger scale. It’s affecting lives and livelihoods and homes and wildlife and it’s terrible. And I’m worried for those living in places more impacted than my little corner of Virginia. I’m worried for what’s happening to the planet.

Not a positive post for a Friday, is this? I do have some happier content planned for next week, I promise. But for now, this is what’s on my mind. I’m sure it’s on a lot of minds.

And I just really hope it gets better soon.

Focus? What focus? (Or, The Art of Writing in a Construction Zone)

/ Katie / 5 Comments

I find myself once again at the end of a month without a completed short story to post. I’m working on it today, and have been for the past several days. It’s a good one, but not quite done. And that’s just going to have to be okay. I’ll have it up on Friday, so be sure to check back.

Why the delay? Well, a few reasons.

The first is that it’s not easy to focus when you’re living around dust and dealing with construction noise. Don’t get me wrong – our contractors are amazing, they work fast, and they do a really good job of cleaning up at the end of the day. But when you’re me, and (controlled) chaos in the house feels like (uncontrolled) chaos in your brain, it’s still just difficult to work around. The good news is that the dining room ceiling is stable and sound…

…and work has started on updating and expanding our master bathroom.

The second is just that life is just busy right now. I’ll share more on that next week, but for now, I’ll just say that there are lots of things, including renovations and construction, vying for my attention at the moment, and they’re all important, and I’m just not balancing them super well. I’ll endeavor to work on that in the future.

And the third? Well, it’s me. I’m the problem. I’m allowing things to distract me, and I’m making excuses. They’re good excuses (see: above), but I need to prioritize my writing. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.

So, onward, and by Friday, May’s story will be written and posted and done and dusted. The house, however, will not be dusted. And that’s okay, too. For now, I write.

Who’s afraid of the dark?

/ Katie / 18 Comments

Not me! I swear! (And you can’t see whether or not I have my fingers crossed.)

If you’ve been here for a while, you know that I love a good ghost story. But I confess, I do feel a little disconcerted in the dark. I can’t sleep in a totally dark room. I don’t like walking alone at night, despite living in a very safe (and thankfully, relatively well-lit) village. I love night time, when everything’s quiet and it feels like you’ve got the world to yourself. But I’m just not a big fan of the dark.

Unless we’re talking 90s TV.

90s kids – know where I’m going?

One of my favorite shows growing up was called Are You Afraid of the Dark? It featured a cast of kids who came together around a campfire every week to tell spooky stories. And guys, some of the episodes were genuinely, and still are surprisingly, scary. I loved it. And I’ve been revisiting it lately in my downtime. I still love it, and despite the obvious 90s fashions (bright colors! plaid! baggy jeans!), it actually holds up pretty well! (If you want to check it out, it’s streaming on Paramount+.)

On top of that, watching some of the episodes today, I feel like it explains a lot about the adult I’ve become. I love old houses. I love antiques. I love creepy stories. I love telling them around the fire in my back garden.

I can’t walk into a magic shop – or really any curiosity shop – without hearing (in my head) “That’s Sard-O! No mister. Accent on the DO.” Isn’t that funny? These things we love when we’re children, they never really leave us. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever really, completely grown up.

I still love cartoons and kids’ books. I absolutely will look for fairies in the meadow on a foggy morning. I even laugh at fart jokes. (Not always. They have to be good fart jokes, if such a thing exists.) And yes, despite knowing that there’s nothing there that isn’t there in the light, I am still afraid of the dark. It’s okay. Everyone’s afraid of something.

And frankly, I hope I never lose my sense of silliness. I hope I always get a little shiver thinking about what might be lurking behind me in a dark hallway. I hope I continue, all my life, to seek out magic.

So, yeah, I’ve put it out there now: Who’s afraid of the dark? Me. It’s me. Hi. What about you?

I Love Mondays

/ Katie / 14 Comments

Strange? Maybe. But true.

Back when I was still working a corporate job, I used to dread Mondays. I’d stay up late on Sunday nights, just trying to squeeze a little more time out of the weekend. I’d sit in bed and replay the previous week, I’d worry about issues and deadlines, and I’d wonder, over and over again, how I had ended up in a job I hated so much. It wasn’t pretty.

Now, all these years later, and after working hard to build the kind of life I’ve always wanted, I genuinely look forward to Mondays. I head into every new week excited about what I can do with my time and how I can write and read and volunteer and actually see my friends and eat dinner before 9:00 p.m. every night. I enjoy making a list on Sunday evenings so that I can start the week out strong. I wake up happy. I wake up ready for a new start and fresh week.

What a change.

I’m grateful that I can feel this way. I know it’s a privilege, and I know I’m lucky. And I’m really feeling that today – the sun’s shining and it’s warm outside, Merlin and Annie are both looking out of the windows trying to spot their favorite little creatures, and Graham’s sitting at the kitchen table, working away on his own stuff. It’s a good day. It’s a good life. These last few months have certainly been better than the ones that came before.

I’m happy. I’m grateful. I’m determined to make this a good week, and it starts today.

(And I hope it’s a good week for you, too!)

Found Friday #47: A Very Good Gatsby Memory

/ Katie / 4 Comments

This photo popped up in my memories earlier this week.

Apparently, I took it in May of 2007. I don’t remember the when, but I do remember the why. Graham had just come home from work, and Gatsby immediately curled up right beside him as soon as he sat down. And stayed there. It was just such a sweet moment I felt like I had to capture it, and now, all these years later, I’m so glad I did.

I look back now – at how young Graham looked, at how much Gatsby always loved us, at how lucky it was that I had a camera nearby – and I’m grateful. I’m also reminded that we are legacies for the people (and animals) that we love. Even when they’re no longer with us, we carry them in our hearts, and so they’re never really gone, as long as we’re still here to love them and remember them. How very powerful that is.  

Travel, Rain, and Trying to Write a Short Story

/ Katie / 19 Comments

Well, owing to a combination of a very busy week and my own poor planning, here we are, precariously close to the end of the month, and I haven’t even started April’s short story yet. Sigh.

We’re visiting family this weekend, and we drove down yesterday. It’s so nice to see everyone! And I desperately want to spend this time together, rather than tucked away in a corner trying to write. The good news is, it’s raining today! (No, seriously, this is good.) That means that it’s probably going to be a quieter, slower day, so maybe I will have some time to step away and work for a bit. We shall see.

The other good news is that we brought both Annie and Merlin down with us. Annie loves road trips, but cats don’t usually like to travel (an understatement), so we wondered how Merlin would feel. But he’s been doing great! He didn’t complain in the car, and once we got here and he explored a little bit, he pretty much decided he owns this space now, too. That cat…totally unflappable, I’m telling you.

Anyway, if you don’t see a short story from me by Sunday, I promise to post one next week. And that means two stories in May! Which is breaking my rule a bit, but I figure, we make exceptions for things that matter, right? And family matters a whole lot.

In the meantime, I wish everyone a wonderful Friday and a lovely weekend. Happy creating, y’all!

Annie got a haircut!

/ Katie / 4 Comments

And I think it tired her out.

We’ve actually not gotten her groomed in a very long time (probably too long, honestly), because there’s been a dog flu going around in our area. We know someone who lost a beloved pet to it, and it was scary and sad. Annie’s older and not in the best health – nothing awful, just aging and such – and so I worried about her being in a place with lots of other dogs. And unfortunately, she doesn’t really enjoy it when we try to bathe and brush her. Luckily, we found a mobile groomer!

And also luckily, cases of this particular illness have been going down pretty precipitously.

At any rate, she’s looking much better, and I’m sure feeling better, too. The groomer said she didn’t really want to stand up much, which isn’t surprising. She’s just a little old and creaky these days. But it’s funny, looking at her little graying muzzle. No matter how old she gets, I will always see her as the spunky puppy we brought home all those years ago.  

Is this spring fever?

/ Katie / 15 Comments

Y’all, it’s beautiful outside today.

I always find that in that space between seasons – the end of one and beginning of another, when things first start to change – it’s hard for me to focus. I just want to watch, and feel, and experience.

Anybody else?

My plan for today was to get some non-writing tasks done and then devote the afternoon to creative work. But alas, it’s just perfect daydreaming weather, and I think I shall just have to go and play outside instead.

And I’m not even sorry.

(Well, maybe I’m a little sorry. Or, at least, I likely will be tomorrow. But tomorrow’s tomorrow. We only get one today, don’t we?)

Just Some Monday Things

/ Katie / 6 Comments

Busy weekend. Sleepy Monday. Isn’t that just the way it goes? Sometimes, at least. It’s going to be a busy week, too, but lots of good things are happening.

The basement bathroom is almost done. And just look at this beautiful vanity:

It’s made of fence boards from around the property that needed to be replaced. I’m glad to have a use for them.

We’re still contemplating what we’ll do with the upstairs bathroom, and I’ve definitely got my heart set on wallpaper, at least somewhere in the house. Oh! And if you didn’t guess the theme of one of the samples in my last post, it was Back to the Future. It’s called Hill Valley Toile, and here’s a link to it, if you want to buy it for yourself: https://www.hyggeandwest.com/collections/all-wallpaper/products/hill-valley-toile. It’s so fun and really pretty.

And here’s something to make you smile: Annie and Merlin are officially friends! They don’t quite know how to play together yet, but they’re figuring it out. And Merlin is showing his love by cuddling with Annie’s toys.

May we all be as peaceful and happy as that cat, right? Here’s hoping for a good week!

Wallpaper Choices

/ Katie / 22 Comments

Apparently, wallpaper is controversial. Which, I guess I sort of get. But then, I really don’t. I can see an argument that it’s hard to put up and even more difficult to take down. And yes, we’ve all seen those pictures of old, abandoned houses with tattered curtains and one-eyed baby dolls and, sure enough, mottled, gray peeling wallpaper. Spooky. I know.

But my house isn’t spooky. (I promise.)

And I like wallpaper.

All of this to say, as we finish up with the basement bathroom – which is oh so close to done and looks so, so good – I’m thinking of what we might like to do with our bathroom upstairs.

It’s our main bathroom, and it’s due for some pretty major changes. For one thing, the shower leaks onto our dining room table, which is…not great. We’d also like to expand the space and add a claw-foot tub. Luckily, we have one that we moved out of another bathroom. And I don’t think I want to get as cheeky as I did with the pink tile in the basement. But I would like to do something fun, and so I thought, “Why not a neat wallpaper?” My idea is that we’d have wainscoting, painted a warm, bright white, a little more than halfway up the wall, and then wallpaper on top of that. White tile in the shower, and my favorite black and white hexagon tile on the floor.

I can see it, and I think it would be lovely! So, I got some samples. These:

And these:

What do you think? Which would you choose? And props to you if you notice just what the blue and white toile in the second picture (in the middle) is inspired by. Here’s a hint: It’s a pretty famous movie.

Anyway, we’ll see what we decide. We’ve got some time, as our contractors finish up work in the basement. But I’m excited! This process has generally been sort of stressful, and the dust and mess is certainly not fun, but it’s really cool to see things coming together and to feel like our space reflects who we are.

So, onward!