BACK AGAIN

Again, here I am acknowledging it's been awhile since my last post. Again, that "awhile" was longer than intended. Myladylove had accumulated an excess of PTO (personal time off) days at the financial branch she manages, and it was either use a few or stand a chance of losing them entirely. So she took off all last week. Monday of this week was a holiday, and her branch was closed. That gave here nine days, total. 

I have no boss other than my own subjective and suspect sense of responsibility, and a few editors stuck behind their respective desks waiting with bated breath for my latest erudite missive. Those who know me figure there's a pretty good chance whatever piece of writing I owe them will arrive on or before deadline; the others mostly worry needlessly. I'm seldom late…in fact, whenever possible I try and work ahead, stockpiling, say, perhaps a month's worth of columns for a particular market—even if I don't send them off until their appointed due date. In this way, I sort of self-accrue my own PTO days.

Anyway, when Myladylove took off, I hadn't planned to take off the entire time. Maybe a day or two, plus most afternoons since I like to work in the morning and she likes to sleep late. Moreover, the fact was we had no real plans. Yet even for a work schedule as loosely formulated as mine, you can't do an hour here, ten minutes there, run around, constantly interrupt the flow, and expect to make much worthwhile progress. At least I can't. And it seemed especially silly seeing as how I could spare the free time. So I took off, too—completely. 

In the end, we didn't do much other than take a few drives, a couple of walks, ate several meals out, shopped a bit—nothing major on the shopping. For the most part we stayed home, read, cooked, watched movies on TV, did a few things around the cottage, played with Moon-the-Dog, kept the new woodstove stoked and took happy satisfaction in its wonderful heat—and simply enjoyed the rare pleasure of just being lazy together. A delightful, low-key week, though the weather could have cooperated more.

I'd planned to do a post Tuesday morning when Myladylove returned to work. Instead, I left early and spent way too much time running necessary errands. And for one reason or another, I never managed to get anything going afterwards. I can't remember why. That evening one of my favorite editors emailed and said she had to go into the hospital for surgery today, and wondered if I could get a couple of columns in, "just in case." Though I'd already turned in my piece for next week—it's deadline would have been tomorrow—I spent yesterday doing columns for March 6 and 13, which I sent her…and one for the 20th and 27th, just in case her just in case takes a really bad turn.

The heron photo was easy. I glanced out the glass slider door overlooking the river, saw the big bird fishing the riffle, grabbed the camera. All I had to do was point and shoot.