Thoughts

Here, There, Not Really Anywhere


March went by fast. I’m actually not sure what I did, or at least I feel like it just slipped through my fingers.

Since January I’ve slowly been feeling the accumulating ‘meh’ that has come with Chris being gone in the field. With him having just about every other weekend off, and then during the in-between weekends I will visit him at his hotel for the evening, really that is only how much I see him. Of course we tend to cram everything we can into the two or three days he is off, talking about whatever issues we need to discuss, having mini-adventures, doing errands, napping, watching movies.

At first it was nice having some time alone after we were together nearly 24/7 for 1.5 years (see photo above of us on the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, June 2010). Two thru-hikes, two field jobs and the downtime in between, we really saw each other all the time. Then, we didn’t. I really don’t like it. I know, the upside is he has a job, we are fairly happy with where we are in life but this isn’t exactly how I envisioned our life to be. It’s supposed to be temporary and I keep telling myself this but I’m worried it won’t be.

So, I’m here, we’re doing things when we can and in the meantime I am at home doing the random things I do. Which brings me to trying to figure out a wrap-up to March’s toll on my word for the year, prolific.

Running and other outdoor activities: Early in the month I went on a six mile hike with a friend from the Appalachian Trail, RedHat. She lives about an hour or so away and it was great to see her and hike in Sam Houston National Forest on the Lone Star Trail for an afternoon. Running wise I didn’t make many more miles than February but I ran more, as in instead of running two or three miles on any given day during a week I did three days of one mile each. This was because I switched over to running in my Vibram Five Fingers. Since the feeling and running is different everyone I talked to told me to ease into it. I’m finally feeling like I will be ok running more than a mile at any given time so I will be upping the mileage soon. My calves definitely feel the burn and when I’m done I feel like they look in some of my hiking pictures: lean, mean, muscle machines. Now, if I could get my abs to look and feel like that….

Creative: I only wrote 2,000 words this month. I started giving myself a writers block and because I tend to give myself too much to do during the week I opted to focus on something I’ve wanted to do for awhile, rework my section of Wildscape Photo. It is *almost* complete, I need to adjust the navigation buttons and insert a page for the image index. The image index will be a comprehensive list of the photos and where they are within the galleries. The gallery system we use (I don’t think) is searchable to search engines so I want the titles to be searchable within a page. Not only that I want a potential client/customer to be able to scan the index list if they are looking for something in particular and then be able to go directly to that gallery and check it out. I’m hoping in the next week to have that finished. Then I want to slowly go through my hard drive and get photos up there that need to be on there. I will also be adding a garden section—well, two really—one for our own garden and then another for public gardens. Lots to do!

Also in the creative section I started working on a drawing for a friend at the beginning of the month but never got around to finishing it. Another thing I did was submit five of my photos to the Friends of Brazoria Wildlife Refuges: Migration Celebration photo contest. I found out about it when I went to the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory and decided to enter with only about a 1.5 weeks left to submit. Next week is the opening of the photo contest and the kickoff dinner for the Migration Celebration which is held the following weekend. I’m hoping to go to the dinner and maybe to the celebration events too if work and other commitments don’t conflict.

Reading: Still reading the same books. Must finish them.

April is already proving itself to be very, very busy so I’m just going to attempt to bury my head into one or two projects and finish them. I also need to start a baby blanket for a coworker and the last thing I need to be doing is starting another project, but alas I am a maker and I need to make something for someone else.

I might have to have another blog-free week in a couple of weeks to dive straight into these things!

Chel was just writing about where some of her time went the last month and she realized it went to gardening. It was then that I realized that was what happened to me as well. And while all of that is good and I enjoy being out, I need to leave the weeds some days and just water and get out of there and on to other things I want to get done. I can easily spend 1-2 hours there every evening and if I was prolific at anything last month it was being prolific in the garden. Planting, weeding, watering—growing things!

I have a long weekend that I am looking forward to.

Have an enjoyable Easter weekend for those who celebrate Easter!

2 Comments

  • chel

    As you know, I can *so* identify with this post. Especially the part about the “meh” sneaking in. I have to be careful of that, especially right now with my class just ending and everything (my perspective on career, life, etc.) sort of in this weird bubble. I have to push forward through this.

    And I’m like you- I’m around Tom constantly, but when he goes away, even though I sort of like the solitude, I get antsy and want him back. He’s like my built-in best friend, and Gracie has become the same way now that she’s older. I don’t understand those women who can’t stand their families, but I guess it’s all about the people we choose, right?

  • Patrice

    Hi! I think you know, I am feeling the same kind of meh. I love how honest you are on your blog. I think I am going to write a post tonight. Life has been hard for us. I know you said post-trail life is sometimes harder than trail life itself and I am realizing this more and more. I think we had such a great 5 months touring the country and putting off reality, but we were only putting off the inevitable! I never expected it to be this hard!!! Anywho, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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