the shadows are the icing on the cake

i know. i know. more photos of the house i know nothing about.

actually, i do know something about it. 

it continues to beg me to come back.

you should have been saved...

last week, when we should have turned right, we went left. 

i had been told about a hiking trail whose name was foreign to me, so when the weather begged us to come out and play last week, away we went. at a very dangerous "yield if you want to" three way corner, we should have veered right, but with the skewed signs holding names of roads that were just too similar to each other and hard to read, we veered left instead.

i'm pretty much a stickler for directions, having even written them down on paper before we left, but  i'm a sucker for backroads and always feel that if you're going to go off the beaten path, by choice or by  mistake, backroads are your roadmap to finding the beautiful things in life.

i'm not sure how to describe the amazing, abandoned property we came across, other than breathtaking. it was instantly obvious that back in "her" day, this house and her barn and all of the outbuildings surrounding her like children who never wanted to stray far from home, had been taken care of with hands who loved her and still love her and all that she has to offer. 

someone still shows up. someone still keeps the grounds as manicured as one can when land becomes nature instead of a lawn and is now filled with animals and rodents that have taken up residency in and around it. someone remembers what it was like to live here, or to visit here and someone still cares. 

funny. now that i think about it, maybe that's all there really is to life and all that we really need…someone who shows up and someone who cares...

anyhow, we did eventually find the hiking trail.

the mud, camouflaged by multicolored leaves lost when the winds blow in and make fall disappear into winter, made walking treacherous. other times, when my legs felt heavy with each step, i believed that this must be what quick sand feels like. had i been alone, the first slip of my foot or the sucking feeling the mud was enjoying, i would have turned around and headed straight for the car, but my hubby said, "we can do this" and after having not hiked for months, i had to agree. we could do this. 

finally at the top, the trail opened up and even though it was quiet and the sky felt like i could touch it and i could see for miles, mother nature was too late to impress me that day. the hands of humans had already done that.

we took the wrong road, but found something right

the hiking path was ridiculously slippery and with each step we took, the heavy thick mud hiding  underneath a blanket of leftover leaves from fall, grabbed our feet just daring us to keep going.

so we did.

{i'll spare you the gruesome  details of what our shoes look like}

obviously, spring has waltzed her way into wisconsin and both yesterday and today, we slow danced with her. yesterday, was a road trip to the above mentioned hiking trail, where accidentally taking the wrong road to find it led us to the most amazing abandoned homestead ever {photos to come soon} and today, well today i needed groceries. 

grocery shopping without a winter coat on is a gift. a gift i tell ya!

and tonight…tonight we're firing up the grill. oh yeah. hellllllloooooo steaks!!!

all curled up in the time out chair

i'm not really serious about punishing myself for not being here for over a month, 

but yet, i kind of am.

so hello {beautiful old it hasn't been sat in for 30 years and was found sitting in the cottage we're going to renovate} time out chair.

writing down the words {that fill my head to capacity} and sharing them here side by side with the photos that magically {almost beyond my control} fill my phone or camera, has for years, "been my thing." lately though, "my thing" has been out to lunch. oh hell, who am i kidding?  "my thing" has been out to breakfast and dinner, too and then taking every opportunity to disappear during snack time.

maybe this is simply "just winter." and maybe this is just what winter wants us to do. maybe we're supposed to slow down, sleep a little bit later on those dark cold mornings, feel lazy, be lazy, drink more tea, wish we were at the gym when we're eating chips and then contemplate the writing and sharing that we want to do, yet find impossible to actually do because we're too busy doing and being what i mentioned above. or maybe this is just winter being an ass.

all i know for sure is,  i haven't been here...yet my notebook is filled with ideas and quotes and words and things i want to remember and share, and i'm fine with that being enough…or at least i convince myself tell myself that i'm fine with that being enough. sheesh, what it is with women always having to remind themselves that we are enough…and that what we do or don't do is enough?

deep breath...okay...and now, if you're still with me, i have a few things to finally share:

1. i love elizabeth's blog and truly wish that she was my next door neighbor! our husbands have so much in common! they're both married to crazy women :)

2. i absolutely do not need this, but i love it.

3. i want this. then i want to live like that!

4. the opening day of this movie is on my calendar.

5. this is my new best friend…especially in my laundry. see, you really don't need stinky makes me choke and my eyes water scented laundry detergent. we are humans and were never meant to smell like a moonlight breeze, tropical sunrise or apple berry twist. seriously, give me a break!