Writing day.

I actually manage to get to bed two hours before my usual bedtime, so when I wake this morning I have a whopping nine hours under my belt. It’s nothing short of miracle, I admit and I feel so friggin’ stiff that it takes me several minutes to get my limbs to actually move. Hah.
I don’t care at that particular moment, however. For months now I’ve been trying to get a decent night’s rest and it is well worth the insistent ache in my lower back.

The dogs are startled with my early rising, and look at me funny when I give Knight II a shove on the bud to get him off the bed long enough for me to stretch and yawn and roll out of bed. This is, of course, the moment that the dogs realize that I’m serious and start their usual racket for their release.

Once they’re out and about I take a moment to enjoy the sunlight that falls straight on my porch, and then move back inside to do a quick chapter for one of my review books. It’s coming along nicely, I’m glad to see. Almost halfway through, which means that I can start on the actual reviewing part soon. Next, I do some stretches and the like, against the insistent ache in my back and then sigh disappointment when it doesn’t work.

I gather up some dirty laundry, make my bed and get dressed and then chase the dogs that returned to the cabin for some more snoozing outside so I can lock the door behind me.

It’s still pretty darn early, for me that is, and the house is quiet when I enter it to deposit my baggage on the counter. There is quite a bit of laundry waiting for me in the laundry room, but what with time being on my side for a change, I don’t mind as I haul it all out into the courtyard for hanging, and start taking down the dry batch from yesterday.

Seeing the good weather as an advantage, I take my time with the hanging, enjoying the morning sun and basically just breathing in the air until the new batches are hung and I’m ready to head back into the house. After setting the washing machine on a new cycle, folding the dry and putting coffee on to percolate, big brother has joined me and we both start on breakfast while talking with grandpa who has arrived as well.

It is the time of when we usually gather to have breakfast when all the chores are done and we set up our computers to get some serious work done. Though at the start there are some distractions, such as Tika (the parrot) who looks like she could do with some sunlight, so big brother gets her cage down in order to set her in front of one of the veranda windows.

The big bird seems delighted with the temporary relocation and is cruising through her cage making excited noises while the Chinchilla’s watch her warily from a slight distance. Not knowing what to do with the new distraction either, the dogs are rushing back and forth between the three large pet cages that take up the veranda, their hunting instinct not giving them a moment’s rest for the duration of the day.

I get up for a bit and grab hold of the high beam in the room, pulling my knees up to my chest several times, with the pleasing result that the ache in my back finally dissipates–as was my intention.


Writing goes well today, I get down approximately four pages before the noise level rises when the sibs join us, and the hour approaches dinner time for canines and humans alike. It’s my turn today, and around dusk I place the computer in a safe spot and get to it.

A vegetable/potato pot roast, Italian style, I’m thinking, momentarily distracted by rearranging vegetables in the veggie rack before I start peeling potatoes and slicing the selection I’ve dug from the fridge.
It is a really easy dish to make–or at least it would be if all the veggies were precut, since they aren’t–it takes me almost an hour to get all the raw ingredient together in three separate oven pans, and start on the olive oil and herbal mix that is to supply the dishes with taste.
Next comes a big helping of cottage cheese through the mix, along with a thin layer of Dutch cheese on top and done.

By now, big brother has returned Tika to her usual spot in the sitting area, and she’s clucking her pleasure with an occasional screech, accompanied by murmurings that I am unable to decipher.

Within ten minutes the house is filled with the delicious scents of herbs, garlic and cheese roasting in the oven, making my mouth water while I bring out two more batches of laundry and hang them.

By the time I’ve cleaned up the mess I made during dinner preparations, the meal is ready and we dig in. Oddly enough, for no particular reason I can think of, I’ve been very hungry these last couple of days and I actually manage to get two portions down before my stomach starts screaming “full, full”, forcing me to sit down and digest for a bit.

There is really very little available to watch on the TV today, Sundays always have that problem I’ve found, but in the end it doesn’t matter since I set up my computer and make another attempt at writing.

By the time the evening draws to an end I’ve added another page to the story, finishing the four scenes that are to precede that which big brother and I already wrote during the course of the past few weeks and find the transition between the new scene and the start of the old to be perfect.

Pleased with the progress made, I copy and paste them all together, and am delighted to find that we now have a total of 44 pages which bring the book that is to become a full-length novel up to one third. Excellent!

Still full from dinner, but remarkably cheerful I head on up to my cabin and don’t even mind that I need to foray into the darkness of the carport to get a bag of dog food in order to feed my dogs tonight. I even find myself dancing in as silly fashion to the loud bounce of Amy MacDonald’s “Barrowland Ballroom”.
Every time I hear this song I get an image of Brendan Frasier in “Blast from the Past” dancing the twist. It’s hysterical. Hah.

Finally, with my last reading of the day over and done with, I set up the computer on my bed and get online.