Cleaning up, catching up

This was the sight from our front door yesterday as crews picked up the pieces of the trees they had to take down and cut from our apartment courtyard because of the recent windstorm. Several trees were damaged and some were downright felled by the hurricane-force winds.

The good news is that because the courtyard is so full of trees, the ones that were cut down didn't leave evident holes and there is a little bit more sunshine coming through, which is not a bad thing.

Like the cleaning up of our courtyard yesterday, this has been a week of cleaning up and catching up for me after we recovered power Saturday evening, shortly before darkness fell. I'm sure my shout of joy could be heard miles away. I consider myself a pretty resilient person, and a person who tries to always look on the positive things of things, but being without power for a week doesn't bring out the best in me. That's for sure.

But now that's water under the bridge, so to speak, and I'm moving on by cleaning up the debris that the crazy electricity-less week left in my life. During the blackout, I caught a bug that bedded me for two days, forcing me to cancel class. You can imagine how poorly I felt that even the thought of dressing up and teaching class didn't excite me. So I had to make up those classes on Monday and Tuesday nights and have been scrambling since to catch up to all that needs to get done this busy week.

I was glad that I felt well enough to do quilting last night because I'm really getting into it and have now finished one of the squares and am in the process of finishing the second square, which I'm making in the Ohio Star style. The quilt is getting made in Ohio, after all. But I feel good that my brain and hands don't seem to have forgotten what I learned as a child about a sewing machine. I actually really like those the 2 hours of quilting class because I don't have to think of anything else but my sewing and my piecing together of the fabrics that I've cut in the patterns I've chosen. It's like yoga for the hands.

This morning I have a few hours of respite before I go back into the office and then to a meeting, but at least the rushing is over for now. At the apartment, we've also caught up with our laundry and our upkeep and the place finally doesn't look like it's inhabited only by animals that walk on four legs.

Because the sink has a food processor that didn't work without electricity, we could only do a few dishes at a time so the kitchen sink for that week was a sight that sored my eyes. My industrious husband has now not only caught up with all the dirty dishes, but he's keeping ahead of himself by washing everything that gets into the sink almost immediately. It's gotten to the point that I feel a little guilty dirtying a dish or a glass!

So these crazy weeks are finally winding down, tG, and the morning temperatures are feeling more and more like fall, although we're still in the high 70s or 80s during the day. My husband is in the process of trying to rent our large house in the tiny city, and with any luck will be able to get that done soon so that the lovely house isn't lonely any more.

Now it's time for me to get my butt in gear and do some reading and class prep for tomorrow. Then, a good amount of grading awaits me, along with a short paper that I have to get ready for Sunday, as part of a conference at my small college on the hill.

Outside, the sun shines, the breeze rustles the tops of the remaining trees, and the courtyard invites me to come outside and read. By now, there are few reminders that all was chaos and detritus only a few days ago. When you're lucky, ain't that the way things go?