Friday, March 13, 2009

On the Ranch.


It's been a long day out on the ranch. I've been out in the saddle all day and have hardly been home and now I am enjoying myself with some well deserved computer time.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't figure out why I was not in a good mood, it seemed something was off. I finally decided that the problem was that I needed to sleep some more, so I went back to bed until 7 o'clock when the alarm clock woke me very merrily. Darn thing wouldn't stop beeping until I got up out of bed and made it stop. I purposely don't have it sitting beside my bed, but across the room, so I have to get up to shut it off. There would be too much temptation to roll over and go back to sleep and it doesn't have a snooze button.

This time I was in a good mood and made myself a mug of Senseo and drank that very gratefully while I smoked my cigarette. Then it was time to begin the ritual of getting the day started, which means feeding the animals first. The cats are always more than ready and await me in the kitchen walking around restlessly until the food appears.

The Überhund pretends not to care if it is feeding time and only fakes a little bit of interest when I fill his dish and pretends not to give a hoot at all when I put it down on the ground. I have to talk him into eating his food, but once he gets started, it's gone pretty quickly, providing I don't go anywhere, because he will stop eating and follow me wherever I go. So I sit right by him until he's done eating.

Then the two of us go to the bathroom to get me ready and he waits patiently by the open door while I do my thing there. He sneezes from the hairspray and the perfume and then we are ready for our walk. I get baggies from the kitchen and he dances around me, all excited because he gets to go out.

When we get back, I have another coffee and make cigarettes for that morning and then hop on my bicycle to go to therapy, which was creative therapy this morning.

For a change I didn't make a collage, but started making a clay figure from a picture out of a book of sculptures and it is harder than I thought it was going to be, but I'm managing somehow. I started off with a big block of clay and had to remove a lot to get the shape out and I found that the most difficult. Then I had to add clay to put some of the shape back into it, which I found easier. I don't think a great sculptor is lost in me. I will do my darn best to finish it and maybe make another one, but that will be it. Unless somewhere along the way I get a taste for it and become hooked on it and want to do more.

During the coffee break, I sat out on the deck with an espresso without my jacket on. The sun was shining and I sat out of the wind and it was doable. We had our first warmish day today and it was great. The temperature got up to 13 degrees Celsius, which is 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is warm for us right now. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 16 degrees which is almost 61 degrees Fahrenheit and that is real spring weather.

When I got home, the Überhund was beside himself to see me. He acted as if I had been gone on a Polar expedition. I drank some coffee and took him for a walk and then rode my bike over to my sister's house, because she has a real old fashioned bicycle pump and my tires were flat and needed some air badly. My sister pumped them up for me and after that, I flew across the streets when I rode my bike downtown. It's very hard to pedal your bike when you tires are very low on air.

I met my friend Von at Café Monopole and we sat on the terrace for a long time, I drinking cappuccinos and she drinking tea. She had brought her dog with her, who is a greyhound and a very beautiful dog who matches her exactly. Afterwards, we walked around town and bought French fries with mayonnaise in a big pointy bag and they were delicious. We bought them at the best place where there is always a line of people, because the French fries there are famous. We sat on a bench on the big square in the meager sunlight and pretended not to get cold as the afternoon grew later, but then it really was time to go home.

When I got home, I got another enthusiastic greeting from the Überhund and I spoke a good deal of endearments to him in Northern dialect, which I pretend he understands, even though he is a local dog. I fed him and the cats and took him for a walk around the field, where we had not been for awhile, so it was like new territory to him and he enjoyed it very much, so we'll do that again tomorrow.

I had collected many football cards for my nephew that the local supermarket gave away with every 20 Euros worth of shopping, so I dropped those off and I hope there were cards in there that he is missing from his collection. It was quite a rage with kids standing at the exit of the store begging for the cards when you walked out with your groceries. There were some cards that were hard to come by. The things they do to get the moms in to shop there.

I am very tired now from my day out and all the impressions I took in. I know I am going to sleep well tonight. I'm cold and hungry and I've turned up the heater and I'm going to make myself something nice to eat. Soothing warm food. Turn on the TV too.

Have a good evening, sleep well yourself.

Ciao...

8 comments:

Wisewebwoman said...

Enjoy your evening, I like the idea of your clay man.
XO
WWW

lebanesa said...

what a lovely and enjoyable day.
I enjoyed the vicarious pleasure of every moment.
You know I look forward to reading each of your posts and they are always enjoyable, interesting, amusing, touching and open. So good to share part of your day. Hugs and thanks for being you.

Mean Mom said...

Lovely post. I can tell that you've really enjoyed your day. I wish that we could have had some sun, today. It was very cold.

I have been away from home for almost 3 weeks, now and my 3 cats are getting very down without me, apparently. I know that they will have very sad eyes, when I finally go home.

Maggie May said...

Glad you had a good day, Irene.
The clay figure sounds a great idea but I guess it can't be that easy to do one.
There will be Spring bulbs flowering out in the fields in The Netherlands now? I guess you are not near any.
Have a good night. X

Jeannette StG said...

What do you know? I'm planning to go to a sculpture workshop on Saturday - it's so long ago that I even touched clay! Have a good weekend!

among found objects said...

Sometimes we have to give waking up a second chance.. I usually give it at least 4 chances.

I cant wait to see your sculptures when finished. I have really enjoyed your collages.

I have a love for watch parts and old watches. I truly believe that they house a part of the soul of the person that once wore it. The intrecacy of the mechanics and smallness of the parts is also mind boggling to me.

CC said...

What a great day you had Irene. I have always wanted to try and make something out of a lump of clay, but I am afraid it would simply look like a lum of clay when I finished.

My three dogs sneeze from my hairspray also, I try and warn them to leave the bathroom, but they never take my warning.

Raining hard here in SC and it went for the 80's this week to the 40...cold and rain makes for a good excuse to stay in bed if it were not for all the moving I have to do today.

CC said...
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