The last few days have been emotionally rough. I was aware of what was going on with Allyson, the publisher of WMG (brain tumor that was successfully operated on) and then yesterday, Vonda McIntyre passed away.

So last night Blaze and I kind of took the night off. Drove up to Issaquah, went to the PCC. I found vegan gluten-free mini cupcakes. Chocolate raspberry. They smell divine. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my designated non-keto day, so will have half of one of them then. Maybe for breakfast. Or maybe not – that much sugar that early in the morning is sure to give me a headache.

Then we went and had ice cream. Or he did, and I sat there with him, and we both took advantage of the free wifi. Still came home afterward and read and worked, but it was a lovely break that we both really needed.

I’ve planted the bee balm. As I’d figured, it was difficult to break off any of the stems. Came away with a group of three, plus more babies, and the rest went into the ground near the existing bee balm. The three stems I broke off went into a pot. One additional medium stem broke off as well. I’m currently drying that one, to see how pungent the leaves are once dried.

Despite how much work we’ve been doing around the property, I’m actually in better shape physically than I expected. I hurt a lot less than I thought I would.

Yesterday, it was also nice enough that I was able to write outside midmorning. I cannot adequately express how lovely that was.

When I lived in Seattle, on Capitol Hill, I had a magical backyard. It was an amazing serene oasis. I still miss that.

Last year, I didn’t get to spend enough time out in the yard. Hadn’t organized myself enough. Plus, we were still building out the yard on the side of the tiny house.

This year, the grass is there and it’s gorgeous. Right now, we’re on the other side, in the front yard of the main house, because that’s where the sunshine is. Later this summer when it get too hot, we’ll be mainly in the side yard of the tiny house, because that area is mostly in shade.

I’m not sure I have a lot of words this morning, but I’m going to try. So I end with this – what is your current favorite place to write or commit your art?

ETA: We don’t have internet at the house for the next week. I’ll be writing blog posts in the morning, but not posting them until we go into town sometime in the afternoon.