Mornings

I am not a morning person. There are many who can attest to this. Yet mornings have become a favorite.

I wake up and roll outside before fully awake, leaving a boy reading in his bed, a girl still long away from leaving dreamland. The garden is soft this time of day, hazy and serene. So far removed from the blow dryer and Sports Center that were rituals once upon a time that seems so far removed from now.

The sounds here are a hammer, Josh on the wooden yurt roof, up long before me. The whir of a hummingbird flying overhead. The call of the broad-winged hawk. The squeak of the wheelbarrow tire as I add new wood mulch to paths (or rather more old wood mulch, still left over from milling). The plop of weeds into a bucket.  And blessedly, no talking.

Until there is talking, and there are small bodies shadowing me down the garden paths, holding the measure while Josh marks out the next line of shingles, wondering what (and when) is breakfast…

By then I am ready to enter the civilized (or maybe not so civilized) world of the day and start picking kale on the way back inside, to saute up with eggs before belly rumbles or whining crescendo.

These mornings are what have us this much closer to a non-canvas-yurt-roof over our heads.

Sixteen more rows to go on the bottom. Josh estimates there will ultimately be a total of 17,000 shingles on these roofs.  Still smiling.

Last year was full to the brim with wooden yurt building workshop planning, preparing, doing…and then relearning how to breath.  This summer has no such set framework around putting up framework.  We use these nooks and crannies of time, mornings and after dinner when Josh shingles while I clean up and bring water in/out.  Which means there’s space to turn outward again and get caught in the whir of summer here that is  so very opposite from winter’s hibernation.

Sometimes it can almost be a relief, an in-breath, to carve out time for some other projects that can be done while roofing moves along.  One weekend Josh worked on sanding the outside walls and I followed staining, with thanks to Vermont Naturals for making it so children could dip brushes in too.

Until they were off again, back to their own projects.

That same weekend, the back door was finally hung with thanks to a couple of extra hands to help lift the quite heavy thing and hold it at the correct angle.

And the stairs that I had been working on the last day of the last workshop last October, were finally finished.  Well, finally finished enough to not be tripping on the last two wobbly stairs.  Someday they will get cherry risers to match the one already put in on the top step.

Someday…  But there’s much in line before then!  Once the roof is done, we’ll turn inward again, to sand the top and second floors, cut and put in windowsills for windows to go into.  To insulate and put down the first floor over the cement, so the walls can go on top of that, and windowsills on top of that, and windows on top of that…  Oy!

It will happen.  But not today.  Today there are flowers gathered and vased up with friends to give.  A birthday dinner tonight, another tomorrow night, another the next night (!).  There will be feet in ocean, there will be boys camping, there will be friends.  And most days, there will be those blessedly quiet mornings buoying us along.