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every single night it's the same.  The only things that differ are the time of day that night falls and the number of coverings to accommodate temperature.   The two baskets of cloth.  The pile of books….half moved at a time.  They're heavy.  They go to the other side of the Everything Table,  across from where my place is.

 


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the three big pillows go on top of the baskets.  It's precarious.  Looking at this pic,  a lot of things look precarious,  a little askew,  but it's how it is at the end of the day,  no matter my good intentions.

 


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the coverings that have been folded up and set as a large pillowish thing during the day are unrolled and the bed is made.  In the last days,  the old  faded  pinkish wool blanket has been added. 

I think about this a lot,  as i do it.   A way to keep some kind of order.    In the morning,  the coverings get folded up and stacked again,  the pillows arranged,   the book pile moved back,  then the two baskets,  the smaller sitting atop the larger.  Things that are askew  are straightened.  The bench seat across from me is empty.   In the case someone(s) will sit there.    How it is at old nana's.  

Jenny came to finish the new feed Thing for Sunny Ray and Jack.  I went off to the ritual of the recently planted B garden.  That ritual is new.  And newer still with the Fig being planted.   I have taken up saying things aloud,  in a very quiet voice,  but somehow speaking aloud means something.  On the way there,  walking over,  i speak this way to the forest of Trees,  stopping now and then to touch them with my eyes.   Soon it will become How it Is,  like this bedtime ritual.  Other things might be added.

repetition.   Some out of  necessity,  some for something Else entirely.  

 

 

 

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16 responses to “household ritual”

  1. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Looks warm and cozy! I still marvel at how you came up with that design wall .. very clever you are. Sweet dreams…

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  2. Joanne Avatar
    Joanne

    I have a way of going around the house, turning off lights, lowering the heat…….before it was last walk out with the dog…….even really late he wanted to go out, to walk in the dark. One couple down the street also had the habit of late night walking and they surprised him coming out of the dark into the street light. Some nights, deer crossing the street. I miss that ritual of the end of the day walk before bed.

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  3. Mo Crow Avatar

    I really hope that in the not too far away you will live in a little wooden house with windows and a table where you can write and stitch and draw and dream!

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar

    i’m glad i let my self think of it. that i didn’t
    choose to remain stuck, not having a wall.
    It works. Most days it’s just that top half of it…
    folded over. Lately I’m getting the urge for the
    whole of it…maybe when the Rain begins.

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  5. grace Forrest Avatar

    i think i would keep going, just to see how it
    felt. Maybe your man might walk with you or
    just you and Riley’s spirit?
    I think i would just try it. Walking alone,
    somehow it seems like it would be worthwhile
    to know

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  6. grace Forrest Avatar

    maybe. It is seeming to become less important
    as time passes

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  7. Mo Crow Avatar

    I admire your resilient spirit!

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    am looking at Things through a different slant of Light
    that says Look at Different Things

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  9. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Greeting each day in the same way, repetition/ritual is so comforting to me. I’ve always been out at first light with a mug of coffee or tea in hand, sitting to greet the day when the weather permits but lately, as we go deeper into the cold, the stillness, waiting for the coming of the light, I greet the darkened star filled sky. I’m a lark so I get up very, very early, often before 4am, mug in hand,open the front door, step outside, breathe out and in, walk out to the middle of the driveway, look up, see the stars, the shaft of moonlight, the silhouettes of the trees and say, Good Morning…and I often hear echoes of a greeting. It’s getting quite cold and frosty now so besides my robe, ski hat, bulky socks and slippers, I also wrap a woolen scarf around me, quite the sight if any of my neighbors were out, they might thnk they were seeing a New Mexico Yeti!

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  10. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    I call it Schlepping stuff…How wide is your bed? How long? Can you share your bed with the stuff or are you making it up into a couch during the day?

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  11. Acey Avatar

    now i understand how things fit together and get taken apart to shift the space’s usage. There was a photo of Emrie sleeping on this sumptuous array of pillows and folded quilts and I marveled at how the space had shifted to accommodate these needs. Is clarifying to see how it worked. not sure why. but it is.

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    i get up early, but don’t always go out. the Cold.
    I watch, through the window until SUN edges over the
    rim there, behind the TREES. Then. Then i can go.
    Tomorrow i will find the Cold Times things. The wool hat, the Rain Jacket which i will Need, to go feed.

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    it is. clarifying. i can see that.
    I wonder what will happen when Emrie no longer needs
    Nap or Respite? My guess is that it will remain like this.
    No need for a
    couch. Who would need a
    couch?
    It’s what it is. Where i sleep. Where holds stuff during the day.
    or
    Why do i keep all these books in here? This stack? but then, there’s the two baskets…so why NOT the books?

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  14. Liz A Avatar

    this made me think of tides, rocking back and forth, day by day

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    i don’t make it into a couch…just leave it down, like
    a day bed, i guess? No one sits there anyway, it’s
    awkward…you just sit facing the door. It’s Emrie’s
    during days.
    And no…now enough to share together during the night.
    I turn and turn several times.

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes, it’s like that, Very Much

    Like

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