In the Flow

It is so comforting to be "in the flow." It is not something you can make happen. Not like "pushing the river," a much more common state for me... No, being in the flow is something that you just sort of slide into when you are lucky and the stars and right and you have the right mindset.

I am there at present, at least mostly.

Thinking about this as a result of several things and lines of thought in recent days. Starting with the most immediate and working backwards...
I slept in today. It was a sort of deliberate decision, the result of knowing this would be a rainy day and the incredibly busy, stressful, physical and tiring previous days. Tuesday included all the usual errands (and it still surprises me how much trips to town tire me all by themselves) as well as packaging and shipping a 4 foot diameter hex sign made from 3/4" plywood. Can you say "heavy" and "bloody awkward"? At least we were (barely) able to fit it IN the Subaru!

Tuesday night and Wednesday were spent prepping the next 5 hex orders for painting, drawing on the designs and getting the painting started before the beginning of my short shift at the store Wed. night.

Then yesterday was Market. I love picking, don't mind cleaning and prep of the food but hate loading, unloading, set up, tear down, loading and unloading again. Which means I kinda dread market -- until I get there and start talking to the folks and all. K was able to help with the dreaded parts -- though he was hurting well more than usual, as was I. Dunno what was up with my right knee, but it was not a happy camper yesterday, though it has not complained at all yet today. And Market -- though it was an overcast day with clouds that looked to threaten rain (though there was none in the forecast until the late night) went better than at first expected. We did not sell out, but spent the hours shelling the huge bag of Petit Pois destined for the freezer and much to my surprise I sold the first little indoor hex sign, a Love and Happy Home. The food stuffs were unloaded, but the car will remain packed until the rain abates -- likely not today -- so there will be some time to clean out the prep mess and get the blanching and freezing done before the living room fills with market stuff again.

But as it happens, and not pushing the river, likely all the food will not get put up today. There are some beets (greens and roots) to deal with and unsold Petit Pois (two quarts) and English Peas (maybe 3 quarts) to be shelled. A few dozen eggs to return to Todd (who will stop by later to pick up proceeds and remains) and that will be that until next week, the last one for this market.

Hex signs will likely not get any more paint until tonight or tomorrow, as I have full shifts today and Saturday. This I do not mind, as these days generally go quickly as busy nights and then Sunday is a day off -- with predicted dry weather for garden work again.

With the past new moon/eclipse and the coming of the celebration of the First Harvest Tide I have been thinking about the rituals and thoughts that I have read here and there and which have been posted on Spindle and Broom and in her LJ by my friend

hazelkate

.

I haven't done many "full blown" rituals since we moved here. Not that I am against them, mind you, I just haven't felt the need, past the cleansing, claiming and warding that I did when we first arrived. But the threads of sacrifice and letting go of ego that HazelKate talks about are here none the less... in my realization that I am no longer the proud-of-it "Type A" personality I used to be... and in the emotional watershed of conversation with K that rolled through on Wednesday, before work. And the thankfulness for the First Harvest bounty is easy to come by, when you are picking -- and still picking -- and yet still picking peas with a back that is giving you words and the realization that, now, you DO have the means to allow the peas to climb next year instead of laying on the ground as they are... and before the peas will be done the beans will be coming on and the beets ARE big enough and yes, under the weeds there are carrots and the broccoli needs to be cut again and there is a small, but perfectly beautiful little purple cauliflower there and another one here and blooms on the squash and 'maters and peppers. It's not time for the grain to be ripe here -- were we to be growing it (tried... lost in the weeds this year, maybe next time around) but I do remember the August combines in western CO and eastern WA, kicking up my allergies until a very wise chiropractor suggested that I give up eating wheat (a sacrifice, no?) a week or so before harvest started... which worked... a minor wheat allergy is made worse when you eat and breathe the chaff.

And so it flows... Eir's spirit kept me asleep much longer than typical when I say I will "sleep in" and turn off the alarm. I know it was her, because I do not hurt and am rested, not groggy. And though I can not see how, the abundance will get into the freezer and the hex signs will be done by their shipping day.