A New Phase of Normal.

We've entered into a new phase of exploration and adventure.  School is in full force, programs have begun, and I've opened up to the many many things this place has to offer.

It took awhile but I am ready to delve.

Last week, G and I took off to Cheyenne Mountain State Park to hike with a ranger and learn about what's what.  It turned out that I knew so many of the plants, familiar and different at the same time, just a little more drought tolerant and a lot less green.  It was that moment of being here that I felt purpose, envisioning 4 years of learning and potential, and that feeling of wanting to fly.

I have since signed up with the Urban Gardening society, RSVPed for the Urban Homesteading tour, booked an art class for me and G, and will go again and again to Cheyenne Mountain for their preschool programs.  And, sometime in the next month (before we go home for my bro's wedding), we plan to go camping for the weekend at Mesa Verde, a wee bit further south.

My goals here include:

• learning how to garden in the Rockies.
• reaping all the knowledge I can about Urban Homesteading, all the how to's and possibilities, so that I can expand on what we've already begun at home and make my dream of a working Sub-urban farm a reality. 
• A weekend adventure a month.
• keeping track of all of these adventures here.  (For future reminiscing and referencing purposes.)
• start sewing again.

Thrift store shopping isn't really a goal but is fun.  So, I'll be doing that and maybe talking about what I've found...and, of course, all of this will evolve (as will I) and things will change (as will I) and new goals will develop.

But, basically, YAY!  The, "I just want to go home" has turned into "I can't wait to see what's next", and that's good.  

Good is good.

Sunrise.

It's early morning.  I'm up before the first "Mama!  Mama!" Up with the birds, the deer and the sunrise.

It's beautiful, and it's all mine.

I found an enormous desk yesterday.  A retiring sewer letting go of a lifetime of stuff, pairing down and moving on, closer to the grandkids, closer to the end.  The desk is 10ft by 6ft, room to write, room to sew.  So much will happen at that desk...stuff I can't even fathom...lingering, festering, chomping at the bit.

Today marks the first day of this long weekend.  I want to go up into the mountains.

BeComing Home.

We're getting there...that bit more comfortable, that much more familiar.

Giving instead of asking for directions; strangers are becoming friends,   We got a couch and a blue floral chair, and the moon picture has a wall of its own.

Tomorrow I see about a desk: a sewing, writing, 4 years worth of exploring place to be. My second piece of Craigslist luck making this place home, as life unfolds and the mysteries begin to show themselves.

Right now is all good.

The beginning.

If I could describe the last 25 days in a word it would be tumultuous.

Actually, this has been brewing for months...months and months of preparation...but the last 25 days has been the start of the actual adventure, the driving away from familiar and into the unknown.

We left home (like home as in deeply rooted, familiar and loved) to here: new and different, uncomfortable (at times) and unsure.  Like a fish out of water or an alien from another planet, that's how I felt.

But, there is no turning back, no change of mind...this is now.

So I venture forth, chin up and smiling through gritted teeth.  I figure things out and take the heat (literally, it's hot here-like Africa hot).  My fears and trepidation like beaded curtains to pass through, glimpses of good on the other side....glimpses of something at least.

This blog is the unfolding story of our next 4 years.  Right now it is a mystery...but eventually it will just be.  I look forward to all the good that lies ahead, 'cause I know it's coming.

Ready, set?  Here we go...