We’re home again.  Through the confluence of Big Doubles, Little Doubles, and Buffalo Creeks up the dirt road that parallels Little Doubles and to our little cabin.  Finally, I can breathe a full breath.

our little cabin built by Uncle Ed Thomas 1900

our little cabin built by Uncle Ed Thomas 1900

The weather has let up here and it was 55 degrees at 9:30 this morning!  I strapped Plo (10 months) on my back and did my morning workout outside. Three times down the holler, three times up the steep incline of the cemetary hill, once around the big bottom field and home.  I love being able to get my exercise out of the confines of the tight space of the cabin. Workout DVDs get boring no matter how many you have.

The air was perfect.  Filling my lungs with the sweetness of creation returning to earth.  That has got to be my favorite smell, and if they could bottle it I would adopt it as my own.  It was just warm enough, and I found myself looking forward to Spring.  That is something that I can’t remember doing before.  You see Spring comes before Summer and most of the time Summer means I’m physically miserable.  Heat doesn’t sit well with me.  I’m a Fall kind of gal.  But, the holler tends to be 10 degrees cooler than everything around it.  We are preparing to turn the ground for our garden.  I can put Plo in the mei-tai on my back and have an hour to brew my thoughts without even noticing that with it is exercise.  We’ve been on Doubles since June, and it has been the most healing experience.

The thoughts come one after the other.  I write drafts for my fiction work.  I thought about this blog this time around.  I realized how intervals of hard work brings endurance and makes the day to day work more tolerable.  I listened to my little baby phantom suck as she napped on my back.  Friends I hadn’t seen came around.  The future was planned and pictured.

Mountain Mama and Baby Plo on a snowy day... in the pack

Mountain Mama and Baby Plo on a snowy day... in the pack

Two weeks away from home takes its toll.  First, we were in Louisville where my man was doing Kentucky Crafted (he’s an artist and musician).  While there, the whole family got sick with the bloody flux (as I would call it).  This illness landed my oldest gal (Ro 3 years old) in the hospital once we returned home.  We were there for four days.  Home two days… then out goes the heat.  Fortunately, my mother opened her home to us.  The heat is still out, we can’t quite figure that out, but I had to come home.  Having nothing to do, but watch TV, sit indoors, and check emails was enough to make be start unraveling.  The TV sucks you in, especially when you don’t have cable and seldom see the goings on of pop culture and the news.

I think of the generations of people who raised their families in these cabins on this holler with less than what we have.  They had two things we currently don’t – the ability to make an indoor fire and woolen long handle underwear.  After all this, the future has the possibility of some sun.

Side note: I’m very new to blogging and learning as I go.  I hope you will be patient with me as I figure things out and write and chase little ones at the same time.  Thanks for reading.  I hope you find the content worthy of your time.