Autumn came gently to the pacific North West this my first full year here. The days have slowly become cooler and the trees slowly coloring with reds gold and browns, a few still fully green while others have finished their transition to their winter fashion. Tennessee often had the most spectacular autumn color I have ever seen, with all the trees, maple, poplar, hickory, and elm all in color at the same time. Spectacular as that was it was also over in three days. Here fall is shaping up to be a season of its own. Whether or not it proves to be a gradual slowing down to the winter pace of life or simply life as usual in new colors remains to be seen. Either way the long gradual autumns of the west are something I have missed in my years of travel.
Work is sorting its self out into something I can do and not louse myself to. Like so many jobs in nursing the learning curve is steep, frantic, and filled with pitfalls. The worst of that is past and I like the people I work with. I help people get what they need, either to get into long-term care, or something less acute. As I get ahead of the curve I can begin work on the proses improvement project I was hired to do.
The rains of autumn have arrived mostly soft and gray, like birds flannel pajamas. Increasingly I find myself on the covered porch with a hot tea listening to the rain, or down by the water with a bowl of clam chowder and good friends. The new apartment is beginning to take shape as we accumulate furniture, and get our artwork hung up. Susan and her husband have their own place witch takes them out of our place. It was nice having them here for a while and it is nice having them nearby. It is also nice to have the house ourselves. We had a house guest until November but a house of 4 is much easier to manage than a house of 8. He has since returned home.
We have been together a year now. As we settle into our relationship and get to know each other, I am very happy to have them both in my life. Brookline may be the most sensual person I know, she can be moody at times, but I may be the master of moody. She and I understand each other in some very interesting ways, and we can lean on each other. Debora who was John and is now Joyce is silly, loving, and full of energy. She can turn anything into a pun and enjoys weaving some obscure fact into her puns. Together we are a bit weird even for here but no one seems to mind and we love it! We are beginning to explore the area, and make connections to a place. I would follow either of them and they have followed me to and from Texas, but this is a good place to build a life, and I would like to spend several years here. Merry Christmas I hope your last year has been as good as mine.
Zelda