We ate pretty well over the weekend if I must say so myself.

Saturday: Green Chile Cheeseburgers from Bobby Flay’s Grill It! cookbook. On the side were Belgian Fries. (True “french” fries, fried twice.)

Sunday Lunch: Fresh Jersey Tomato Tart with Baby Greens. Tomatoes and greens bought fresh at the Farmer’s Market in Warwick that morning. And I can’t tell you how wonderful this was! No real recipe, just puff pastry spread with Dijon mustard, slices of Emmentaler cheese, a layer of fresh basil leaves topped with tomatoes.

Sunday Dinner: Fresh local sweet corn grilled in the husk (accompanied by BBQ ribs) and grilled pineapple with a rum butter glaze for dessert.

I was concentrating on the shadow of this dragonfly, not the dragonfly itself. Doesn’t it have a fascinating shadow?

What? Doesn’t everyone have a bathtub in their bedroom? Just sitting there waiting to be enjoyed? No?

We are almost there. “There” being at the point of finally moving back into our fully renovated bedroom and bath. This weekend, they tell me. Can’t wait. How exciting. After six weeks (gads, has it been that long?) of sleeping in the guest bedroom, it’s finally coming to an end.

Hmmm .... an end. The end of the rhythm of my days for the past six weeks is going to be a little strange. Tim got me out of bed earlier than I would normally rise on any given day. Hey, Tim, just because you can’t sleep past 4:30 does that mean you need to arrive five minutes earlier every day? I have to admit that a few times I was still in my robe when he arrived on my doorstep ready to take on the day. He got used to seeing me still in my robe, and I got used to his early arrivals. Every day like clockwork I got up, fed the dogs and cats, rushed upstairs to take my shower, catch the cats and put them in a closed room (for their own safety), do something similar with the dogs, grabbed a cup of coffee and checked my email—all hopefully before the workers arrived. If I overslept, the first thought upon awakening was “oh ****, Tim will be here in ten minutes!” Better get my sorry you-know-what out of bed.

At times I had no privacy, although they were always respectful about it. In and out; up and down. Questions here, questions there. I had a job and that job was to be here to answer questions and make spot decisions so that the work could go forward. Now it would seem I’m about to be cut loose, back to “normal” (whatever that is).  The cats and dogs can once again have the freedom of the entire house. I won’t have to plan my grocery trips and other various errands around when they will be here and when they won’t. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.

The driveway seems empty without the two work trailers parked out in front of the house. We are now able to park both vehicles in the garage—wow—imagine that!  It’s all good except that I find myself a little at odds with it, which is a bit strange. You see, I got used to having people around for the better part of the day. I will miss Tim’s sarcastic wit and our conversations. I couldn’t wait to have my house back to myself again, yet now I am almost regretful that it’s over. Can it be that I am actually going to miss having them around?

On the other hand, we are getting weary of not being in our own bedroom. We are tired of sleeping on our old queen-sized bed. There just isn’t enough room for our two bodies and Sam (our Maine Coon cat who stretches out between us every night and takes up 1/3 of the bed space). Our clothes are in another bedroom, still in the dresser drawers that we removed from the furniture itself so it could all be moved easily. The furniture sits in the upstairs hallway and in the fourth unused bedroom. All our hanging clothes are in what used to be the master bedroom closet (we made a new one). I think you’re beginning to get the idea that this is going to be quite a transition to get everything back in and settled again.

It’s all coming to an end today as they finish setting the bathtub and toilet. Well, almost anyway. We still are waiting on our shower door so we will still have to shower in the guest bathroom for a few more weeks. But we can move back into our newly refurbished bedroom (new wood laminate floor, fresh paint) and enjoy our bubble massage bathtub.

But that might not be the end. I just might have a job after all at the end of this. I might be taking before and after photos of house renovations. Nothing is certain yet. Just maybe ...

Sneak peek at how the bath is coming along:

Have you ever made eye-to-eye contact with a bear? I have. Or maybe this photo is more like eye-to-lens contact.

This bear visited my yard this morning. I think it’s Patches but somehow it looks smaller than that. Same patch of brown hair on her chest though. Not a big bear; more like a two or three year cub. To get these photos I went outside in the back yard and stood at the fence. The bear could have cared less. I just talked to her and every now and then she’d look up at me. What are you doing, lady? she seemed to say.

Who would have ever thought that I would grow to love having bears in my yard?

One year ago today you left me. You left quite suddenly and without warning. How I wish I could rewind the last few days of your life again. But would it really have made any difference? I wonder. Still I am tormented by what ifs. But you are gone and there is no going back. I think about you every day. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of something to ask you about or tell you about something that happened in my day. But you aren’t there.

We didn’t get to say good-bye and that really hurts. At least I have the last words you spoke to me on the phone—love you! I love you too. I miss you so much.