A Stitch in Time

Sunday evening came. Sunday evening went, deer season ended and yet, there is no deer hanging in the shed. For the first time in four years, Andy did not get a deer this season. On the bright side (?), barely anyone got a deer this year. The harvest in northeastern Minnesota was down almost 20%, thanks in part to hard winter last year that thinned the herd and some pretty terribly hunting conditions almost every day of the season. 

So there's no joy in Mudville. Actually, it's more like Frozenville around here. There's been a serious layer of ice on the bay since Sunday and since it's midday and just about 11 degrees F outside, I'd say that ice isn't going anywhere for the next four - five months. C'est la vie.  

It feels strange not having several evenings of sausage making ahead of us and I have to admit a little part of me is dying knowing I can't whip up a batch of venison stew on the first -20 below day in January. But I'm pretty sure we won't starve even if the freezer does look a little skimpy. (At least the freezer still has plenty of garden veggies, eh?) Yesterday I binned up all of Andy's hunting gear and schlepped it and the meat grinder out to the shed. What else can you do?  

This morning I wrapped up a project that's basically consumed me for the last week and a half. I finished up the very last mitten is an order of five pairs to be worn by a bride and bridesmaids at a wedding on the first full weekend of December. It was a rush order because the first Etsy seller the bride contacted backed out less than a month before the big day. I have to say, knitting a mitten a day is no way to live your life and I'm really over purple as a wedding color. (Sad, because I used to love it!) But I'm so thrilled to have the project complete and to have added another special element to the wedding day. Fingers crossed that they get a little snow to make the wedding photos even more fun with all of these crazy mittens! 

As you probably, I've been struggling with focus and creativity all year. (I know you're sick of hearing about it - please excuse the wallow.) But guess what?!

All of that time spent focusing on mittens seems to have gotten the creative juices flowing because on Sunday morning I sat down and tapped out what I think are the first 500+ words of a children's novel. The story's been drifting through my head since the summer, but I'd been doing my best to ignore it , partly because I didn't have time to write and partly because, a children's novel? Really? Then on Sunday, as I was bringing in firewood, the details of the story became so clear, that I knew I had to at least start it.   

I truly have not written a word of fiction since Spring 2011 which, come to think about it, might be the primary culprit in what shall be known as "The Funk of 2013." I'd stopped making room for creative writing, because, well, fiction doesn't generally make you mo' money, mo' money. But it turns out that a steady diet of freelance assignments and commitments is just a recipe for burnout. When I hit save on that little teeny piece of fiction on Sunday morning, my heart felt happier and more free that it has in a very long time.  Sure, I need to get on top of my actual "work work" very soon (November has been an unmitigated disaster, y'all), but somehow I think those 500 words of fiction each morning will actually make it easier to rise up and face the music. 

I'm off to town to tomorrow to bake pies and help prep for the annual community Thanksgiving dinner. Is it just me, or has Thanksgiving taken forever to get here this year? (Yes, I know it's late.) I'm ready for some Christmas music! Anyone celebrating Thanksgivikkah?!