The Carpenter's Kid...

Last March I was lucky enough to have a writing residency at the Ucross Ranch in eastern Wyoming. I got up by 7 every morning and after a breakfast of oatmeal and fresh fruit was at my desk writing by 8. At noon a pro- fessional chef brought a bagged lunch to my studio and left it quietly outside my door, and the same chef prepared a gourmet meal every night for dinner. (Think salmon and asparagus. Fancy greens. Chocolate mousse. Oh yes.) I wandered across the prairie every afternoon, where I'd see pheasants or bald eagles or whitetails or sometimes mule deer. If writing wasn't going well I'd lie on the futon in my studio and read a novel. And maybe take a nap. It was an incredible month for many reasons (not the least of which was the food...did I mention the food? Being six months pregnant, I thought about food a lot. That was the month I gained seven pounds).

Back home, Tim was having a slightly different experience. While I was spending my mornings gazing at the field beyond my huge window and occasionally tweaking a line in a story, he was on hands and knees pulling up linoleum, tearing out a sink, shower, and toilet, knocking down a small wall, and completely refinishing an oak floor. By himself. And probably eating beans and rice. Well, once Baby H. arrived (three weeks early) it was hard to find the time to finish the bathroom-to-bedroom renovation that had started out so strong. Tim's the only one earning a paycheck now, and since this is what he does for a living, coming home at the end of a day to spend more time on his hands and knees hasn't exactly been easy. (Especially now that we've discovered Battlestar Galactica. Ahem. Thanks, Jim and Sheryl.)

However. Slowly but surely that little baby room is taking shape. And now that Hayden actually sleeps in there for most of the night and for all of his naps, there's more incentive to spend time on it. It's getting there. Tim has put up wainscoting and a picture rail, and made a whole new windowsill. And this week I finally sewed and hung some curtains (which Hayden loves, by the way). Tim refinished a garage sale desk that a friend meant to refinish herself a couple of years ago but never got to. And just this morning we hung the world map quilt from Aunt Polly on the wall (which involved me handsewing a "sleeve" on the back and learning the whipstitch...very useful, in case you're wondering). So it's coming! Never mind that there's still some trim missing, or that there's a big hole in one wall where the built-in dresser/closet/cabinets will one day be, or that the little alphabet cards above the picture rail need to be tacked down somehow. For now Hayden's pretty pleased with what has been finished. Plus, with the excitement of being able to stand up in (and gnaw on) his crib, he could really care less about a few missing pieces of trim.

Wow. That was a lot of words to talk about new curtains and a quilt. There you go.