retreat and rain

I left November Hill yesterday to come to my week-long writing retreat, where overnight a cold front blew in and today, in front of a backdrop of beautiful autumn color, a steady rain falls.  For the past two weekends we worked on clearing November Hill of maple leaves, and have taken several big trees down in an effort to reduce the number of potentially fatal leaves that fall and/or blow onto the pastures. It was hard work, and interesting because in recent years the act of raking has been hard on my back. This year I had an important reason to rake, and I managed to do the work without suffering much of the usual consequences. I don't like taking trees down, but this felt necessary, so we did it. I realized as the trees fell behind the back fence, and the clear space where they had been opened up, that between the lightning and this cutting, the area for my writing studio is now clear. Suddenly my mixed feelings changed to pure relief and then joy. Once again circumstances worked magically to end up in something that feels right and good. The best possible outcome.  I don't know when we'll be able to build the studio, but now the space to do so is there and waiting. Even the idea of a small, integrated into the woods' edge cottage with a front porch that opens right out into the pasture itself makes me happy. Can't you see Keil Bay coming to hang out with me while I write? And the donkeys walking right into the cottage itself? I already hear Salina calling to them to come back out to her. Maybe if I make the doorway large enough even the Big Bay can walk through. Just that thought fuels everything I'm doing down here on my writing retreat. My husband overseeded the back field with winter rye yesterday, so today's rain is perfect. I don't know, but I hope the herd is in the barn right now, munching their hay, and trusting that the missing member in their herd will be back soon to help with their care. I'm here with two good friends and writers and we're all working hard on writing projects that mean something to us. That kind of writing not only boosts the spirit but it creates its own wonderful collective energy that is truly a balm and a fuel for the creative self. We feel lucky and grateful to be here together in this November rain.