Singular focus

I watch butterflies flutter past...
listen to birds sing...
note that there's a cuckoo calling far off in the distance...
peek in on a snake that is slowly choking the life out of a small rodent body...
respond to the hummingbird that hovers in front of my kitchen window asking where the heck her sugar water is...

But every observation is hurried - greedily gulped down during breaks from the work we have been doing. The weather is hot and the butterfly sightings are good. The ironweed stands tall and quietly reminds me that it is still my favorite wildflower, despite that I lack the time to properly savor it.

We are building. Creating another special space in our woods. A space for me to work, a space for guests to stay when they come visit. A guest house, a studio. Or, as I have affectionately named it, the "guestudio."


The beginnings...

... of a shell...

... of a special place.
The construction has gone in phases, with the main framing being under contract to a local builder, then plumbing and electric handled by Dave and myself, and now shifting back to our builder for exterior and interior finish work. Then it will be back to Dave and me to finish up with painting, flooring, trim, fixture installation, etc.


The porch, already my favorite part of the whole structure.

Inside, there are materials everywhere! Emmett likes to keep us company while we work

Oh look, some of those materials are going into and onto the wall studs!
After working ourselves like crazy for 3 weeks, we are finally able to take a little bit of a break, but within a week or so we'll be back at it again when the pendulum swings back our way and we have to start painting. So while I have power back to my laptop, time is still a precious commodity. I have lots of cool photos to share, though, so I'll be back sooner rather than later.