We had slow to no internet over the weekend.

It freed us up from blogging, researching and watching netflix.

We had to come up with other things to do to fill in the gaps.

Luckily the lawn mower was back from servicing so the grass was thoroughly cut before it started raining again.

I took boxes and outdoor cushions, that had accumulated in the garage, up to the attic and brought down the tub of tulle to re-decorate our house for the party we had promised Daughts and her Hubs when they got married under the trees at Footlights last August.

Next year came round fast!

I opened up the box to a cascade of tulle, roughly rolled on cardboard tubes, lengths and lengths of it.  I thought I’d done a pretty good job at carefully packing it up but 12 months had left a trail of wrinkles…

I tried smoothing it out by draping it from shower rails with hot water running and filling the room with steam,

ironing it on gentle,

tumbling it in the dryer,

hanging it from curtain rods,

folding it over sofas and chairs.

I dampened it and hung great swathes of it on the outside washing line to take advantage of the 100% humidity.

I fluffed the bows and ironed the burlap and studied last years’ photos.

Shads and Magic tried to stay away as if they knew the netting dryness on their velvety paws wouldn’t feel too good,

but curiosity got the better of them.

and Callie made a nest for herself and posed like a princess.

I finished hanging the frothy tulle to get it out of the way before it was ripped to shreds by my young feline family.

I read and critiqued a book in verse one of my friends from writing group had sent me.

I edited a video of an adolescent barn owl being released on our property and flying directly over our house and with the help from my film-maker son managed to capture a few good stills.

I wrote offline and kept looking for the publish button which reminded me of a time when I couldn’t be creative in the little box on my Word Press site and had to use Microsoft to get my fingers flying across the keyboard.

The VOIP phone was silent – an occasional iMessage got through connecting us with our children; It was very quiet inside the house.

Outside the thunder crashed and banged its away across the region and unseasonable rain storms raged aggravating our internet outage.

We went shopping and I bought pounds of fruit to make freezer jam from a recipe I’d found in a magazine.  It turned out that instant pectin was only a new discovery for me,

“My grandmother used to make this all the time,” Sam said, “I love it.”

Hubs and I cooked…we always cook but there were no distractions and we took several cider breaks to catch up on each other’s thoughts as we let veggies roast and sauces simmer.

Shads took advantage of these breaks and carried his toy mouse over by the tail, an invitation to play fetch with him up and down the kitchen tile.

Callie entertained us with her flips and rolls while wrestling on the floor with a blue rubber band.

Magic stayed out of harm’s way and spread himself over the green sofa cushions, watching and dozing.

We were all together, focused on one another.

When the silence in their barndominium grew dull our renters invited themselves over for dinner.  We caught up on news about jobs, end of summer activities and the upcoming shindig.

In the evenings, after washing up, Hubs and I sat in our armchairs and read like an old married couple, sipping wine, music downloaded from CD’s playing softly in the background.

The cats were thoroughly confused by the change in routine.

They paced the floor and trilled, restless…

…willing us to get back to normal.

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