Pins dropping all over the place

"Youth always tries to fill the void, an old man learns to live with it."

Mark Z. Danielewski

It's been roughly 83 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds since we had Charis101 to ourselves. As sociable as we like to be, that's a long time between drinks of solitude and silence. We have managed to fit in a few things around the hospitality (e.g. six tonnes of wood delivered and stacked, beer/yoghurt/bread making (a few times over), gardening duties (including barrels of vegies and fruit), jam making, weed whacking, car buying, starting a new job, working full time, the odd blog entry, loads of electronics, hosting Christmas merriment, various religious obligations, etc., etc.,), but for the most part it has been a matter of entertaining others as they drift through paradise enjoying the sort of lifestyle we would like for ourselves if we had time!

So maybe today we'll have a quiet afternoon nap to celebrate our anomalous independence? Nope - the chicken house needs cleaning out, tomatoes need picking and turning into Passata, house cleaning, dog walking, laundry, marking/preparation, etc.,

Kelly illustrating the correct pose for visitors

What we will definitely enjoy is the sleep of the just when our heads eventually hit the pillow tonight prior to the always rude 6am wake up call tomorrow.  Sleep in?? What!? Someone has to pay for all this paradise.

Arriving happy as can be at work first thing in the morning

And to those who cannot understand why all the fuss, come visit - but not until we recover a bit, OK?