Sturm und drang

Some of you might have heard that the Chicago area had a rash of tornado outbreaks last night. We are fine, though one of them did touch down a few miles north of us. I'm pretty sure we experienced a few minutes of derecho winds, though. It was incredibly loud in the middle of it all. Poor Kenzie was a wreck and ended up peeing in the house because he just couldn't bring himself to go outside. (This is the dog who will never have an accident inside. Ever.) But our biggest clue that we had some unusually strong winds was seeing this in the morning when we had daylight to see.

This is was the gutted trailer that has been sitting around ever since W. decided he couldn't fix the leak and then turn it into a tiny house. We hadn't been quite sure what to do with it. Now, it looks as though we'll be calling someone our neighbor knows who can cram it into a dumpster. This was the only damage from the storm; nothing else was touched. Well, some tree branches, but when you have dozens of silver maples which drop branches if you look at them funny, that is to be expected. With wind strong enough to turn a long travel trailer upside down, we are feeling pretty lucky.

Today was also J.'s birthday. I admit to completely falling down on the birthday job since I didn't have any gifts for him to open nor did I make him a birthday pie. (I'll get to the pie later in the week.) By this time in June, I am feeling pretty done in with birthdays. I need to do a better job of planning ahead knowing that if I leave the last birthdays until the last minute, nothing is going to get done. I did make J. a lovely steak salad for dinner, though. It's hard to beat grilled steak, caramelized onions, and blue cheese. 

The other thing about this particular week in June is that it seems to have turned into a traumaversary for me. This was the week four years ago when movers were moving out our furniture (D.'s birthday), when we packed everything up and said good-by to the Big Ugly House (J.'s birthday), and closed and took possession of Bittersweet Farm even though it would be a week until we had any furniture (tomorrow, our anniversary). They all feel like very complicated days now. As much as I love the life we are building (slowly) here, I think I finally have to admit what a significant traumatic event it actually was, at least for me. This is another thing to plan for in the coming years... knowing I'll be off my game for a bit, giving myself some grace for that, but working ahead so that celebrations don't suffer as a result. 

It all feels complicated.

But then J. sends me a picture such as this.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this would be taken in my backyard. I feel as though Bittersweet Farm is named extremely well.