"Wherever he laid his hat was his home."
- N. Whitfield & B. Strong
I sat down to write this, this next to last post of 2017, and tossed my hat at the valet stand. It landed on the coin tray. Sat down like it was placed there with care.
We've had guests. My friend Dan and his wife, Ginger, flew into town on Wednesday and we put them on a plane back to Lubbock this morning. It was a fun-filled three nights. Kim and I made dinner for them on Wednesday at the house. Thursday, we had our fourth annual HHGPPPPS. Twenty or so of our closest friends gathered and ate and sang and drank. It was a gas. Last night we hauled our party of four to dinner at Margo and then to watch Mr. Jerry Douglas wreck a dobro. It was a gas.
Kim and I are home alone. We are very much happy about that. Putting on the entertainment hat for four days is so much fun. It's also a bit tiring.
We went on a cleaning spree this afternoon. I tackled the kitchen and Kim passed the vacuum around the house. We stripped beds. We washed towels. We dusted. We wiped. The house is now clean and straight. We are very much happy about that.
After taking a short break to do a bit of reading and writing, we strolled down the street to our home studio to take in a restorative practice. Jessica Self leads yogis through restorative practice on Saturday afternoons at Liberation. She's brilliant. The nidra practice she walks through is a full body scan. It causes one to spend a little bit of time noticing everything from toes to head. I never fell asleep. I was aware of the class and the sequence the entire time, but I slipped in and out of various states of awareness. At the end of class I was feeling totally chill.
If you have a yoga practice, I can strongly suggest that you take advantage of a restorative practice every now and again. It helps.
We just finished a bowl each of homemade soup and we polished off a loaf of bread made by our pal Clair over at Dozen Bakery. I've got stock on the stovetop, getting ready for the New Years Day black eyed peas. Kim's got a blueberry galette in the oven, getting ready for a small snack in a few minutes.
The year is nearing an end. We're home alone. My hat is resting perfectly on the valet stand.
This is home.