I grew up on the quote, “Change is as good as a rest,” by Winston Churchill. I don’t remember my grandparents, who raised me as a child, ever taking a holiday. If we went anywhere, it was always for a “change of scenery.”
When it rained here in Bellingham last week, I took a break from the garden. But I didn’t rest. I spent two days focused on the art project I am working on, fairy houses. At the end of the first day, I hurt everywhere. Standing, bent over a table, painting the tiny pieces of wood of door and window frames, and concentrating on not painting over the edge, was exhausting. I noticed each time I was determined to quit, I’d pick up another paint color and be excited again, thereby living up to the standard I was taught as a child; a change is as good as a rest.
I needed to try and break this rule, so I took a day off to visit a friend. But my friend lives a two-hour drive away. It wasn’t until I had driven the four hours there and back home that I realized I was still living the lessons I had been taught over sixty years ago!
Still, the change was nice. I sat and watched my dogs roll and sniff all over my friend’s lawn; we don’t have grass at my house. I watched the dogs watching the rabbits through the screen door; at least Henry was watching intently. Daisy was only there because Henry was.
We had a home-cooked chicken pie and salad for lunch, sitting outside on brightly colored cushions under a pretty canopy. After a ten-minute nap, it was 4:30 p.m. I needed to leave and drive the two hours to get home again.
The drive down-island to Langley, Washington, was beautiful. I had the windows down and gentle piano music playing on the radio. I didn’t need the coffee in my holder to keep me going. The smell of hedgerow roses, the Nootka rose, wafted through the air.
The dogs and I took a short walk along the beach at Ebey’s landing was soothing, except when Daisy kept trying to head into the waves! I even found a few pretty stones to add to my collection. Then at the 3 Sisters Market shop, a bathroom break, a look through a little library, and the purchase of my favorite tea, Lavender with Earl Grey, made my journey wonderful. Even more exciting, I felt like writing again.