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Letters from Lorraine XIX
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Hola everyone! Hot as hell down here in San Miguel but lower temperatures and rain are on the way! From mid-April until mid-June it’s kind of like living in bad New England winter weather; you get your supplies then hole up in your house riding out the worst of it. Though I’ve never had a problem hiding out from the cold or the heat, it’s just that after a while I get stir crazy and I am officially stir crazy! What keeps me from going over the edge though these days, are my dogs, a few new friends, talking on the phone with old friends, and spending as much time as I can writing my new book. My best bud Pearl is more fragile every day. For all you who have loved old dogs, you know what these days are like; one day they seem fine and you think, “Hey what am I worried about,” then the next day you are devasted thinking today is the day. It is truly an emotional roller-coaster but because of my current life circumstances, I have the time to be with her more than I did with my other fabulous furry friends. And so I squeeze as many happy moments out of each day as I can with her. Pearl and I have a new routine, once or twice a day we get in our small saltwater, heated pool and do exercises for her arthritis. Surprisingly she’s really liking it, but then again she gets her mom all to herself for an hour. What is hilarious though, Ruby, Mike and Molly hightail it into the house when they see us heading for the pool as if Pearl and I would want them to join in. Ha! Sara, my partner in helping critters in need, and I are now giving Pedro (he adopted our two street dogs) a hand with his momma and baby horse. We were driving Pedro home with two big bags of dog food last week and along the way he said, “Lorraine, my horse had a baby, you’re going to love him.” The little colt is adorable but Sara and I were immediately concerned for his mother, she looked extremely skinny with her poor ribs showing. Sara and Lorraine to the rescue! We did what we usually do, which is to buy food for the critter in need and so now we’re feeding Pedro’s two dogs (actually three), and his momma horse and technically her baby too (we love doing this BTW, it our pleasure). And since Pedro said I could name the little guy, I put photos of him and his momma on Facebook and my friend Mimi named him Guapo, which mean handsome. Pedro approved, so Guapo it is! Besides walking the dogs, having hydrotherapy sessions with Pearl in the pool, “horsing” around in the campo with my friends Sara and Pedro, I spend most of my time writing. I don’t know what I’d do or how I could have coped to my new reality without this passion. Writing keeps my creativity wheels turning and I have always been the happiest when my head is in the clouds. In my former life my imagination made up clothes, now my imagination makes up stories, and you know what? I could give two hoots as to what my characters are wearing (unless it’s important to the story) but what is really surprising, I don’t even care what I’m wearing! And you know what is more surprising than that? I don’t even care what you’re wearing, not one tiny bit! I have a beautiful sewing room upstairs in my house with all my sewing machines, tables, fabric, big, framed posters of my work on the wall ─ a real dream come true for any sewing enthusiast. But for the past year I just can’t sew. I have fucking holes in my pants and depending on where that hole is, I wear them anyway. I think when a lot of people retire from a lifelong career, they become unable to do what they did all those years. I kind of hope this is temporary, since I would really like to fix those holes and maybe make a few things now and then. I got an email today from a customer who I think of often. She had bad news and good news and just hearing from her made me miss my store and all of you more than ever. Please write if you have a few moments, I love hearing what is going on in your lives too, I really do. Here’s to a good, heathy and fun summer, we deserve it! Lorraine, Pearl, Ruby, Mike and Molly. P.S. My other three dogs are great! |
