I love watching Maria’s hands fly across the baling string as she assembles her second, and as yet unnamed Fiber Chair. Creativity is all over Maria’s life, and she has found a way to take our baling string, which binds the hay, and an old abandoned chair, and turn both into art.

It is a lovely thing to watch each morning. Tonight, we head out for our one-night stand, part of our never-ending efforts to figure out the holidays. I’ve rented a cheap motel room in a nearby Vermont town and we are going out there around 4 p.m. to spend one night. I’m bringing two books.

There is a diner nearby where we will have dinner and then we’ll come home in the morning, perhaps stopping for pancakes if we leave early enough. The strange thing is that the motel is so close to the farm, we are hardly going anywhere. It just feels like fun. I’m taking the monochrome camera and two books – Moonglow by Michael Chabon, a beautifully written novel, I have only 40 pages to go. Then I’ll plunge into A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles (Rules Of Civility).

I don’t really know why I had this idea, Maria is always trying to lure me into sleazy motels, even at my advanced age. I just thought it would be a cheap ($89 for the night) and fun way to spend a night, to close out our holiday season. We enjoyed it. I have a feeling we will have a lot of fun. We usually do.

I’ll be back at my computer tomorrow morning as usual, and her writing all day today.

The key to the holidays for us is simplicity, peacefulness and the near total avoidance of family. There was some family for us this  year and it was fun. Maria saw her mother and sister and enjoyed both visits and I had a great time visiting my daughter and granddaughter, Robin is revising my notions of family, and the experience has brought Emma and myself very close together, which is a wonderful gift.

So maybe  the wheel is turning a bit again.Family is one of those problems that are never really solved, we just keep trying.

Yesterday, Maria made three beautiful scarves – we put up a YouTube video – and she sold all of them in minutes. We are learning to be creative about selling as well as our art. Maria’s India trip is about six weeks away, and it is beginning to loom large for both of us.

We are trawling online for the things she might need – we ordered a neat Sling Bag from L.L. Bean yesterday. She is getting nervous, having a tooth pulled Thursday to make sure there are no dental problems in Calcutta. Soon, time to get a visa.  She is very excited about going, I am am thinking about my two weeks alone on the farm in February. Absent raging blizzards, I’ll be fine, lots to do and keep track of and I will miss Maria.

But that is overshadowed by the wonder of the trip. I am so proud of her. Going to India will change her life, I am certain of it.

It is such a great opportunity for her and the women she will help. All good.

So anyway, this is the one night stand, perhaps our last excursion before Maria takes the big one.