ChickieMama Surgery and Thoughts on the Middle Ages

Today is a topsy-turvy day. I work for Chickie today while she takes ChickieMama to Mayo Clinic for cancer surgery. It's a minor procedure, they leave early this morning and should be back home by early afternoon. But it's surgery and Claire is older than I am, so there's always something to worry about, even in out-patient surgery. If you can spare a positive thought or six for Claire today, it would be kind of you. 

Claire's surgery is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, 
approximately an hour or so south of the Twin Cities. 
We're quite fortunate to have a world-class medical 
center so close to where we live. 

But, that means that I work today and I'm off tomorrow. My schedule is totally turned on end. I'll continue with my current task at the shop which will take me through today and many more todays, and I'll have to work with customers also, because DH is fairly useless at working with them. All I can say is he'd better be busy with something that has to do with our closing next year while he's secreted at his desk in the back. That's all I'm saying - GRRRR. 

I really dislike it when schedules are switched or 
changed up, but this is for a really good reason, and 
Claire is a good friend. So I'll just be hoping things 
go well for her and I'll get tomorrow as my "day off" 
instead of today. 

But with this small exception and bump in the road, nothing too much is happening today and that's not a bad thing. Sometimes routines and focus on tasks is what's important. For a change, though, why not think about what it would have been like for you at this time of the year a century or two or four or more ago. 

I guarantee that life would have been harder and probably 
shorter in the Middle Ages. There was no Industrial 
Revolution, no machines to help us in the fields. We lived 
a much more hand-to-mouth existence then, although 
some people are still living that way today. 

Where would you have been living? Would you have been a maker or a farmer? A lord or a serf? Would you have been a craftsperson? Who would you be interacting with daily? Weekly? Once a year? Would you have a strong roof over your head or be living in a one-room home? Where would your meals come from? Do you have a spouse? Children? Pets or domestic animals? How about a garden? Is it ready for harvesting or was it a poor year for crops and you're looking ahead at a winter of want and deprivation? 

There weren't a lot of career choices in the Middle 
Ages. They mostly fell into agriculture, maker (blacksmith, 
weaver, cook, etc), ruling class or military service. Of 
course, the peasants were also forced to go to war if their 
ruler decided it was necessary. *sigh* Not a very 
bucolic life, to be sure. 

Sometimes I like to take these little journeys into my head. It's these journeys that can populate your writing, that can inspire you to greater achievements in your present life, or that can color your art. On that note, I'm plugging in photos and getting out to the pool. It's trash day, so one more thing to do before I can leave the house this morning. Have an excellent day and Slava Ukraini.