Unlabored Day

On this Unlabored Day, listening to the rain on the screen porch seems completely divine. And having just watched "Julie and Julia," drinking wine just seems like the natural thing to do.

This has the magic of stolen time, an unexpected gift of unscheduled hours when plans go awry. See, today was going to be a biking day, until a cloudy and rain-tinged morning greeted us. So the backup plan of brunch and a movie fell into place.

I suppose Julia Child could be annoying if you weren't in the right mood. But I found her relentless enthusiasm and reckless enjoyment of life and all it contained to be contagious. So we watched a movie about French cooking, after which we must stop for a glass of wine. But the little downtown cafe isn't open today, nor is the winery in the country. Well, the kitchen at home is still open. We'll go home and start the process on our new venture, a batch of home-made brandy.

Not so fast. The yeast we have is not the right kind. The brandy must wait till tomorrow night. Thus, I'm sitting on the back porch listening to the rain and sipping the best wine I've had in weeks, with Luvly's homemade rosemary sourdough bread. How absolutely divine.

Is it? Is it a stroke of the Divine, when our plans keep falling in on themselves, and we keep finding alternatives, better things to do with our time. Choices that lead us to a slower, more relaxed, quieter time than we had planned. Time to soak up the day, like an all-day drizzle. An Unlabored Day.

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