I woke early this morning and felt the edges of the depression that’s been dogging me this year. Outside the world was white with cloud and glistening with gentle rain. I talked myself into getting up, and washed my dishes. Dishes are my bane, my most hated housework. They hurt my back and irritate my skin. This morning, in the cool, with the rain scented breeze coming through my window, I talked to myself in my mind, how pleasant the warm water was on my hands, that this is my home and my safe place. I cleaned the whole kitchen and made a mug of hot chocolate and came back to bed with fresh bread and butter, blue gum honey and lucerne honey. It’s a good start to the day. Here in this still place I’m hoping to find my medicine, in the pearl white light and the gentle company of books, in thoughts that swim like fish through my mind. May today hurt less. May today my hands have art within them.