Today: a deluge. Then after the rain, we took the dogs to Bannock Point for a walk in the woods – snow-free and with the sun shining through the trees.

Bird song. Green grass, moss, ferns, Oregon grape and tree seedlings. Spring.

Also, of course, mud.

Let me be just a tiny bit political for a minute. I find it curious how much I was hanging on the release of the Mueller report. This is finally going to be it, I thought. The end of Trump and this woeful chapter of history on our continent.

But not. Of course not. What was I thinking? Trump is a symptom, not a cause.

And so the Mueller report, oddly enough, set me free. I have stopped caring about what goes on down there. That whole mess is finally impinging on my consciousness on the level that internal politics in Lithuania does. Whatever happens will happen and I refuse to let it hold my attention at ransom any longer.

I refuse to let that charade determine the happiness of my days.

It’s time for a serious reset. There have been far too many things that I have allowed to rule my days. Waiting on the Mueller report. Waiting on the house to sell. Waiting on what – an eclipse of all of Saturn’s moons?

I am making a decision to live my life and to be happy – whatever it takes, I am going to create that.

Right – brave and determined words. But let me take a baby step first. Test the waters. Dip my toe in before I actually begin to swim. Are there sharks in the water? I think I may want to find out by degrees.