When it started getting so bitterly cold, we faced the dilemma of our semi-feral cat, Dot. She likes to come into the house for a while at a time but is obviously not a house cat. She could probably become one pretty quickly if it weren’t for our other sweet cat, Spot. Spot and Dot do not like each other. Thus, having her sleep in the house was really not an option. She is not fond of the garage either.

A cat-loving friend pointed me to an easy-to-make cat shelter (http://www.erubbermaid.com/roughneck-homes) and as a result, Dot has a place to go, out of the cold, when she needs to.

There’s also the tack room close to the big house, with it’s sweet smelling hay and warm corners, the old broken-down freezer full of oats for the horses. When the sun comes in as it sets, the room, with its red walls, glows and there’s this strong sense of safety and hospitableness in there too. Feeling the warmth in the tack room even now, with the cold season upon us and the sun going down so early, getting Dot’s shelter made, both got me thinking about having a place to go. Of course, the need is most acute this time of the year, but we all need it, don’t we, a place to go?

When Sherod and I bought this small farm, part of what made us decide to get it was the space.  We have enough room to welcome people even for fairly extended visits without feeling pushed up or hemmed in. We hope that folks who need a chance to catch their breath, who would like the quiet and solitude that makes writing, or simply praying and reflecting possible, will come stay with us a for a spell.

Our friends Frank and Roberta were already here. On Sunday, our dear friends, Mike and Mary, are going to sleep over on their way from Indiana to Mobile. Wednesday, Maria, Charlie, Penny, Grace and Robert will be here and our friends Pat, Larry and Brett will join us for some turkey-lurkey the next day. I have been slowly doing the tasks of welcome–polishing some silver, cleaning bathrooms, making up the beds and opening windows wide to let the fresh air in now that it’s warmed up again. Our fancy new oven has quit working and it is highly questionable whether or not we will have a working oven by Thanksgiving.  That’s OK–I’ve figured out I can cook the dressing in my slow cooker and I will get to bake the pecan pie and roast the turkey over at St Paul’s, Lowndesboro.  Our friend Pat will bring other deliciousness with her and we will not miss the oven for a minute.  Friends from Florida  are making noises about heading this way later in the holiday season and my dad in the late spring. All that too is wonderful to anticipate.

It isn’t just that we all need a place to go.  It’s that we can be that place too.