Winter Rhythms

We glance out the window and see the morning sunshine glistening on the snow-covered lawn.  After a green Christmas the white is welcoming. It is cold outside. 
Inside, the coffee is perking, the chamomile brewing.  The day begins.

Hefty pots, a large scale, measuring cups, tablespoons and teaspoons jangle and jingle in the kitchen melee.  Cupboard doors open and close as essential oils are selected. A large chopping knife silently slices through a mammoth shea butter pack. Lip balm containers are lined up like tiny soldiers on the clean counter surface.  Soap molds wait patiently for their turn to be filled. The day’s agenda is underway.

In another room, the phone rings.  A customer is calling about her son’s eczema. Ten minutes pass and I say ‘goodbye and please keep us posted’ as to her son’s situation.  Our X cream is working wonders on his severe case of eczema.  I fill her order form for more cream, a dead sea salt and emu neem soap. I pop it into the ORDER in -box for packaging preparation. A tray full of Sheamu butter, another of toners and 2 baggies of lip balms are on the labeling table, soon to be dressed accordingly and then inventoried to their prospective place on the order supply shelf. Computers are humming, accounts receivables filed and emails responded to. The phone rings again with a customer inquiry.  The doorbell sings and Fed Ex delivers a large box of soy wax and votives from Can Wax.  Make candles: Another job on the agenda.

Meanwhile inventory is being tallied and suppliers contacted.  More cream jars, ‘spoil me’ bottles and manitouka jars need to be ordered from three different suppliers. Can it wait until next week?   When is the next show, anyway?

I sit at the computer to research one of the new products on our ‘to do list and I am interrupted by Bill’s arrival from Heavenly Honey, delivering our beloved Lemon Honey. For the Tooth cleanser. 'Lemon honey arrived'. Check it off. Bill is always a pleasant interruption.

The buzz will continue in our absence when John and I leave for in the spring for our road trip. Different rhythms, a different beat. I love the buzz around me.  Our team is spirited, focusing on a task, or not, exchanging quips, making jokes, taking breaks and generally, somehow getting the job done.  All in a day’s work, here, at winter headquarters.