These Things

I study on these things. 

These things easy to shrug off 

like the timing of 

which chore or outing to do first. 

What is most efficient. 

Today has been one of those days 

when housework and reorganizing 

has built up a pile of papers here, 

the risen sourdough needs baking there. 

There is no logic to it; 

merely what I want. 

All the pieces are in place.

It is up to me 

to muddle them around 

to create my home. 

So I carry on without 

complaint knowing 

there are no deadlines 

unless I set them.

“You’re not always going to make the right decisions, 

but you have to be guided by what you think is important.”

~ Hillary Clinton

A Spring Day Feeling

April 26, 2024

The sun shone;

ice and snow melted; 

the spring day feeling 

of opening up, 

tidying up and 

welcoming little spaces 

closed up by clutter and 

a long week of a foggy head. 

Housework has never called to me, 

but the bits and pieces of disorder 

nudge my soul and, 

Spit Spot (a Mary Poppins reference)

the laundry washes, dries, folds

is spirited away to drawers and cupboards 

garbage out to the bin in the alley 

as I chat with my neighbour

paper jam in the printer is studied and unjammed

The sun shone and the wind became just a breeze.

“Spring is magic ~ sweet to the senses & easy to celebrate.”

~ Susan Branch, Vineyard Seasons: More from the Heart of the Home

Glare

 

A day without writing 

blinds me. Even so, 

I putter along, 

my mind still busy writing in 

the invisible ink of thoughts. 

When I look out the window

to see the orange tabby ~

king of the block ~ 

I imagine that he knows 

where all the mice are, 

or the friendly back door 

where food is always 

on the back step just for him.

Stories and poems trail along 

while I do housework sorts of things, 

like finding a fluff of cat hair 

that resembles a mouse. 

My pen seldom touches 

the paper when I see these things.

Maybe they gather in my mind 

like the dishes in my cupboards 

to be used when needed. 

A day without writing blinds me 

with the glare of my thoughts.

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”

~ Anaïs Nin

There is a Purpose

Procrastination: 

“the act of delaying 

something that must be 

done often because it is 

unpleasant or boring” ~

Cambridge online dictionary

        ~~~~~~

Dust has been banished, 

soap scum put in it’s place ~ 

down the drain, 

mirrors polished, 

floors devoid of cat hair, ……

and all the while I wondered:

“What are you procrastinating about? 

You dislike finicky housework?”

Not the first time with the puzzle, 

but now I know. 

I know that problems need sorting. 

The sorting that arises from

 the act of ‘finicky cleaning’

You may laugh, 

you may guffaw, 

you may snort in disgust 

but I see my thoughts 

attached to the vacuum, 

the rag that scrubs grime, 

the folding of stray tablecloths

until I have an orderly list of to do’s.

Tax time is always confusing!

“Organizing is what you do before you do something, 

so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”

~ A.A.Milne

From the Top

I have been called a ‘watch cat’ by many, but truth be told, I like to sleep during the day. Most of the day. Whenever I want to. However, today, was one of those cleaning days. When she washes all her clothes that’s normal. I still am confounded by that unnecessary task. I just lick myself clean and never have to change my fur. I just let it fly away and she picks it up. She spent a very long time, taking my beautiful fur out of my blankets. But I digress. The thing she calls a vacuum ~ noisy and rude. Pushes me out of the way. She at least changed the blanket in my new carrier. I know that’s what it is, so I’ve been steering clear of it. I finally got up here on this high perch so I could keep an eye on her. By the way, my human speech has really improved, don’t you think?

“As anyone well knows who has ever been around a cat 

for any length of time, cats have enormous patience 

with the limitations of the human mind.”

~ Cleveland Amory, 1917 - 1998

 American author, reporter, television critic, 

commentator and animal rights activist

Housework vs Inspiration

Inspiration ~ 

caught in clumps of cat hair, 

gobbled up by dust bunnies, 

vanished into the vacuum cleaner

scrubbed clean with the laundry, 

swept up with dust on the patio

dumped in the dumpster with the garbage

Inspiration ~ 

polished, 

shining 

but too scared to move!

(til the whirlwind dies down)

“Housework is work directly opposed to 

the possibility of human self-actualization.”

~ Ann Oakley

At Home

Saturdays come and go every seven days, filled with errands, chores and whatever else I feel like doing. Every now and then, I pass up on all the above and they get pushed into whatever corners of time they fit. Housework has long been just a chore and a bore. Since getting settled in my home, it often still is a chore. Now it comes with a feeling of ownership. Respect and responsibility, design and redecorate. Place things just so, and for those things that no longer serve me, find them a new home. Even if it’s the garbage, but preferably given to someone else. On Saturdays, I engage with my home, caring for my home, to give me a safe place to live, to write and to develop retirement in safety.

“Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. 

When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.”

~ Clint Eastwood

In the Air

 

A challenge to cloth and mop,

      dust motes in sun rays

warm to their floating dance.

“Dust is particles of the past. If you clean, 

you’re wiping away all those good memories.” 

~ Terri Guillemets

A Good Idea

Independence has its drawbacks

~ and its advantages!

To try to find the balance 

~ is the hard part ~ but a good idea!

Learning that housework

~ annoying as it may be 

~ eases my mind and 

honours my home

doesn’t mean I always 

~ hang my coat up or pick up my shoes.

“I live in my own little world.

But it’s ok, they know me here.”

~ Lauren Myracle

From the Same Root ~ 2

 

Passionate about puttering?

A bit over the top….

but a great way to drift……

Hostile about housework?

Not necessarily an exaggeration.

Just drains my energy.

A secret ~ don’t tell!

The results can be absolutely the same,

but much calmer with the passionate part.

“The imagination needs moodling,- - long, 

inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”

~ Brenda Ueland

Bits of Housework

As much as I complain 

about not liking housework

I talk more about liking the space of

clean, neat and orderly, so

I drift through my home 

keeping things in order ~

Now the dust - that’s another issue.

I just let it lie quietly until 

finger prints are too obvious

It’s  a quick swipe though…………

But I digress ~ a stray cup left on the coffee table, a napkin out of place, crumpled and rumpled ~ picking little bits of thread and lint, curling them into balls of nothing, running the vacuum cleaner over the floor, 

washing drips of something brown from the cupboard

Bits of housework are no trouble ~ 

clearing disorder rippling through an aura of calm

by washing the stray piece of china and put it away

put the untidy napkin in the laundry ~ maintain order.

When I have created that space,

that void, I fill it up with 

stories, musings and song, 

laughter, food and music,

sometimes even tears of frustration ~

all is my life being lived.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

~ Søren Kierkegaard