From the Same Root ~ 3

And then there’s puttering ~

Pick up this….

Move that over…..

Forget to eat but…..

Snack all day…..

Start a waiting sewing project….

Forget the time….

Fold clothes still in the dryer….

Plant flowers wilting while waiting.…

Pull weeds cluttering the drive….

Back in the house….

Work on that painting….

Pick up this ….

Move that over….

Start supper…….!

Where did the time go!?

“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.”

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,  The Marble Faun

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

Not Amused

2:50 A.M……

It’s time to rise!

No, it’s definitely not……

I close my eyes

3:12 A.M…….

What about now?

Still not…..

Absolutely not!

It’s 3:30 now…..

What do you think?..

It’s really not…oh, well

I’ll go get a glass of juice to drink…

It’s 10:57 a.m.

and I’ve pushed things about

Drearily awake without much sleep ~

my furniture rearranged, I just want to pout.

“The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to.”

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Gift of Puttering

I had forgotten how satisfying puttering can be. Why does that happen?! All of us have homes to take care of so that home is really our home. If there are more than one person in a home that can create a bit of a battle about who does what. Territorial arguments can ensue.  ‘I did it last time…..it’s your turn!’ ‘You never load the dishwasher in the right order and I have rearrange everything before anything will get clean!’ ‘Do you ever pick up your socks or hang up your clothes?!’ The list of arguments goes on and so do the arguments. Sometimes these angst ridden dialogues are kept inside just to avoid a verbal battle. And so I segue to those of us that live alone. I love living alone but those arguments just mentioned do not necessarily stay in busy family home. Should anyone be listening ~ maybe the fly on the wall? ~ they may be concerned about my mental health!  Talking myself through these dialogues really only happens when I’ve let my surroundings slide into disarray. Puttering, on the other hand, slows these dialogues to a full stop or maybe to a minor muttering. Soon however, because of the mindlessness of picking up this and rearranging that, my mind moves on to other more interesting things. Things like the music that has been buried in a big box of 8 track tapes from eons ago. Harry Chapin and The Cat’s in the Cradle ~ so much fun. Gathering all my bits of wool from the baby afghans I made in the summer and crocheting a lovely toque for cold weather. The toque I finished last week is toasty warm, a second one is started and promises to be as toasty. (By the way, Rylie Rose'Marie ~ my great granddaughter is three months old today.) A bit more puttering finds supper, waiting to be cooked, in the refrigerator when I do a much needed clean of an inside shelf or drawer. Tonight it will be Foil wrapped salmon on a bed of spinach. Wiping the cupboard shelf, I find garlic cloves from my garden for the salmon, but will pick up a lemon when I go out this afternoon. My long wish to learn Spanish has me opening my Learn Spanish book along the way, doing the lessons for today while Santana plays. 

Puttering is more like a dance. Just taking the steps that will get the many small tasks done, the only order being what is at my finger tips as the dance progresses. Puttering puts the gray, cold rain in its place ~ outside. Although I may get my work raincoat on and finish cleaning up my tiny garden. Another puttering kind of job. At day’s end, a semblance of order as been restored to my satisfaction and pleasure. Home is more than a roof over anyone’s head. As I write those words, I think of all those folk who are desperately in need of any roof. The comforts of home come later. Today’s essay on puttering, when put in perspective, underscores the blessings I have in my home. Forgetting about puttering in this light suggests that I may have taken for granted this very relaxed multitasking that really is housework. Hopefully, when I am resistant to caring for the home beneath my roof, I will remember the gift of puttering.

“Puttering is really a time to be alone, to dream, 

to get in touch with yourself….To putter is to discover.”

~ Alexandra Stoddard

Strawberries, Blackberries and Cheese

Bits and pieces

Here and there

Putter a bit and

Read a bit more.

Set a direction

Map out a course

A mile just a piece 

of the journey we’re on

So stop to eat

or revel in sights  ~

bits and pieces of value

for any old trip!

“Writing is like sewing together what I call 

these ‘buttons, these bits and pieces.”

~ Sandra Cisneros

Guidance Counselling?

I am a master of busy work. Puttering is soothing for me. So what is the difference? In this next month of creating a workable daily plan, I came across this stumbling block as I counted out change put aside for laundry money. The goal was a good one - I do need laundry money twice a month - specifically loonies - so saving my change seemed like a worthy goal. Otherwise I would have to get to the bank for a roll of loonies. As I was adding up my quarters to see where I stand, the ‘busy work’ thought pinged in my head like an alert on my cell phone. Am I really saving time? Or am I setting myself up for more ‘busy work’ than the time it would take for a trip to the bank, sometimes along with another errand?

All that aside, I really do like puttering. There is a soothing quality for me to puttering about my home with minor tasks, or fixing tasks, or whatever I wish to do. When I am in doubt of true meanings, I go to online dictionaries and in this case a real, old hard cover dictionary (Copyright 1976 - it’s not that old!) - just in case they disagree. You know how the English language morphs and changes. Sadly, it would seem they agree. From my 1976 Websters: ‘putter: 1. to move or act aimlessly or idly. 2. To work at random’. Not exactly the same wording on the online dictionaries, but the meanings are quite the same. Online Merriam-Webster:  ‘to spend time in a relaxed way doing small jobs and other things that are not very important.’ And believe me, I can work at random or doing small jobs for hours, until I want to pick up a book and read. Or let my iPad distract me.

For the purposes of creating guidelines for daily planning, puttering can be included, however, my thought is that a timer is needed! There’s also no one here to be the boss of me, nor would I want anyone else to be the boss of me. Seriously though, I do have three important projects that I wish to complete. Frequently a timer when writing has been very useful. Paying attention to that timer when I’m puttering and busy working also useful. Not always successful, but it has worked quite well for me - when I pay attention. At the same time, I know that putting blinders on, staying too focussed for too long is as dangerous to project completion as unchecked puttering. (Puttering can get a lot of household tasks done.)

I’ve just returned from a great weekend away with my kids in Vancouver. Yesterday, we had a lovely outing with friends for Dim Sum in the morning. Later in the day we had an Oscar party with the tenderest, most delicious pot roast and rich, fudgy chocolate cake - there was salad, potatoes and gravy but the first two mentioned were definitely the stars. Time spent like that is another issue to consider when ‘going deeper, not wider’. Time taken with family to let the work of the previous days or weeks settle in, to deepen family bonds and just plain relax and laugh. All the project work, and even puttering tires a body and mind out!

Based on this bit of enlightenment, I am revising my Daily Plan from my March 3rd blog post. Rather, re-titling it and making a couple of additions seems more realistic. Any good plan starts with guidelines, and usually much discussion to find out what they are. In that light:

Guidelines for Daily Planning

1. Be prepared
2. Allow for flexibility
3. Balance project work with puttering
4. Be alert for busy work
5. Set a timer - begin with 25 to 45 minutes.

Oh my goodness, I thought this would be easy. Deciding to review one’s life habits with clarity, without judgement, and with kindness may just get the important projects done, while realistic puttering is allowed to continue. Busy work maybe needs to be pared away, but honestly I think it might be the same thing as puttering just not accomplishing as much.

“It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. 

The question is: What are we busy about?”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Exhaustion's Remedy

No question.

Exhaustion has taken it’s toll

behind red-rimmed eyes ~ Open wide!

concentration sluggish ~ Focus!

moving slowly ~  Don’t stop too long!

Desire to 

go anywhere 

visit anyone 

non-existent ~ except for

a short, lovely walk outside in 

brilliant sunshine, cold polished air!

Three days off!!

Clear my eyes,

all will be restored.

I can do this.

Tomorrow?

A total pyjama day full of

puttering

reading

napping

stillness and calm.

“To do nothing is also a good remedy.”

~ Hippocrates