And they do indeed help: I smile at every Christmas Tree, every candelabra decoration, every string of lights around a chalet.
It’s the one time of the year where we don’t speak too much about the “waste” of electrical lights, but then we also are using more eco-friendly light bulbs.
Let your lives be lightened.
16:15 and night is almost upon me: the winter gray and rain add to the earlier and earlier sun sets, that is if there were a sun to set, and it is NOT my favorite time of the year!
The only positive as far as I’m concerned is the upcoming festivities and the fact that as of the winter solstice in 3 weeks sundown will no longer come earlier: it will freeze for a few days then we will have turned the corner and start gaining again. Long life the 21st of December, more important to me even than Christmas!
Birthdays yet
Thanks to all of my delightful and thoughtful family and friends.
This year I had decided to go back to a favorite hotel with a long-time friend.
On the day itself, first message from my older son, then a continual flow of WhatsApp, sms, email and I am sure physical cards although I wasn’t home to receive them.
I was on a high even before attending the concert that we had chosen: Andras Schiff
Who played a Bach, then a Hayden, following by Mozart and Schubert. After that we were sure that he couldn’t do anything else, but the Brahms encore was perfect.
Back to the hotel where we were going to have our dessert: what a surprise, they presented me with a birthday cake! I had wondered when I got an email during the afternoon offering my a percentage on my next trip if they realized that I was actually in the hotel, yes – not only the computer program, but the people who run the hotel.
I went to bed on a cloud.
The only negative of the whole day was the rain, but that did NOT spoil my parade this year.
I am joining my family for a few days in the mountains soon and needed to pack my suitcase. Said suitcase lives on a luggage rack in my bedroom and as I to and fro, sometimes only needing a night’s affairs, sometimes 2 and very seldom more, things end up in it instead of getting put away. The suitcase is never empty and of course each trip being slightly different, there can be many mundane items, none of which are needed for the upcoming trip. Such was the case this time, I will not have the occasion to need my swimsuit or bonnet so took them downstairs to rejoin the “swim sack” in the front closet.
Talk about opening up a can of worms: that led to emptying out the closet as the swim sack was in the far corner, which in turn led to the discovery of a sack full of stuff for the car, along with many other collected sacks, both paper and plastic. That meant sorting those, half to join the plastic bags in the cellar, half to be given to the local mini grocer who can use them for customers.
The later thus needed to go in the car…
Open trunk, see mess, decided that it too needs sorting, well that led to not only sorting, but having to vacuum, which in turn meant that the windows were too dirty. You get the picture.
Fortunately at about that point, with the suitcase emptied and ready to re-pack, with the hall cupboard clean, the car as well, my younger son needed a lift to the bus stop (I had proposed it in the interests of his not having to take two hours to get to his point of departure) and I was able to stop. Such a productive morning happens rarely, but then such is life that one thing leads to another and if one is lucky many more. Making progress.
I wish that this last were true!
A clean desktop.
I finally had a bit of time to myself and with bills paid, letters and e-mails to various friends that I had neglected were first on the agenda.
Those done, my thoughts, and finally energy, turned to cleaning off my desktop.
There are many theories as to the validity of a clean desktop, most written by those who chose to see a cluttered desktop as a sign of creativity including Einstein’s
“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign of?”
(sorry can’t resist: apparently even Einstein used dangling participles!)
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether. A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer. All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." ~ Mark Twain
"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?" ~ Laurence J. Peter, paraphrase of Einstein
"It's pointless to have a nice clean desk, because it means you're not doing anything." ~ Michio Kaku
"Clutter in its highest and most organized form is called collecting." ~ Ada Louise Huxtable
That being said every couple of years I make the effort: in between I simply sort important and less-so-important-but-need-to-keep-for-reference and offload the later onto another surface. I could probably solve every problem ever thought of, never mind give you details on minute projects, recipes, statistics or whatever. Sometimes I actually do find something worthwhile having saved, so it doesn’t encourage me to let go.
I finally tackled the desktop and am ashamed to report that amongst the “urgent-leave-it-on-the-desk” was an unopened birthday card from last year as well as a Christmas greetings from 2020! Help.
But in one afternoon I waded through the lot and to my credit only put one small pile of books on another flat surface. Most of the rest was filed or tossed.
I promptly told both my sister and sister-in-law, I mean what’s the point of doing it if no one knows? That is the problem in the first place as my office is downstairs and I am the only one ever using it.
Feels good, may actually do it more often, but don’t hold your breath. Here for prosperity is the proof.
This was brought home to me by the flower below: coming out from a crack in between a stone wall and a tar side-walk, this is the third lot of blooms this year!
Moral of the story: what everyone says is true – you can thrive even when there is seemingly little to thrive upon.
Of clothes, of possessions.
We have had a spate of rainy, cold weather and I have been trying to gear up to take advantage of it, other than simply checking emails, reading magazines, talking to friends, eating out and the like.
I have meant to do a serious sort, clean, toss and then something, or more likely someone, interferes.
With my blessings as it is so much more fun to go out with friends or drink coffee than it is to sort and toss, especially when there is no one to pat my on my back for what little I might accomplish.
Today, however, I opened the cupboard doors and said to myself: it is time.
Time to try on those trousers that I never wear, but shove to the back of the cupboard; time to try on those blouses that stay on the hangers day in and day out, time to take a look at the shelves and perhaps finally divest myself of the multiple single socks.
One always thinks that one will a) loose weight, b) find that missing sock or 3) get the top that perfectly matches the skirt one hasn't had on in years. All MYTHS!
And with age I have finally realized that if I don't wear it today, I am not likely to wear it 10 years from now when maybe I will have lost the weight, but also it will be out of date or moth-ridden. That being said, it takes a certain amount of energy to let go of anything and I am no better than the average person when it comes to doing so!
I DID let go of 17 items today - that just finishes off one of the spring months - remember my goal to dispose of one item a day for every day of the year? Far behind this year, but a few more rainy days and I might have a chance, that is if I don't get side-tracked sorting photos, writing letters or by better weather. Still what was done today, is done and I will celebrate a small step in the right direction.
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| From Megapixel.com |
