Like physical injuries, spiritual injuries require time to heal. First there is the initial pain following the injury. The challenging work location and issues I have been dealing with have resulted in grievous spiritual harm. I always find the initial stage of recovery, for any type of injury, the most difficult. Over the course of our “weekend” my pain management strategies began to fall into place, and the next phase of gaining balance began.
Attila led the way to balance over the “weekend” by initiating a spring cleaning marathon. We both put our shoulders to the wheel and have managed to de-clutter and clean the living area to our satisfaction. There are a few isolated patches of clutter left, and I will be tackling those in my spare time over the next few weeks.
Our clutter consists primarily of items that we think we may need someday, as opposed to items that we are actually using today. Slowly but surely we are releasing unused items from our care, storing them in a plastic bag, to be released for reuse by someone else.
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I am increasingly appreciative of furniture on casters! My stand up computer desk is on casters and I move it around constantly. It is moved to prevent glare from windows, closer to heat from the masonry heater on cold days, further from the masonry heater on warm days, and into position so that we can comfortably view the computer screen as our entertainment centre, to watch Netflix. The desk can be moved into any corner to get it well out of the way for other activities. It isn’t pretty but it sure is handy.
Then there is the coffee-table-foot-stool. We bought it for $20 at IKEA some years ago. Attila sawed a portion of the legs off to bring it to the right height, and attached casters to the bottom of the table legs. This table is where we play scrabble, put our feet up to watch Netflix, it accommodates tasks such as peeling and slicing a bushel of apples and is the surface of choice for a lot diverse projects. It has even served as an extra table for the Grandbabies when they visited. And like the standup desk, it can be easily wheeled into a corner, completely out of the way.
When I began to use my stand up desk all the time, my office chair saw very little use. A few weeks ago, I was moving one of the plants for cleaning and set it down on the unused office chair. The sun came out shortly thereafter, so I pushed the chair, on casters of course, over to the window to give the plant a drink of light. It is actually a terrific plant stand! It moves easily into the sunlight, and can be wheeled out of the way when we want to use the sliding glass door. I am enchanted!
If I ever buy an easy chair, to replace the 22 year old chair I spend most of my sitting hours on, I want something on casters!
On to a completely different topic! I am long past the age where one would expect that their hair might turn grey. Even a few years ago I had very little grey hair. This morning I notice that my hair is beginning to fit my age, a healthy crop of grey is emerging! I have mixed feelings about it. One of the feelings is joy, that I have managed to stay alive to see this day.
I had a look on the internet at different images of older women, artistic works of photography and paintings. Goodness! There is a definite atmosphere of betrayal in the portrayal of the older woman in art; sad expressions, downcast eyes, sad eyes, accusing eyes… I certainly respect that the poverty and hardships that the majority of women experience would engender such apparent disappointment with life. But what I do know from experience is that there is much love, laughter, and joy in the lives of old women. Most of the artists were young people at the time the works were created, so I feel the sad and harsh portrayal of older women reflects more the fear and ignorance of the young, than the attitude of the aged.
Another feeling is distress, because the predominant stereotypes of old women are either dismissive, at best, ranging to bleak or worse; and of the two I find the dismissive more odious than the bleak. I feel old age has much to recommend it, dependent on health, as with any age.
Yesterday I found time to work on one of my web sites. It has seemed like a long time since I made time for them. So I was quite surprised to find that only a month or so ago I had made a few edits. Obviously I did not think those edits were significant enough to remember! The edits I made yesterday were more substantial, and I hope to continue editing regularly over the next few months.
The genealogy source editing is going slowly, but surely. One little change leads to another. For instance, referencing email messages was accomplished over the years in various formats. The first one I ran into for editing last week was a real mess. All the needed information was there, but the format was really out of whack. So I took the time to create a template for email sources. Then I created a list of all email sources in the database, a total of 68, and edited them, one by one, so that each of them was recorded in the same format.
With thousands and thousands of sources, this process is going to take some time.
Last Friday I killed the first house fly of the season; spring cannot be too far away. Today there is a woodpecker flitting about in the oaks in the front yard, and I can actually hear bird song through the closed windows! It is best not to let myself anticipate spring too intensely, because winter will still be strongly present for another four or five weeks.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
0 °C
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Visibility: 16 k
Temperature: 0.0°C
Dewpoint: -4.5°C
Humidity: 72 %
Wind: W 5 km/h
Wind Chill: -2
Quote
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
Mahatma Gandhi
1869 – 1948
I’ll see your housefly and raise you a mosquito–I saw the pesky thing in the laundry area yesterday although I suspect my swat missed the mark. Then again, I am a bit farther south.
Mosquito Wendy, shudder, that certainly will take the hand! Sure sign that spring is on the way though. I hope you get the next one!