Joy of Wandering

One of the things I love about my “old age” is the joy of wandering. After having spent so many years being super disciplined in my professional life, and super responsible in my personal life, I am now, for the first time since childhood, able to follow my own inclinations, to some degree at least.

That means that when I sit down to quickly look something up on the internet, and something equally interesting catches my eye, I can follow that link! Usually, there is an eventual return to the original query. It also means that if a physical task seems wearisome, it can be left to accomplish in broken down stages, while other more interesting lines of pursuit are followed. After all, what’s the rush.

Having quickly become accustomed to following my interests around, I now find that it is in my own best interest to choose particular tasks to focus on, where I do not allow myself to wander. Keeping up the practice of focus seems important to me. And it is fun, because I can almost always choose where and when to focus.

The book is moving right along now. Most of the edits are completed, but the layout is still not quite satisfactory. The Canadian ISBN number has been assigned, and added to the legal page. The first copy will go to Archives Canada, as I am required by law to submit one copy. As soon as I get the second draft printed and bound, and assuming I am happy with it, the payment venue will be setup, and the shipping and handling costs will be ascertained with a visit to Canada Post. Then it will be good to go.

On Thanksgiving Monday, Attila moved the hutch from atop the bedroom dresser, into the living room. This was a very big project, moving all of the heavy boxes out of the living room and piling them up in front of our beds. Then moving the hutch from the back bedroom to the living room, and assembling the drawers and doors. Then moving all the heavy boxes blocking our beds into the back bedroom, which is not impenetrable.

What this meant was that as of yesterday morning, I could begin to unpack the boxes marked “fragile”. They held our good dishes and assorted other glass objects of affection. Last night I finished unpacking the last “fragile” box. There are glasses, and bowls, and whatnot, spread out all over the living floor and every available horizontal surface. However, at least two items I know of are missing, so I suspect another “fragile” box is lurking somewhere.

Today all of the china and glasses are being washed and dried before being stored away. Fragile items were wrapped in newspapers, which leave quite a lot of smudge and film on the items.

When my girls were born, and while they were little, my sister bought them Peter Rabbit and Bunnykins china for Christmas every year. There is a lot of nostalgia and love in those cups and bowls. We no longer have room for them here at Mist Cottage, so they are going to their owners. That is two packing boxes full of china to go, one to Luna, and one to Terra.

Also, I have a set of Wedgwood dishes that were purchased for me by my former mother-in-law. On a personal level, those were not happy years, the marriage was not a happy one, and the dishes do not bring joy to my heart. But I do recognize that my girls had a completely different experience with my mother-in-law, so I first offered these valuable dishes to Luna, who did not want them, and then to Terra, who does want them. They will fit into Terra’s country house beautifully. That is two more boxes of china that will be passed along.

A total of four boxes of china are sitting by the door, ready for a new home.

It will, however, be a tight juggle to fit the remaining china into the hutch. We gifted my custom made hutch, buffet, dining room table and chairs to Terra and Lares; it provided lots of storage. The hutch we kept does not hold much, but it fits into Mist Cottage, so it was kept.

It is interesting, Attila and I have purchased “cheap” Ikea furniture, and have been given old and used furniture, over the years. I came into our relationship with some very expensive furniture, china, and other valuable belongings. We are gifting to our children most of the valuable furniture and china, and keeping the cheap stuff. We like it better, and there are no negative memories attached to it.

This reflects my perspective on life, people are more important than money or things, and always have been for me. I would not go back to those empty affluent days of my life for love nor money. Those were days that I focused on making other people happy, hoping some of it would come around and make my life happier, which it did not. I do not regret trying to make other people happy, it was nice to see it was possible. I have since learned though, that it is my job in life to make myself happy, which is what I am busy doing. Better to learn this late rather than never.

Today someone is driving from quite a distance to pick up the Futon. We decided to give it away, as it will not fit into Mist Cottage and it did not sell on Kijiji right away. It was surprising that it took five days to find someone who wanted it, after offering it free on Kijiji. We also have two easy chairs that do not fit into Mist Cottage. They were at the end of the driveway with a “Free” sign on them, but there were no takers. Right now they are sitting in the garage waiting for us to make a decision as to how to proceed with them.

It is a sunny, beautiful day today. I plan on going for a walk at some point, just to escape the boxes and feel the wind on my face.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

10°C
Date: 10:00 AM EDT Wednesday 14 October 2015
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 100.7 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 9.7°C
Dewpoint: 4.7°C
Humidity: 71%
Wind: WNW 17 gust 31 km/h

Quote

“Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.”
Marcus Valerius Martialis
40 AD – 103 AD