19 September 2007

r & r time


Take away those chores and necessities that need to be done each day, each week. Take away the dishes, the essential cooking, the laundry, the sweeping. Remove the dusting (who am I kidding...this chore is never completely done), the grocery shopping. What's left is the sweetness of nothing. Add in the change autumn brings--the chill in the evening that lingers long enough in the morning so that children wear light jackets to school, the yellowing of leaves modifying nature's color palette, the lengthening shadows and light teasing us as the sunlight shortens. What could I do with that time? Here are ten things...

Prepare something that usually takes too much time during the week to make, something comforting, something that requires the oven. Take pleasure in getting close to the foundations and heart of food.

Many other cultures have the right idea of siestas. A midday rest following a meal, or a break to spend time with the family or with friends sounds ideal. I do this in the classroom following lunch recess. I give students a quiet 15 to 20 minutes to cool down or warm up from outside, re-center their minds and bodies from the chaos of playing outside by resting their heads on desks or drawing while I read to them.

Coax my ufo's from the knitting basket. I used to wonder how knitters could be working on so many different projects at the same time, how they could just place one beloved pullover or sock off to the side and start on something else. Choices of fibers and colorways are a factor. Temperature of our environment is another. Crispness in the air naturally leads to wrapping that fine merino wool or baby alpaca fiber around the fingers and through the needles once again.

My listening to podcasts declines in proportion to the warmer weather activities. I-Tunes tells me I have 92 unheard podcasts! Oops! The fusion of listening and knitting makes for a relaxing evening.

Remove the stifling heat of summer, add a pinch of briskness in the air, and we have the beginnings of a recipe for evening bike rides.

With my husband, in love I am. I enjoy spending time with him, whether we are cooking, hiking, watching a movie, reading...

It seems that "unmentionables" and socks in drawers spontaneously appear with holes, yet most of us continue to wear them because we are too lazy to throw them away and buy new. This deferred maintenance of culling the worn is a dandy project for the oncoming seasonal shift.


Meeting with friends, sharing gossip and food...a delightful activity following the busy schedules of summertime.













Donning socks and hiking shoes, throwing the camera bag in my backpack along with a sketch pad, a water bottle, a towel (to sit on), and a bit of knitting, I head for the rice fields or natural parkway.

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