This week and next are shaping up to be diamond days. Sunny, cool, perfect for walks in the park or snoozes beside an open window. I love the fall. Especially as a retired person. Fall gives me that little extra ‘umphf’ to get myself out and about.
Each morning I start the day with a text from my sister. A quick good morning and a photo of our view or the cats or our apartment. Lately we have been sending each other our ‘To Do’ lists for the day. She came up with a great work around. She added ‘Get dressed’ to her list! Ha! That way she knew that at least one of her tasks would get checked off. And then on another day she added the first three things she had already accomplished – each with their own checkmark. Her day was complete. No more pressure to get anything else ‘done’.
I was using these ‘To Do’ lists as a buddy-get-going motivator. Put it ‘out there’ and use peer pressure to get it done. It works. And I return to that text space through the day … so there that list sits … waiting for me. 😉
Lately I have been racking up quite a few ‘good days’. How very ‘Protestant’ of me to define those as days that I accomplish things. On a good day I get up at eight to feed the cats and then stay awake. The very best mornings are those where I rearrange things. (Best to do that while Ede is still sleeping. Ha!) This week I have rearranged the main room – moving the cat playground away from the windows and claiming that spot for my reading chair. I also rearranged my study space this morning. Took my music keyboard off my main desk and made room for art projects. (The keyboard is still on hand at my left – but not sitting where I look at it each day and wonder when I can play it again.) I think the fall air stirs up my old teaching ‘new year excitement’ for setting up classroom spaces.
On a good day I will remember the things I mentally added to my plans when awake at 2 am. I will ‘remember them’ rather than get up at 2 am to do them. Being able to keep myself IN bed for the entire night can make for a good day.
On a good day I will have picked up my ukulele and sat in the window watching sailboats go by while I pick at chords and strumming patterns … and even work on remembering the simple tune for Edelweiss… I might have sat down and written a letter. Or on a very good day worked at a blog post. If you find me walking the trails – especially with my camera – you will know that I am aiming for a good day. On a good day I will be able to go grocery shopping, or help a friend out, or go for a long drive. A very good day you might find me walking at Lemoine Point – a beautiful conservation area with woods and shoreline paths – just down the road. On an exceptional day you will find me playing the keyboard. A good day might involve a swim in the pool, a lunch out with Ede, or a visit with friends. Playing with my granddaughter makes for an excellent day.
Good days can last from eight in the morning to two in the afternoon … or a very good day can last right up to five or six. Then I head to a soft pillow and a window view with my feline buddies to unplug my brain for a two hour snooze. Most times a ‘snooze’ will mark the ‘end of my day’. I will move from my warm bed to couch surfing after dinner … ready to just get back into bed. On a good day I fall asleep easily – afternoon or evening – and stay that way.
We have moved to the perfect location to nurture good days. The trail calls me outside. The view of the lake draws me out to the balcony and into the sunshine. The park whispers ‘hurry up’ to my camera.
Our small apartment needs little housekeeping and gives us space for a cozy bedroom, a bright and sunny main room with a dynamite view, and a study packed with computers, cameras, art supplies, home movies to edit, instruments to play and photos all around of family memories.
On a good day I remember all of that – and putter to my hearts content.
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