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15 January 2022

Busy (Gently) Doing





We are now two weeks into this year and I hope that it shapes up to a more settled one than the last two.  One where the plans you make can get beyond the planing stage and become a reality. 

I loved the two weeks over the festive period when my husband and Cameron were at home, when we can put all the rhythms of our life on the shelf for a short while.  We were eating meals when we were hungry, deciding when we woke each day how that day would be filled.  It was slow, unhurried and a lovely pause.  It was good to get back into our rhythms once more, I thought that would happen in the first week of January but it didn't take me long to find out that most of the things we do would not be starting until this week so we have had a really gentle start to the year.  It is Winter, so that is how things should be.

I spent some time that first quiet week thinking about the shape our lives would take over the coming weeks, to the time of Imbolc at the beginning of February.  I read a lovely idea on one blog which in my usual way I have run off with in my own direction.  I write everything into my diary, I cannot manage with more than one place to write things.  I love the idea of words for a month, I decided I wanted words for six weeks rather than a month, to fit in with the wheel of the year,  so to take me to the time of Imbolc I have Reflect, Declutter, stillness, calm, rest and peace to hold a space for me.

I am back at work after a two week break over the festive period.  I love that I can do this from home, it is so flexible for me.  I recently took another role with a similar number of hours.  I heard that several key members of that new team left in December whilst I was ill, it was a bit of shock to open my emails and read that.  I am not sure if I am on a sinking ship at the moment, I have no contract yet, nor a work email so I am not doing any work until that is sorted.  There is so much to do so it is all rather frustrating.  I cannot believe that I have been in my initial role for nearly two years, I started a week before COVID put us into lockdown in March 2020, I have yet to do a face to face meeting.  I have only met a handful of my colleagues and volunteers face to face.  It is going to be very strange when we can go back to that, they are all folks on screens who only have heads and shoulders!

Many blogs I have read as we started the new year have talked about intentions.  I rather like this as a holding word rather than feeling that you have to do something.  Life often gets in they way of things that we want to do so if we make it an intention I feel like it changes things and reduces that pressure.  I have intentions to get outside and walk somewhere every day (which I have managed on all but one day when I was unwell) it doesn't matter where, or how far it is just about getting out.  I am loving occasionally wondering up the village after tea.  It is dark and so quiet, it makes it feel like a very different place to explore.  My walks have taken me mostly around the village so far, I have had snow, ice, sunshine, pouring rain and blustery winds.  I have travelled a little further afield but mostly when I have company.  After spending all day inside on a training course it was good to get out for a short while to blow the cobwebs away before cooking tea.

I also have an intention to declutter somewhere in the house each week, I was going to make this a daily thing but decided that was not going to achievable, there are two days in my week when I knew that would just not happen, especially if I was going to walk as well.  I don't see the point in setting myself up to fail on those two days.  I went through Cameron's clothes last week and found three t-shirts that he had out grown but were all in perfect condition.  Whilst I mulled over what to do them I had an email from the company I bought them from which included information about a new scheme they have started where they buy back items in good condition.  I love this kind of synchronicity, although I realise I would have read and scrolled on if I had not found those t-shirts that week.   I ended up sending back five items which is five less things in the house. 

At the end of each day I am enjoying time on the sofa with the fire gently warming the house and my knitting needles clacking.  I sometimes listen to music, a podcast or watch something online at the same time, depending on who is in the room with me.  I have a spot that I like to use, next to one of the tables that cleverly attaches itself to our futon sofa.  It held our 'christmas tree" until a few days ago.  Nothing got taken down on twelfth night does that mean I am in for a year of bad luck?  Our tree was a few small branches cut from our willow with handmade decorations on the branches.  It rather overhung the sofa restricting my space so I have now removed it.  The cards are down but the bunting and my 'tinsel,' not really traditional tinsel mine as made of coloured woven dried grass/plant of some sort, are still up.  The tinsel is rather old and delicate now, and is fiddly to put away, that sounds like excuses doesn't it!

My crafting is all about blanket squares at the moment, both knitting and sewing, both made with yarn or fabric from my stash.  I am confident that I have enough fabric to complete the sewn blanket, the yarn project I am less sure about.  I have measured that I need about 60 squares, I am twenty down and am running out of small balls to knit with.  I might just have to have a trawl of the charity shops and find odd balls of yarn.  These are both slow projects not because I cannot be bothered but that is the intention.  I am not trying to finish them quickly they are there to be picked up and worked on when the time is right, perhaps in between other larger projects.  I am debating on yarn to knit myself a jumper and haven't found the right one just yet.  It is hard when you can't see it for real isn't, not just to touch it and feel it but to get the colour just right.

A gentle start to my year that I really hope is a little more, dare I say it, predictable?  I hope your year has started off as you wanted it to.

20 comments:

  1. One of the things I love about Christmas is not having to fit into the normal rhythm of life, days can be as slow as you wish as we have nowhere we have to be. I am glad to be back into some sort of routine afterwards though, it doesn't do me any good to just coast along for too long. The end to your days sound wonderful, Mick and I always make a point to sit down together for an hour or two before bedtime and often, like you, I would knit, but I seem to have lost my crafting mojo at the moment, I don't think it will be far away though and will return soon.

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    1. It is good to hear that I am not alone in loving the fluidity of days over Christmas. I know what you mean about your crafting mojo going that sometimes happens, I hope it picks up again for you soon as I know how much you love it.

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  2. I have probably decluttered 75-80% of the rooms here and I find it easiest if I just set the intention to do so, and the wait until the moment 'feels' right, then I whiz through the task and it does not seem difficult.

    Asking myself "Dog forbid there was a housefire, would I replace this" makes it easy to work out what to keep and what to let go.

    Hope things work out for your job.

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    1. You are right that we whizz through things when the time is right, we need to remember that all the time don't we. I love the words you use to ask yourself if you are going to keep anything, although I think I would get rid of about half of the contents of my house if I did that, perhaps that means I need a really good declutter!

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  3. What incredibly beautiful photos :) I love that you have deliberately set yourself a slow project. Being part brown bear, it is my natural preference to want to hibernate in January (... if I were prime minister, I would ban working in hot summers also). I too started a new job just before the first lockdown. Let's just say that was a learning vertical! Stay warm and cosy xXx

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    1. Thank you. I do love a slow project from time to time. I am busy hibernating too, I do love doing that at this time of year, I can feel a post coming on there.....yeah it was learning vertical here too taking up a job during lockdown! Love that expressions

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  4. I’m having a very similar start to the year like you. Lots of walking, lots of clacking of needles and sitting by cosy fires. Would like to declutter, certainly my wardrobe but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe this week. Lovely photos. B x

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    1. Lovely to hear you doing the same thing so many miles away. I feel sure your decluttering will happen when you are ready to, like Jayne said above it works best when the time is right.

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    2. Finally did my wardrobe today. The mood took me. Sent four bags of clothes and shoes to the Salvation Army bank. Feeling very good now. Even had a huge jumper wash too, very satisfying:)

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  5. It sounds like your year is off to a good beginning, and I think your intentions seem wise and manageable. It's been really hard to set intentions for the last few years . . . or, I guess I should say, it's been easy to set them but hard to carry them out when so much is up in the air. I wish you a peaceful year, full of the best kind of adventures and not too many surprises. (And I hope everything with your job sorts itself in a satisfactory way.) XO

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    1. Thank you Kym. I hope my intentions will carry me through the year, you are right it has been hard to carry them out these past few years hasn't it.

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  6. decluttering is satisfying! I moved and so I did a MAJOR declutter in the house, good grief!!

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    1. Hi Karen, I have just caught up with your house move on your blog, wow that must have been a huge decluttering. I am sure that it will have been worth it though.

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  7. I love the thought of rhythms. And being gentle about easing in to schedules.

    Sometimes I get discouraged that things seem so...slow...in the new year. I feel tired and prone to want to sleep in; the mornings are dark and cold and we spend a lot of time inside under blankets reading or playing games or watching movies.
    But it really is all a rhythm and it's so natural to want to stay inside and "hibernate" in this cold time of year.
    I'm typing this while looking outside at our latest snowstorm swirl outside. School was released at lunchtime today (their first day back in a MONTH due to COVID). I picked the kids up and went right to the sledding hill. I packed a snack but we pushed lunchtime late and found a few friends to join us (who ended up coming home for an impromptu snowstorm playdate). It was fun. I had grand plans to make turkey sandwiches but then everyone wanted fruit and veggies and PB&J. Then the girls all scampered off to a room to play while I did hallway soccer with my 7-year old, and then we played games and now the kids are going to watch a movie while I make a chowder for supper.
    My work e-mails are piling up, but I'm just trying to let the day happen and think all too often I'm trying to force a fit in my days. Things do always get done and I can either push and scramble, or just let things go and know that, almost always, the important things happen whether I stress about it or not...

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    1. Your afternoon sounds wonderful, I bet your children will remember that for a while. You are so right the important things happen whether we stress about them or not but it can be hard to allow that can't it. Especially when we are surrounded by it all. I have found that letting go of the work stuff has meant that I have got on with it more quickly and efficiently, leaving myself, on so many occasions to wonder what I have worried about. I love your expression push and scramble they are such good words to describe how I feel when I have feel I have so much to do and I am not going to get it all done. That is rarely the case these days because if I don't do it all in one day anything left can happen on the next day and it is always ok to do that.

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  8. I often feel at a loss at this time - bit 'cast adrift' so I do need something to work towards - good intentions are certainly a help as is my word for the year - it helps me to stay gently focussed through out the year :)
    We don't have snow any more and although it is crisp and cold, the ground is the usual wintery mush - roll on better temperatures and more sun please!

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    1. That sounds like the perfect way to anchor yourself. I do like a gentle focus.

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  9. I did enjoy reading this gentle, relaxing post. I love the words you chose for each six weeks, a lovely idea. How wonderful to hear of a company that accepts used clothing back. xxx

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  10. What a wonderful idea, buying back clothing that is in good condition. My younger boys' clothing come from a long line of hand me downs, by the time Alistair grows out of them they are often not good enough for passing on. My husband uses such worn out garments to clean his bikes. I hope you are able to sort your new contract out soon. I find myself relax when I read your posts, I enjoy reading doubt your intentional living.

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  11. Well it all sounds wonderful so far, I enjoy quiet pass times, my own company and some sewing to be getting on with. You sound the same, I hope all is well with your work. A few of us left my place of work before Christmas I think that sometimes there is just a season of change and it happens to affect a group of people at once. So try not to worry, I am getting on with my clearing and sorting with baby steps. How about just having a bag somewhere and just dropping the odd thing in as it comes to mind or as you pass? Much better than a big clear all at once. Take care. x

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