Piddling, puttering, pondering and perusing

There are Four "P's"  that spend a great deal of time in my life: Piddling, Puttering, Pondering, and Perusing.  Each is quite an art form, in and of itself, and each has a special place in my life.

Let me explain.

Do you have unfinished projects that hang around for awhile?  I do.  I am, in fact, a member of the Royal House of Unfinished Projects.  Maybe you are, too!?

This is one of four iron breakfast room chairs I have been working on for
several years.  I think I painted them with their first coat of black paint 3
years ago ....  and they have been ready for the second coat ever since!

The Reason that I have so many Unfinished Projects, simply stated, is because I rather enjoy the Fine Art of the Four "P's", as described below:

PIDDLE - to spend one's time idly or inefficiently.

PUTTER - to occupy oneself in a pleasant manner, doing a number of small tasks or not concentrating on anything in particular.

PERUSE - to look at or read something in a relaxed, informal but careful way.

PONDER - to think about carefully, especially before making a decision or reaching a conclusion.

UNDER THE BANNER OF PIDDLING:

During the last few weeks, since my return from the Chix Packin Stix Retreat, I have been restless and full of unfulfilled energy.  I look around at the clutter in my den and dining room (This is Perusing), and I think:  I need to do something with this stuff!  (This is called Pondering.)

Mind you, some of this "stuff" has been piling up for years, not just months, the product of Perusing magazines and Internet sites of interest.  Oh, sure, I move the stuff around now and then, find something I forgot I had started or bought and never done anything with, and reorganize everything nice and neat.  (This is called Puttering.) But then Life will get in the way and I will put whatever it is down, and next thing you know, it will be stuck under a pile of this and that somewhere in the den, and I start Perusing a magazine or pattern book, or .... Piddling with nothing in particular.

The Four "P's" can be combined, and are usually intertwined in some way or another depending on the situation one finds oneself in at the moment.  I am not sure, however, if you can actually do all four at the same time.  If you happen to know if this is possible, please drop me a note as I would love to try it out at some point in the future.  Probably when I am retired (20.75 more months).  And maybe I already have and just don't realize it.

UNDER THE BANNER OF PIDDLING:

There are times, I go through stages, when I do an awful lot of Piddling.  These are times when I am feeling restless, distracted, anxious and I just do not have the energy to stay focused on any one thing. So, I Piddle with this and then that, and so on.  For instance, let us say that it is Saturday morning and I am having a hard time getting motivated to go grocery shopping.  I will turn on my Kindle Fire and check my email, then play a game or five of Sudoku, make any moves for Words With Friends, then read for 30 minutes.

I might then get up and grab a second cup of coffee and head out onto the back porch swing for a bit of Pondering, and while I am sitting there I see something worthy of a photograph.  So, into the house, put down the cup, find the camera, go out and take the photo, then see something else interesting.  Next I spy some things that need to be picked in the garden, so I go in, put down the camera, and grab my basket for the veggies.  Before I get back into the house, however, I stop and pull a number of pesky weeds in the backyard.  This makes me feel really good!  Not a fan of most weeds, and especially not stinging bull nettle which had decided that my yard is a good place to live. Utilizing the Art of Piddling, I have extracted most of these suckers from my back yard this summer, and my bare feet are SO EXCITED!

This my "new" and almost weed-free backyard.  I am letting the Bermuda grass go to seed right
now so that it will come back strong next Spring and choke out the rest of those pesky weeds.

Back inside, I sit down and read for a bit, play a game or two, and then look at the clock and say to myself:  "Well, Self, you have wasted most of the morning already, now get thee to the grocery!" That, my friends, is a morning of Piddling!


UNDER THE BANNER OF PUTTERING:

As you readers know, I have been Puttering around in the vegetable garden all spring and summer, but what you don't know is I have also been puttering inside my home!

I often Putter around in my kitchen on Sundays cooking for the week to come. This sometimes, but not always, involves a bit of Perusing in my cookbook collection, recipe box or one of those ragged bits of paper on the counter that I have torn out of a magazine and laid aside for future possibilities.

I enjoy the slicing, dicing, stirring, and pouring along with the aromas of what is cooking on the stove top and in the oven.  It satisfies the domestic goddess in me.  When I am retired, I plan to learn to bake homemade breads from scratch.  Making homemade yogurt is another goal of mine for my crone years.  I would love to have a milk goat for this so that I could also make cheese, but I haven't figured out what I would do about the daily milking if I wanted to take a road trip somewhere or was laid up with a knee replacement. That consideration has been put on my schedule of Things to Ponder.

Sometimes I just like to go bravely towards the stacks of Stuff and find something that interests me at the moment and grab onto it.  Usually, this will be something that I worked on until it got to the point that I got frustrated with it and laid it aside.  Or, it might be something that I bought at a fiber event because I was drawn to it, but had no idea whatever what to do with it at the time.  The vast majority of the Stuff, however, is either hand spun yarns I have made but have no project in mind for them, or printed out directions for projects I think I might want to make .... one day .... maybe.  And there is way too much of it.  So many ideas, too little Time!

This is one wall of Stuff in my dining room that I am fond of Perusing to see what I want to Piddle
or Putter with at the moment.  In the center of the wall is a yarn-crafted "painting" I made while in
college over 40 years ago.  I still have not gotten around to painting the frame black, but I recently
purchased the pint of black paint to do so, someday ... hopefully soon.  It's about time!

It has become quite clear to me that I need to do something with this ever growing pile of papers and yarns.  Oh, yes, my Studio!  I want my Clutter Room (nice euphemism, that!) to be transformed into my working Studio so badly, but it has to wait until I finish the kitchen, I think.  Maybe not.  When my elder son comes for a visit at Thanksgiving, I am going to enlist his help with cleaning out that room and with moving the Stuff from the den and dining room in there. This is an great example of Puttering.  Puttering with a loved one or dear friend is lots of fun!

Meanwhile, since the garden is getting a face-lift with the hoe and trowel in order to plant my garlic bulbs before October has left us, I am once again Puttering in the garden.  Then it will be time to Putter in the barn a bit to ready it for winter.

I was busy Puttering in a section of the veggie garden this weekend.  I'm
getting a bed ready for planting garlic bulbs before October is over.

UNDER THE BANNER OF PERUSING:

At times I have been able to turn a morning of Puttering into a morning of Perusing, and even Piddling.  I am very talented.  Here is how it goes.  I will decide that my bedroom really needs dusting and re-ordering (and, believe me, it does!).  So the plan is to Putter in the bedroom, getting it all nicely re-organized, dusted and possibly rearranged just a bit.  I start with the bookcase.  Big mistake!  Next thing I know, I rediscover a favorite book of, let's just say, poetry from my college days.  I decide to peruse the pages and read a few poems.  Time passes and I have been Piddling.

These are two boxes full of the correspondence from Jo, my friend of
over twenty years, that perch on my dresser.

When I start removing the dust and cobwebs from my bedroom dresser, I inevitably stop and take the top off one of the two boxes of Jo's letters, sit down on my bed, and begin Perusing.  Time flies as I re-read her letters and cards and go back in time.  Jo and I prefer handwriting over email.  Always have, always will.

Lately, I have noticed that Godfrey often Peruses the distance from the bathroom vanity counter top to the top of the cabinet over the toilet,  and from the edge of the bathtub to the window ledge on the nearby wall.  He moves his head up, down, as he mentally measures the distance and matches it with his ability to jump.  So far, he is not convinced of his prowess, but he continues to Ponder it.

I, on the other hand, spend my Perusing time with seed catalogs, spinning, weaving and knitting books and magazines. Perusing involves a certain amount of dreaming.  It was while I was Perusing the Internet last Spring that I found the two greenhouse kits that I am now in the midst of Pondering. I constantly Peruse magazines, brochures and the aisles of Lowe's and Home Depot for ideas that would help me with the remodeling of my kitchen.  I then put those ideas and information in a folder for Pondering later on.  I have Perused and torn out articles on plants and trees and flowers I would love to have one day.  Another folder for future Pondering!

UNDER THE BANNER OF PONDERING:

This my back porch swing where I do a lot of my Pondering.  One day, I will make it a nice, plump
weatherproof cushion.  That has been on my list of things to do for over 12 years!

Pondering involves a lot of questioning:  what if, what is, who is, who should, how can, why not, etc. A lot of times, at least for me, Pondering comes after a bit of Perusing.  I might Peruse in order to find what I want and/or what is available, but then I might need to Ponder in order to make a choice or decision.  You know me and my decision-making skills.  But, a lot of times, Pondering is just that .... sitting around and thinking about things.  I have been told I think too much, but I do it instinctively.

Sometimes, I look at something a creature does and think...I wish I could do that!  Now, I am not talking about really having the ability to do a certain thing all of the time, just being able to experience doing it once is all I am about. Here are some of what I have Pondered being able to do:

• Snake - slither here and there
• Monkey - swing from trees and hang by a tail
• Cat - purr  
• Vulture - circle on air currents high above the earth
• Whale - blow sea water out my blow hole
• Dog  -  wag my tail
• Elephant - spray water out of my trunk
• Wolf or Coyote - howl at the moon

On the other hand:

I HAVE felt as joyous as a ferret doing a "happy dance" at times.
I HAVE felt just as contented as a llama chewing its cud on a late Spring day.
I HAVE felt the power of natural childbirth, shared with so many of the Earth's creatures.
and
I HAVE been inside of a real cloud at Franconia Notch, NH. (And, I am not talking about dense fog!)

More recently, my Pondering has taken me back to the Little Greenhouse website, where, after much Perusing, I am Pondering whether to go with the wooden "Sunshine" kit or the metal "Aspen" kit.  I have a legal pad with pros and cons for each on one page, and on another, a comparison of various features.  This is my usual method of decision-making on big purchases.  (And sometimes on not so big purchases!)

8 x 12 "SUNSHINE" model, redwood, recycled plastic base that requires no foundation, a bit more
expensive, smaller, but with more headroom, easy to assemble.

The 9 x 14 "ASPEN" model, slightly larger, but with less headroom, less expensive, easy to
assemble, metal, requires a foundation.

Can you appreciate my dilemma?!

My sons and I like to collectively Ponder the absurdities of life, politics and the world we live in.  We have suggestions to change a few things ... if anyone is interested!

Recently, I have actually finished something I started Piddling with, and I did it without too much time passing from start to finish. Here it is:

This is the Autumn Wreath I made for Melissa, Matt's girlfriend, who lives in California.  

I started the wreath at the Chix Packin Stix Retreat in August, and then added the floral and leaf embellishments once I got home.  To make it, a commercial brand of loopy yarn is hand crocheted completely around a metal frame and then sort of fluffed out a bit.  Then you just add whatever other decorations that you want to finish it off.  I think that this particular yarn looks very organic, and reminds me of lichens and fungi and other woodsy stuff.  She liked it! I was pleased!

And so, in light of my obsession and utilization of the 4 "P's," some folks might say that I have Attention Deficit Disorder, but I am not convinced.  I simply am truly interested in way too many things, without enough time to devote to being involved in all of them.  It is like my mother used to say:  "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach!"  Funny thing is that I have already put aside quite a number of interests, like fishing, quilting and stained glass making.  All of those that are left now are non-negotiable!  I still would love to explore pottery. Maybe in my next life ....  or, I am sure there will be a pottery wheel in Heaven, next to a loom and spinning wheel, in a room full of books and a lovely chaise lounge .....

As for the Four "P's," you might say that if I spent less time with them, I would have much more time to spend finishing projects and accomplishing a lot more around the farm and home, inside and out. There is some truth to that assumption.  However, the Four "P's" are as much a part of me as my hands and feet.  I cannot imagine life without their company.  They are as necessary as food and water to me.

When I retire (20.75 more months!), I will have the time I need to play with them AND work on and finish the other things.  There is a Time and Place for Everything.  Sometimes we need to not only "choose our battles," but choose how we spend our time in order bring us the most happiness.  Some things are just more important than others, and I have made my choices.  Besides, I am a dreamer.

So, do you have unfinished projects (also known as UFOs - UnFinished Objects) lying around waiting to be picked back up and loved into completion?  Do you catch yourself Piddling, Puttering, Perusing and Pondering?  Well, you are in good company and you don't have to attend any 12 Step Programs.  It probably just means that you are Creative and/or a Dreamer, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!

If I hadn't been Piddling after Puttering this afternoon, I might not have had
my camera with me when I caught this little fella on my back porch door!

BTW, this is my 41st blog post and it has been a fun first twelve months.  Thanks for going on my journey with me.


Even if it doesn't look like it, something is always happening here on HeartSong Farm!