Today's Medicine: Going with the Flow

I woke up feeling pretty rested and thought about all the things I wanted to get done. Hah. Should have known that the Universe was giggling at me. I got up and puttered around for a bit, getting my daily chores done: water for my altars, a pot of tea brewing, the bird feeders topped off. My intention was to get some loose ends tied off, including my long overdue New Orleans travelogue and a letter to my German pal Andrea finished. The biggest thing hanging over my head was some homework from my Human Sexuality class, including a professional journal entry and a quiz. After much procrastinating, I finished the journal entry and tried to find the quiz. I wanted to sit at the comfort of my kitchen table so I had the birds to keep me company.

It wasn't there. And the e-mail from my instructor that told us where to find it had gone missing too. Needless to say I was peeved. Irritated to the point where I snapped at Paul when he tried to joke at me. Twice. (When apologizing to Paul about it later, his friend Eugene said that he imagined I must have looked like Braveheart. Apparently that's what an irritated Angela looks like to him. I find this endlessly amusing.)

After stomping around the website, I finally decided lunch was probably a good idea. Food soothes the savage beaste and all that. Of course, as soon as I finished lunch and took a peek online, there was the quiz. I printed it off and settled in to do it. And that's when the phone started ringing.

To make a long story short (too late!), I ended up spending the afternoon and evening shifting gears between doing my quiz and visiting with various people, both in person and on the phone. I just now finished the last short answer question (What is sexual intelligence? How would you assess your own sexual intelligence?) and I'm ready to bury myself in bed for the night. I don't think the cats would mind so much: they've been clamoring for my attention all day today.

I will say that I am pleased that I didn't really put the quiz off until the last minute (it's due Monday) since it wasn't available until today. So I can't beat myself up at all about that, which is a nice change. And I'm amused at the fact that I just read today's Simple Abundance, which is all about ACCEPTING WHAT IS. *snort* Funny, that.

Today's Medicine: Clearing the Deadwood

One of my favorite cards from Susan Mrosek, whose art I adore and can be found at http://ponderingpool.com/, is this one. It seems fitting to put it up here right now.

It's a balmy 53 degrees F out today, tho it felt more like lower 60's most of the day. I spent my morning having scones, hot chocolate and conversation with my friend Penelope and when she left about 12:30, I headed out to the gardens.

Two hours later I had a huge pile of holly branches and now anyone taller than me can walk the pathway to the front door without getting prickled. I cut back the other hydrangea bush that needed trimming and moved some plants around. I also cleared a bunch of dead leaves out of the flower bed so I could see what has survived my neglect and was pleased to see many of my primroses still thriving. On a side note, I didn't know that some primroses can live up to 25 years! That's an awesome thing though I can't understand why they are considered an "annual" if they live that long. *shrug* Ah, the mysteries of life. Gardening this time of year is such an exercise in cutting back on what is outgrown, overgrown or just plain dead in order for new life to spring forth. It's about inventorying and sorting out which plants get to stay and which really need to go. And to daydream about what new plants to bring into the space I share with the other living beings here. It's so rare that we get such a beautiful and warm day in January that I had to get out there and just do something. Add to it that today was an unexpected and unplanned day off and there is much to rejoice about.

In the past I have spent much of my time and energy trying to make sure I get everything done that needs doing. Today was a delightful experience in letting the day unwrap as it will and don't bother too much with the details. I know that I'm not ready to live every day of my life in such a fashion but it was good to remember just how delightful it can be on occasion.