A fortnight was flown past since the last painter stepped out of the house, leaving little paint splashes and sploshes on unexpected surfaces.
Two weeks whooshed away in de-cluttering and holding objects in my hands, thinking whether it “sparks joy in me or not”… squinting and squirming till the answer was revealed, sending away the forgotten spark creators, and placing the current joyous objects in their place.
Fourteen days flashed through my mind when I finally sat myself down on that chair, sipped from that mug of tea, rolled up my sleeves and started the usual apology sentence for this blog post.
And then, realization dawned ( or procrastination just found a new idea). … I have been doing necessary chores and jobs. Things which need to be done to keep me in this clear space which is home now. Living in a home in the hills is not a sort of paradise situation where one can sit on the balcony, stare at the mountains and blue skies, read a book while music plays in the background and rose creepers climb up empty walls.
Living in the hills has been about learning what are the necessities and what are the jazzy, frilly bits. The necessities are the things which one has to have, regardless of place and time. And this is where it becomes different for each of us. Someone has to have a breakfast spread of Marmite and marmalade…someone else has to have daily fresh veggies for the kitchen…it may be a specific genre of books, a certain shoe for trekking in the hills. ..different people, different necessities.
I am learning what are the things which are necessities for me, and the list is full of Eureka moments….
- A set of challenging and easy knitting projects around me, every day. Knitting which can soothe me, knitting can make me calculate, think, rip-out and re-do till its just right.
- A self-made breakfast to be shared with the dogs..a simple, hot lunch (made by Hema), to be eaten in the afternoon sunshine.
- The laptop…even if the Net is not working, which is quite a regular situation in the hills, there is always something to be read, something to be drafted, or something to be deleted in that foster brain machine.
- A few minutes of catching up with any one friend , in the hills or the city, over telephone/email/Whatsap/lunch/long walk.
- And finally, the most important necessity for me….a quiet time with myself. The balcony swing is my usual retreat routine these summer days.
This swing cover has been made out of bits of the jazzy, frilly stuff in my life…
- My penchant for starting new projects which I believe, sincerely and completely, will change my life and bring in all that is missing. The central patchwork squares happened when I thought that patchwork is the only path to permanent peace and harmony.
- Impulse buying…just for some future plans or ideas which have a habit of vanishing into my fading memory. There was this big roll of sponge material in the cupboard, bought for heaven-knows-what, which has been used as padding in this cover.
- Hoarding for a rainy day…nothing would be thrown for that “just in case situation ” which never happens. The blue edging and backing are the remnants of a bed-cover which was trimmed to the right size. I had kept the remnants for the time when the dogs would scratch a hole in the fabric and I would search high and low for some of that fabric. Its three years since that cover has been put to use and not a hole or tear has been made by the dogs. The cover has faded with regular washing, but the remnants continue to glow and shine like new!