It seems that since I have become a ‘grown up’ the concepts of time have changed. My memories of the past include weeks that took soooooo long to pass, the concept of a month was an eternity. Suddenly now I find days flying by, the week begins and then its Thursday, literally what feels like minutes later. Plans to call frieds, meet for coffee, fit in that extra run all get pushed away. A quick ‘dash’ into the store to look for a picture frame and some spoons eats 30 minutes. Suddenly lunchtime arrives without the morning being used.
My mum used to say you have to ‘make time’ for things, but I dont think you can ‘make’ time. You simply ‘take’it. For me its about better organisation, portioning my time and fitting in as much as I can without feeling like I’m on a carousel that I cannot stop. Some day its about taking time to fit in all those little jobs, call the rubbish collection, call the physio, arrange the vet. Other times its actually about taking time to stop, taking a few minutes to simply sit and watch my girl. Learn from how she does it.
The daily rhythms of winter have started becoming ingrained to each day, fire lighting, wood chopping, indoor and outdoor activities. Running in morning frost and the sight of beautiful snow covered mountains.
We try hard to make sure that we balance the need to stay warm and dry with Moo’s need to exploration, physical activity and independent play. Inside we find she really struggles to settle down and play alone for any time, but when outside she’s totally happy to potter about by herself, chattering away just checking in with me.
This time of year both hubby and I find challenging around the property, everything looks a bit shabby (shabbier than usual!) and damp and brown and crusty. What veggies we have left are ending and looking decidedly unhappy, beds that I have turned and ready to seed are looking barren and empty. Branches from the recent storms litter the ground and the pea straw mulch all needs topping up as weeds and earth poke through the holes.
We have been looking round and see the drive that needs lining with washed boulders and recovering. The roof needs re-painting – after the earthquake repairs we have varies patches of different coloured steel mixed with the older moss green original roofing steel. Its a time of year we find ourselves planning, deciding what we need to do, the order of play. Start to dream dreams of summer and the things we can do to our little place in the world.
The days are flying by, but winter is feeling oh so long.