June is Here

 

I never heard the word Maycember until a few days ago. And by that time I had gotten through it. I guess it's been a name to describe the craziness of May for nearly ten years! And I didn't even know. I guess that's because most of my busy, hectic Mays were earlier in my life. Sometimes I feel so out of date, but I think that I am okay with it. We only had two graduation parties to go to. I talked to people who visited three or four in a single day. There were no weddings, picnics or barbeques. May is the time of year for school programs, and class plays, and Grandparent Days at school. We did have a couple of sad occasions which will make this a bitter Springtime to remember. 

So now I am declaring June as a time to rest, rejuvenate, relax, and rekindle. If you have a hammock, use it. (Does anyone have a hammock anymore?) Read novels. Walk barefoot in the grass or on the beach. Bloomscroll, which is to look for inspiring, uplifting and positive content on your phone. Drink tea, either hot or iced. 

I am a product of British television, and I daydream about serving tea and treats on a tray. That's how they do it on all my cozy murder mysteries. I am looking for the perfect tea set and I am sure I will know when I find it. When I say "looking" I mean to purchase a new one, and also the complete Irish set I had which disappeared in our move a couple of years ago. I know it must be here, but I have struggled through every box in our storage room. As always, I have hope.

In case anyone is wondering what to do in June, here is a list of these funny old fashioned words:

To lollygag means to spend time aimlessly. It's a physical movement with a lack of urgency. It is said to be an American word with Gaelic origins. It was first used in the 1860's and referred to kissing.

Dawdling is much like lollygagging, only without the kissing. It's been around a lot longer, since the seventeenth century.

There's no physical movement with dilly-dallying. It means procrastination and indecision. When you dilly-dally you are fussing over a task without physically doing any of it.

Now moodling is my favorite of these words. It was first mentioned by author Brenda Ueland in her 1938 book called "If You Want To Write". I have a copy somewhere. Moodling is a creative and relaxing state of mind where you let your imagination wander aimlessly and ponder thoughts without pressure. Doing this is supposed to cause relaxed daydreaming that helps creativity, insight, and problem solving.  Some definitions say that one can also dawdle while moodling. 

Here's to having just the kind of June that you want. Life is sure to get busier again soon.

Bright and Balanced

I have a "collection" of articles and journal thoughts that I have written over the years. Sometimes I go through them when I am looking for ideas. A lot of them were first written over twenty five years ago (and more) when my life was much busier and more complicated. Now they are out of date and have to be modified a bit if I want to use them. An example is my article about my first new cell phone. Most of my writings during those busy years was about organizing, procrastinating, housekeeping, families, holidays, and keeping everything in balance. I guess I still like to write about a lot of those subjects, but my perspective is a lot different now. My opinions are still probably about the same.

A favorite article was about balance. It was inspired by a visit to a coffee shop with a friend. This was so long ago that the offerings were just plain old coffee instead of all the fancy concoctions that we see now. The pots were labeled with the flavor and descriptions. The first one I saw was Vivid and Vibrant. It sounded exciting and mysterious. My friend went right to the brew labeled Rich and Robust. We had just been discussing finances and health, so I thought that was a perfect choice for her. After a little thought, I decided on Bright and Balanced.

Balance has always been one of my favorite words. I have a tendency towards balance in whatever I do. I never want too much of one thing or not enough of another. I've always felt more even when there is balance in my life. 

But, I have learned that it isn't always easy to keep that balance. Sometimes, our lives just get too busy. I have found myself going in too many directions at once and trying to accomplish too much. These are the times when we feel like we are trying to juggle bricks and feathers. No matter what we do it is hard to keep our lives at an even keel.

For me there are some classic hints when things begin to tip too far in one direction. Does this sound familiar? Are you suddenly missing appointments even when you've written them down? Or have you stopped writing things down, and just trust your memory? I can never do that. A few days ago, I completely forgot an afternoon with my crafting group that I had really been looking forward to. I hadn't done much of anything for several weeks because of my dreaded battle with shingles. They all had a lovely time without me but did make a darling bird's nest on a spring for me. I didn't get to have any of the treats though. I heard it was a very fancy tea party.

Perhaps you've noticed that you are misplacing your keys, or locking them in your car. If so, that is a sure sign that your life has gotten too complicated and out of balance. Take a deep breath, now e-x-h-a-l-e, and decide what you can eliminate.

When you add something new to your life, do you also give up something? Or do you keep squeezing in one more thing, one more appointment, one more event? Of course you do. We all want it all, and we want it all right now. Unfortunately, that isn't what we usually get.

Instead we may get tired and discouraged, because we are trying to handle too many things at once. If this sounds familiar, then it's time to start putting balance back into your life. Get some extra keys made and keep copies of your passwords and card numbers where you can get to them. I like to disguise them as phone numbers in my address book.

My life is so simple and uncomplicated now compared to how it used to be. I sometimes wonder if feeling unbalanced is because we are getting older and not because we are too busy. I'm not even going to mention that someone who shall remain nameless forgot to change from his slippers to his shoes when we went out to dinner a few nights ago. I might be getting punished for sharing that. I just lost half of this post when I tried to publish it and had to write it again. It may be too late for me to be Vivid and Vibrant.

An Invitation to Tea

 

 

A Witches' Tea 

will be served at three

  For all my magic friends

      And Me 

                                                          

You're invited to prepare the pot

And drink it while it's piping hot

We'll have some treats upon a tray

And nibble til it's time to play

We'll practice all our games and spells

Until we all can do them well

And from the cups the leaves we'll read

And tell some fortunes with great speed

For it's a busy day,  you see

And yet we must make time for tea

And afterwards a fond goodbye

As on our brooms to home we'll fly.

       

If I forgot to tell you where

I guess that we won't see you there.

                                                                 SMB

(This is a reprint of a post I did a few years ago. I did add a few more lines to my poem to make it new again. This will be my last post before Halloween. And we all know what comes next.)