August Loves and Hates

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The thing I hate about August is it’s fruit fly season. These pesky little flying things are everywhere, dropping into teacups, wineglasses and my sourdough starter. They can get in even when there’s a cover. I have to set up a trap with an apple vinegar and dish soap trap or else they’re going to drive me nuts. I am half way there already with shorter daylight hours. I am noticing my rising moodiness. It’s another thing I hate about August. The fruit and house flies adds to the lot.

Thank God there’s no forest fire smokes this year. I dread it every August but there’s less and less of it every year now. Perhaps there’s no more forests to burn. What a cheerful thought, eh? And perhaps there’s no climate change and Donald Trump is just a figment of our imagination. I better cool and change my thoughts or I’ll think myself into a trash bin. I hate these runaway ugly thoughts of mine. What can I do about it?

What I have learned from experience is that it does not help to talk about it to people. It make me feel worse. I try to keep silent and wrangle some words here instead. Tapping works out the kinks. There’s no judgement. There’s no shoulds. August days when I feel like this, I love my keyboard. I love watching the letters and words march across the screen. It’s my inhale and exhale. These August days, I love having coffee at the mall with my mother’s and now mine friends. I love listening to their stories of how they came to Canada, their hardships and their joys. I love their generosity of showing their appreciation of my company.

I love how the light changes in August. There’s a softening and luminosity about it. The garden looks so beautiful in August lights. And I am happy again despite the shortening of days.

50 Ways of Leaving

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Paul Simon’s 50 Ways of Leaving Your Lover has been playing in my head lately. It’s August and I’m moody again, or still. It is one of the things I like to leave behind. But Simon does not really give you 50 ways of leaving. I counted only 3. What a liar.

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free
Ooh, slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
You just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

It is possible to leave a lover but unfortunately it is not so easy to leave myself. I yam who I yam, says Dr. Seus. But I could make a new plan. I’ve been trying to do that for how long now? Procrastination is another thing that I want to leave. The thing is I’ve been slipping out the back and hopping on the bus for a long time. Now I have to stop and make a new plan. How often have I said that already? It’s hard to believe myself. I am getting quite angry over it plus other things I don’t want to bring to light.

Anger can be a good catalyst to blast me out of my moodiness and procrastination. It got me out the door and tackled the creeping bellflower problem in my front yard. It is amazing how much energy it gave me. In less than an hour, I pulled a few of those creepy bellflowers and poured a bag of last year’s leaves and a bag of smelly grass clippings over the bad areas. Now it is looking like this. Not too bad, eh?

I’ve found a good article on how to stop procrastination. Not that I haven’t read anything on the subject before, but….At least I’ve written this post. Have been trying for days. I have paid insurance policy on the house and registered for an online class – President’s Lecture Series: Curing the World’s Diseases. These are a few things I’ve done to feel good about. I’m not totally stagnant.

TAPPING MY WORDS SOFTLY

It is the evening of the day. Bits and pieces of songs play in my head. It IS the evening of the day. It is 10:07 pm on a Friday night. There is no music playing or soft candle light. Nobody at the bar mixing me a drink. There is no bar. It is only me under my own overhead lights in my own space, tapping softly my inadequate words, not exactly singing my life with my own words. For every step I take forward, I slide back two. Or so it seems.

I’m tired and cantankerous. I should put my head in the toilet for 7 minutes like Caroline Myss advices. The cold water would surely snap me out of it. But I am too bad-tempered and uncooperative. I WON’T do it. I want to stomp my feet and have a fit but how would that benefit me? Exactly! Hence, here I sit with my keyboard. I hope to tap away my moodiness. It would be nice to go to sleep and wake up with a clean mind, erased of all ire.

I should really cut myself some slack. I’ve had a full day, week, month, year….I’ve had a full life. I could do with a little less of everything. My mind is overflowing with thoughts. It’s never in the moment. This morning I couldn’t remember if I had closed the garage door when I was going to the pool. I circled back to find that I had. I lost 15 minutes of swimming time. Not life or death but I drove as it was. Then I swam as it was, trying to get those 15 minutes back. In this case, it was okay. I got an aerobic workout swimming like the dickens. I would rather have my old slow poke self back. It was more restful.

That not being the case, I made use of my unusual super-charged energy. Besides swimming like an athlete, I made my usual 6 loaves of bread and a large pan of rhubard crisp. I planted more beans and all my tomatoes. I dragged Sheba around the block just before supper. I’m feeling super hyper just tapping about my day, as if I’ve drank a can of Red Bull. Not that I ever have but my heart is pounding just thinking of it.

I’m slowing my fingers, slowing my thoughts, slowing my heart. I’m taking some slow big breaths. Good night. Mr. Sandman is calling me.