Sunny Sunday!
I took it easy until 12 and then thought it was just too good a day to spend doing nothing but sleep! I grabbed Portly and went up to Friends - Portly jumping all over her soon woke her up! I suggested a short trip to Cotehele where I would buy her lunch, we could wander slowly round the garden then head home to sleep in the sunshine! She agreed in a heartbeat so i walked Portly and she got herself ready!
I fancied the roast without the meat and asked if we could have the lamb with the apple and rhubarb sauce minus the lamb but with the Yorkshire pudding from the roast beef dish! Unfortunately all roasts were finished only veg left - fine I said, so she checked with the kitchen - no veg left either! Parmesan tart it was x 2! Followed with a honeycomb ice cream we ate by the lily pond watching the dragonflies and swallows swoop across the water! I checked on the Quince tree, not ready yet, and the date of the apple pressing - then we hit the gallery shop. Oh dear, the coat i had seen before did look nice on, as did the jumper I tried on underneath it to check for size! Well I had lost a coat after all! The assistant said would I wear it round the garden in future and direct people to the Gallery - sure, do I get a commission I asked , oh yes she replied! So future days to be spent wafting round the garden in my coat, sitting gracefully on various benches me thinks!!
My friend meanwhile held up the signs suggesting some art share scheme with the word "Tempted" in pink. Always I replied!
Two thoughts later crossed my mind - had I become completely hedonistic in my retirement? Yes! There was a house waiting to be cleaned and boxes sorted and moved, but here I was eating lunch and buying clothes! But I had rationalised it as being "Make hay whilst the sun shines!" - the housework will always be there - the same cannot be said for the sun! The second was related, had I always been a self- centered, pleasure seeking type of gal, or had living by myself developed this? Chicken and the egg kinda question me thinks!
Overall I think it is because I am very conscious of ill health and death - it was a constant part of my working life and over the last 5 years a part of my personal life. I really don't see the point in putting things off to some point in the future which one may never reach. Too much was put on hold when I was working, I had a list of "Things to do when I retire." The older I got the more I resented having no time or energy for doing many of those things at the time, and given the high prevalence of back injury in my line of work due to manual handling, day in day out, year after year, I was conscious of developing a problem which would mean early retirement on health grounds, and a house bound existence. I was already experiencing hip problems. Strangely this has not occurred since I gave up work!
So, my house may be a filthy, cluttered mess, with barely room to swing fat cat, if I could even pick her up without a crane to do such a thing! But it is pretty low on my list of pleasurable things to do at present - time for decluttering when the cold and wet weather sets in! For now I am making hay in the sun! But doing so at a relaxed pace - I have learnt that much at least!
P.S. My extra seems to sum up this particular write up! Cats are notorious for looking after themselves!
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