Too Much Time To Think

 These months of the pandemic have left me with sometimes too much time to think. 

I got to feeling bad about how I was procrastinating during the pandemic.  There was so much that I could have been doing. Making more veteran's quilts.  Making more quilts for your guild's charity project.  Clearing and cleaning the clutter in my home. Reflecting I realize I have always been a procrastinator since I was a child.

Now I understand why my mother always talked me out of projects I wanted to do.  She understood me and that although I loved doing things, I loved starting them more than finishing them. And it hasn't changed in 60 years.

I remember thinking when I retired I would start a small traveling sewing machine repair business.  For the older women who have machines in cabinets and it wasn't a simple matter to take them in for repairs or cleaning.  After all, I am mechanically inclined, thanks to growing up around a Dad who had a lawnmower repair shop in our backyard. 

I thought I would have a van that I could drive to the homes and could do the repairs.  No taking it to a shop and waiting for a week or two to get it back. But getting the training was the hitch.  I didn't want to fix new machines.  What would be warranty work and you would have to be factory certified.  I learned that from Dad selling Allis Chalmers tractors. After a little trying to see where I could get the training to work on vintage machine, that dream quietly slipped away.

I've thought of buying my parents home when the time came and then realized if I couldn't keep up with my own small home I would never keep up with theirs.

Most recently I was considering, after I turn 70, of selling my house and moving into a condo or apartment. After all "they" say at 70 you should decide on your final home.  I toyed with the thought, went and look at some possibilities.  But when I mentioned my thought to my brother, he just gave me a "What???". And that got me thinking again.  Why would I go from not having to pay a mortgage or rent to doing that again. Wouldn't it be easier to make some improvements to my current home. And then find someone to help me with the yard and snow work.

After all I have taken pretty good care of it.  Each year or every few years doing another project. Roof, siding, windows, new kitchen, new driveway. So maybe I'll do a little bit more work and be happy where I'm at.

Not sure anyone reads this anymore.  I guess it's just a journal to get all these swirling thoughts out of my head to make room for more.

Winter Snows

 I don't know why but I am always surprised by how peaceful the city gets when it snows.

The snow seems to absorb all the street noise.  The barking dogs are taken in and the boy street racers put up their cars and motorcycles until the spring. No more being kept awake until 3 and 4 am listening to them racing up and down Cedar street.

Sometimes it gets so still that you'd think you were a hundred miles away from civilization. But then, in the morning, you see the tracks of the dog walkers. And hear the shovels and snowblowers put to their work. But it is nice to have these few months of peace and quiet.