WHAT TO DO FIRST?

PLANS

On Tuesday night our house seemed very quiet. No background noise of a constant TV sound - The Bill, Miss Marples, Shortland Street.  In the morning we took Miriam to the McGlynn Centre in Mornington for two weeks of respite care.  In July she had her last respite care at ISIS and in September it seemed as if she managed the new situation reasonably.  But this time I've noticed she has been quite anxious - any new situation affects her.  We talked and I explained that whenever we face something we haven't done before - a new school, a new work place- it is very normal to feel daunted by what will lie ahead.
Yesterday morning I dropped off a few things at the Community Learning Centre and Miriam looked happy.  The staff said that she had arrived quite cheerful telling everybody about her new haircut.  What a relief.

Yet I do miss her and her surrounding sounds.  But this is also a good time to work on those plans to tidy cupboards, wardrobes, shelves in Miriam's bedroom and in other parts of the house.  When I started work on my adult novel 'The Orange Garden' I was given a mentorship from the New Zealand Society of Authors.

 After a few months I was told by my special mentor, Lesley Marshall from Whangarei, that I was an organic writer and that I should never try to plan too much what I was going to write about.  Aha, this was such wonderful advice as over the next years I learned that I wasn't only an organic writer but also an organic packer, housekeeper, cleaner, gardener, and I'm sure this will affect many more life situations.  Am I lucky to be 'organic'?  Don't know but Lesley's words have made my life a lot easier, I don't get flustered when I walk from one cupboard in one room to another in another room, trying to be organised.  I start at one end of the house, then think of something else, and I find myself at the other end.  My sister Eef calls this tutten  - the Dutch word for puttering, pottering, perhaps not achieving anything drastically but still working on the good of the whole???  And if the result is not obviously visible, at least I know I did something.

So here are my plans: tidy my study, especially the table which is covered with so much administrative stuff relating mainly to Miriam's care, create a new spot in the garden (sunny in the morning!) and attack those cupboards and wardrobes as the mood takes me.

 Part of this plan will mean that there will be quiet time too, a 'just-one-moment-nothing' time, feeling the sun on my body (I've taken my Vitamin D this morning! Miriam normally reminds me), read a few articles in the new Life and Leisure and sip coffee or anything that relaxes me.

 The photo below was taken when Eef visited us in 2009 and we took her to several South Island attractions including Bluff, the end of the world.  It was magic to stand there.  To know that somewhere out there is the Antarctic with its wonders.  This amazingly wonderful 'whole' continent must be saved for future generations.

My sister Eef, Bart and I at the end of the world in Bluff!