Inner child, Inner talent, Inner asylum

I confess, in my 60’s, I’ve unleashed them all.

My inner child is littlepatti, who I re-discovered and wrote about on my blog starting in 2007.

I stumble across my inner talent every so often, at the unlikeliest times and it even surprises me. It causes me to wonder if I should have pursued a different avenue  in my life.

My inner asylum lurks in the background of my world always threatening to charge the gates of conformity.

I don’t intend to poke fun at any of them. Well, yes I do. But no offense intended for those of you who are making clay pots at the asylum and playing Tiddly- Winks and Fish.

There but by the grace of God go I, there but by the grace of God, go I.

This all occurred to me because we are renovating our bathroom. It’s been a fun process choosing all the new fixtures, cabinets and colours. It was even fun knocking down walls and tearing out old wood, but somehow, today as I stood there, paint roller in hand, and a step-ladder to go up and down 25 times, I thought “am I crazy?” “I’m sixty-eight years old”! I don’t know how to paint!

That goes back to my “inner child”. littlepatti thought that she could do anything. No instructions necessary. Just watch and learn. Swim, dive, bicycle, drive, (that rhymes, so I’ll stop right there, but you get the point.)

My friends are taking painting classes and doing lovely work in varying degrees of loveliness, so I thought I can paint too, albeit of a different variety.  So much for talent.

We’re at least two weeks away from completion, we plan to lay the Clic flooring and put an IKEA cabinet together.

Please send a paddy wagon.

Pat

PS: Word to the wise and note to self: If you haven’t tackled your own renovations since 1979, hire someone. You are too old!

Love Canada. Hate winter.

I never liked winter. I could never get with the program. Nothing has changed except I wear long johns when the temp drops now. I can’t think of one good thing to say about winter. I don’t like mitts and boots, hats or any winter sports. I TRIED! God knows I tried!

Most of the mining towns I lived in were up north (I mean up north, not the Laurentians),  Snow Lake, Chibougamau. I don’t remember freezing all the time. We didn’t have Down coats, just bulky parkas. We skated on outdoor rinks and ponds, and walked to school even when the temperature dipped to dangerous levels. We wore a scarf over the nose and numerous pairs of socks. We weren’t very glamourous, now that I think of it, but we never did think of it, then. I didn’t like it, but need I remind you: We didn’t get a vote. I don’t remember anyone talking about the weather, ever! By the way, we never had a full length mirror in our house. We depended on the medicine cabinet and one fancy round mirror over the sofa in the living room. We didn’t spend countless hours admiring our selves or  finding fault, we were too busy. Doing what? No TV, computers, not many books either. In the early days, our parents didn’t have a car, so there were no sightseeing jaunts on the weekends. Our parents certainly didn’t “entertain” us, they were too busy working and housekeeping. The rare time that Mom would come outside and skip with us, take us along berry picking, or play Rummy on the bed,  and Dad would take us to the lake after work to swim in the frigid water or to skate on a pond, were treasured memories.

We didn’t have time to mope around. It wasn’t the “thing” to do. I don’t recall ever saying “I’m bored”, not that it would have ellicited a response anyway. Parents didn’t respond to “bored”, like they didn’t respond to “I don’t like green peas”.

And then, Elvis burst on the scene. That was a game changer, or did it just happen to me at the perfect age? It seems to me that I started to come of age about that time, I listened to music, combed my hair 100 times, chewed Thrills gum, and chased boys…

I really wonder how all the little nuances in life impact us. Are we better off? Are we smarter, calmer? More courageous?  I don’t know.

I love my life, and I have said so often how grateful I am to have gotten this far.

I just HATE winter.

PS: We undertook a renovation to stave off the winter blues, and we are doing most of the work ourselves. We are fairly competent and progress is slow but sure and we should be able to drag it out until the first heavenly sign of Spring.

By the time this is over, I have a feeling that carpentering will be the 2nd thing to appear on my “Hate List”.