august

Soon it will be the middle of the month.  Yikes.  As much as I am looking for autumn for all kinds of reasons - that will be a post on its own - we have a lot of summer living yet to do.  

I have finished a roll of film people.  It has been years.  The above photo is from 2013.  That is a long time ago.  Many, many hills and valleys have been climbed since that photo was taken.  I am going to drop off the roll later today and we shall see what we get.  I was totally out of practice with the ol' light meter and for certain messed up a couple of times.

I am forcing myself to sit still.  Either write or read.  Or just do nothing.  To be perfectly honest - I quite like doing nothing once I remove myself from the distractions.  My phone is a bit of a distraction.  I do use it to take photos but, the challenge is to just put it down once the photos are taken.  I tend to want to check in with the people I know and follow.  Not that I am overly connected to a bunch of people - but, I am inspired by others - almost to the point where I spend all my time reading about other's big plans and ideas and put little effort into creating my own projects.  At some point you have to do the work.  You have to imperfectly move forward.

Our lives will be different this autumn.  My son is moving away to go to school to study the art of Fine Woodworking.  It will be the first time that our children have been separated for any length of time.  This is a big thing.  It is also proving to be a bit of a thing for me.  In fact - I am focusing on the practical requirements and pretty much squelching any thoughts on what it is going to be like with him not being around.  He has had a rather long and difficult journey up till now.  We are cautiously optimistic as he makes steps towards his future but still - there is the tendency and fear to think another shoe will drop and some crisis will sideswipe us off the road.  Even writing these words down makes me nervous.  

And my daughter who has not been living at home while going to school has decided she will live at home and commute to the city - so we will her back in our midst.  So, that is good.  Her summer has not been easy.  I believe the routine and the structure of academic life will be of great benefit to her.  

I am about to go and gut my room and all my clothes.  I have read a couple of articles and interviews with the author of this book:  The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and the book is on my reserved library list but, I am getting a head start.  Does the item bring you joy?  Would you buy it again?  I have a lot of clothes in my closet that are just taking up space.

Mr. W will do the same.  He may have a harder time with the criteria.  

We need to create some space in our lives.  This will be a good start.