I'm not very good at taking time off. Or to put it another way - I'm not good at scheduling myself time off. I just work myself to death until I fall on my face from exhaustion or a migraine takes me out of life for a few days. My spare time activities simply have to have a purpose - otherwise I feel lost.
As some of you know - last month I visited my Parents in Poland. We don't see each other very often. The last time I saw them was almost 2 years ago, so whenever I land in Poland - I try to spend as much time as possible with my Parents. And it's not easy, because even though they are both retired, they have their own rigid daily schedules. From stably fixed meal times to a specific time for walking the dog, to watering the flowers. So, in order to spend some time with them – I have to adapt to their schedules.
To give you some idea of what my days with them looked like, here are my 'activities' during one such day:
-early in the morning I went fishing with Dad(Dad is a keen angler and now - apparently- is eel season!),
-then I weeded the beds with my Mum,
-then I'd go grocery shopping with my Dad,
-then I'd come back and prepare dinner with my Mum,
-then I picked beetles(colorado potato beetle to be exact) off the potatoes with Dad, yes, seriously (it's a particularly nasty creature, my mate called them 'Devil Ladybugs', which I think is the perfect name)),
-then we had coffee(even if everything was crashing and burning at 4 pm there has to be coffee, cake and their favourite TV show),
-then I cleaned the attic with Mum before the upcoming roof renovation,
-then we transferred the feathers from the old duvet cover to the new one (there is a photo of the new duvet cover I stitched by hand to prove it),
-then I went with Dad to visit my aunty Irena (the sweetest person in the world! she lives by a lake, so we went canoeing with Daddy for a while:),
-and in the evening I folded the laundry that Mum had taken off somewhere in the meantime (laundry dried in the fresh air is probably my favourite smell under the sun).
I tried very hard to spend some time with each of them, as they actually function completely independently of each other. Apart from having coffee and meals together - they don't spend time with each other actually at all. When they were both working it was exactly the same. I don't think they are too fond of each other. I know, however, that at least they used to like each other, because there are photos that document this fact. There aren't many, but there are some. I attach their photos together too. From them I know, they(photos) were taken even before they got engaged.
Why 'mindless appreciation'?
The places I remember from my childhood - like the forest and the hill featured on the pictures (locals call the place 'Fox Hill') - always give me the same kind of feeling - a quiet bliss. They don't provoke memories, which is probably what should happen. They don't. They stimulate my head to complete tranquillity. Meditative almost non-thinking. My head is completely silence. And that doesn't happen to me often, and being completely honest - it absolutely never happens to me.
I am convinced that if you were sitting next to me right now you would hear a buzzing. My head is boiling non-stop. During the day I am constantly planning something, worrying about something, recalling the most embarrassing moments of my life. At night - my surreal dreams weary me to the point - if I manage to fall asleep, of course, because that's always a challenge - that I wake up terrified and exhausted in the morning.
It's very different in my family home, my Parents lead a life I would never have chosen for myself and that's probably one of the reasons why we find it so difficult to get along with each other. But it has a lot of peace and beauty in it. A love of nature, gratitude for good health, small daily joys. When I witness all this - I smile without a shadow of insincerity but also without any great reflections or sentiments.
It feels good to return home. For a while. Just for a little while:)
I wish you all a lovely Wednesday!
Yours,
Strega Azure
My needle work on new duvet cover
Colorado Potato Beetle
My Mu has a green thumb, here little taste of it
This little little thing was a gift from my uncle, he bought it in South Korea, like 30 years ago
'Fox Hill'
Dog's name is 'Pluto', he is about 13 years old, taken form animal shelter 9 years ago.
My Mum walks him everyday at 2pm:)
Who's gonna guess what is it?
EDIT: @holoz0r guessed as a first!
It is a cassette - player or walkman if you prefer this name for it:)
Almost all pictures from my childhood was made with this camera:)
My childhood toys(not many left), I truly have no clue, where clown's pants went :D)
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It is not just my parents that cannot deviate from their schedule when we visit them! lol Thanks for sharing a lovely post.
Yes, and try to debate the meaning of this routine - you will become enemy number one:)
Thank you for popping by!
I'm sure it says it somewhere but if I knew, I'd have to think of something else to say and it might not be near as stockery and, well, that's no fun.. where are you?
= }
Look at you California, such a princess.
pink heartdrop for the pink princess
If you are asking geographically - in Northern Ireland atm:)
Not too bad then, whats that flight, about 5n1/2 hours? Again, I could ask RyanAir but, meh.
Tell your
momUm, iHeart Pluto.Only 2.5 hour flight, so really no bother at all:) Distance isn't really a problem to be fair, flights are cheap.
It is time. Actually a lack of it.
Plus a fact I cannot do 'my things'. I miss doing things a lot:)
I live here nearly 5 years, and my Mum visited me once. ONCE :D
As a guest curator for @ecency I decided to accept your boost as the pictures are great and the storytelling well done
Thank you, really appreciate!
All of those activities appeal to me, except, shopping, transferring feathers (hard no there), and folding laundry. Speaking of laundry, you’re right; nothing smells like laundry dried in fresh air. It’s a must for mine.
Ever draw your surreal dreams?
I can echo that. A lot of people I know can echo that. I wonder if it’s a common experience.
It sounds like you have a balanced way of being with your parents. I really like your whole attitude and approach. It’s a grown up one. I don’t see that often.
That’s the key part. ;)
Do you know what material that is and how it was made?
I really enjoyed reading and looking at all your photos. You’ve got an eye for photography too I see . Btw, that’s a LOT of potato bugs (what my dad called them).
Since you asked who’s going to guess, is that a transistor radio?
I really love the shots of scenery you have taken ,cool
Thank you very much, It doesn't really change that much since I was a child:)
I remember stealing my father's cassettes and hoping that they wouldn't get chewed up in the portable cassette player. I still remember as the double A batteries started dying, you'd hear the music sloooow dooooooown. Great devices!
We're very much alike that our head is constantly abuzz with schemes and plans and the inability to be still. To just be.
Glad you still got to take some time away from real work, though truth be told, sometimes hanging out with family is actual work, the likes of which cannot be compared to the labours done to earn a living.
Yep, that's it! I've got this Walkman for Christmas, with Madonna's album 'Frozen'. Yeah, my Parents didn't know much about me :D
But I was recording stuff from radio, and making my own mixes:) I would listen and try to write lyrics and stuff. It was so much fun:)
Yeah, I and feel that. It is easy to catch it when I listen to your podcasts:)
I would say so too. I was exhausting after nearly 2 weeks. I am having problems biting my thong, and with my Dad - I have to do this a lot :D It is really not that easy :D
I used to record stuff from the radio as well. We had one of those hifi systems with a record player on it too, and I recorded some of the vinyls on to tape so I could take them with me wherever I went. I listened to a lot of Queen on casette tape, and Blink 182, my musical taste then is just as eclectic as now.
Please don't consume your footwear.
The eclectic taste is good. There is so much music out there to choose only one thing :)
My phone app doesn't have spell check, damn it!
Spell check is not required. It was a pretty funny Freudian slip, as I interpreted it.
I actually like that, let's go with that. Make it more meaningful :)
aah, a trip down memory lane💗These pics of your parents look like they are having so much fun and delighting in each others company 😍 Is that a little FM radio in the pics?
My dad is also very stuck in his ways and routines. I can very much relate to what you experienced. I lost my mom 4 years ago - her routines were not as rigid but her ways and her thinking were. But, I always loved going home. I left when I was 29, and moved to the UK with my hubby. I haven't been back since my mom passed away.
The things that strike me most about going home are the hot humid air that greets me as I step onto the tarmac from the plane in Durban, the complete sense of being home that I get as we wind our way through the trees towards the long climb out of the gorge when we are ten minutes from home (so much that my whole body relaxes and I let out an audible sigh each time), the hugs I got from my parents, and how quickly my accent reverted back from sounding more British to being well and truly South African, complete with colloquial speech 🤣.
What a gorgeous place for a walk - open countryside, fields of crops and wildflowers. What a win! And Pluto got a walk too!! I wonder when your mom will realise that all these years he has been walking her rather than the other way around hehe.
This was a lovely personal post, Strega 😘 - you mentioned you were in Northern Ireland. Is that where you live at the moment? 😎😲💗 !LUV !ALIVE
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I don't have many pictures of my Parents from the time they were young, but those are my very favourite.
It has radio function, but no, it is not a radio:)
I am very sorry about your Mum, I imagine it is hard to get back home knowing she is not longer there. It is very interesting what you have said about your accent changing and all that. How did you cope with such a complete change of climate? There are big differences between the UK and Poland. But to move from a hot country to the UK - seems quite a challenge!
I have this one thing that I love about my family home - it's a stone, a giant boulder that stands by the access road to the house.
When my grandfather was still alive, he used to lime-paint it snow-white to make it even more visible from the distance. When I was a kid, when someone asked me where I live, I always said - and you'll see a big maple tree on the left and a big white boulder on the right - that's me:)
When I was in primary school, on my way home I would touch the boulder everyday. Then when I was in academy and getting back home every month or so - I would do the same.
Stone is still there, but now has natural colour:)
This picture was made 2 years ago, in winter. That's the only one I could find with my cool rock:)
Oh yes! Pluto is such a good boy. When we went for walks with him I always kept the leash in my hand, but there was no need to put it on it. The dog trotted by the leg until we reached the drainage ditch - Pluto always has to go into the water and get his belly wet, it's his favourite place in summer. And then he gets back to tread half a step behind:)
I am glad you liked my post Sam, I thought it might be a nice change from the skeletons and greys of pencil:)
Yeah, I live in Northern Ireland nearly 5 years now:)
Very cool story about your boulder 🤗 I love it when something has a tangible history like that.
Aah yeah SA to UK... Durban can be very hot in the summer. December is hot and humid and rains a lot - lots of evening thunderstorms. January is very hot and dry, and Feb is the nicest month in summer to visit. The average temperature in Durban in the winter is 22C which is the same average as the British summer !LOLZ Durban summers are often in the early to mid 30's. We struggled initially with the winters here but they have become so much more mild over the years. And with working from home most of the week now, I don't really notice the short days as much in winter. And the summers here are simply divine.
I reckon if you are in N.I. then we may just have to meet one day lol...there are a few people on Hive in Ireland/Northern Ireland that I know now, so that would make it a cool road trip to do! Will have to drag some dreemers along with me for the ride haha. !LUV
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Wow, 20 degrees in winder sounds crazy! But I imagine for all sun lovers that would be the dream! I am fan of cold, I mean real cold -20, -30, and that doesn't happen here at all :D
I would love to see thunderstorms there. I miss those a lot. Here there are none. It is quite windy sometimes but no striking lighting bolts or anything like it :(
I would love to meet! I think the north coast here is absolutely amazing, County Donegal especially:)
No thunderstorms?😮😔 too sad lol too sad!!
I've been through N.I. before... a good few years back. I went with my Mom, my sister and a friend of my Moms. We flew into Dublin and roadtripped across to the West coast of Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher, then up through the Burren and North across the border. Visited Londonderry, the Giant's Causeway, and then made our way back to Dublin. Another trip we did the Ring of Kerry in the Republic. Our first trip was a glorious week of sunshine. The second it rained non-stop and the fog was so thick we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us... needless to say, we spent each day driving from coffee shop to coffee shop lol.
But I love Ireland (both North and South of the island) and I would definitely go again. So one day hehe one day...
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I know! My Friend that live nearby Belfast said, that she actually seen one couple years ago, but I am not sure I believe her :)
Your trips sounds grate, but plenty places to see, up North and in Republic. Plus Belfast is really interesting if you enjoy a little bit of maaad history:)
hahaha... I'm sure you guys get plenty of rain - it's not called the Emerald Isle for nothing 😂But yeah ... full-on storms are magnificent, right? We drove through Belfast - didn't have time to stop in the end as we spent so much time exploring the coast hehe - But I'd like to see a bit of the history behind Belfast. I do prefer spending more time in nature though... but a day in a city to absorb some culture, history, and architecture is always good too! Is N.I. where you plan to stay long-term now? 🤗
Love this one, looks like a kaleidoscope 😍
!LUV
!WINE
!PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@enginewitty just slapped you with 5.000 PIMP, @strega.azure.
You earned 5.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 2/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
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Irises flowers are truly amazing. Kaleidoscope is perfect analogy, I see this too!
Heyy @strega.azure 😂😂😂
That's quite a schedule you had but I really love them ... They're very cool activities as could be testified by your pictures..
Always find time to rest though, don't let migraines be the reason you take a rest.. maybe a 30mins rest everyday, it's actually nice.
I'm a #dreemer
I know I should be more reasonable about it:)
Thank you so much @sperosamuel15!
You're welcome
You have generated in me a certain melancholy, a bit of sadness, and a smile at the end
I must admit that I had very similar feelings:)
Thank you for popping by!
Yay! 🤗
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