April 16, 2014 by clumpaday

Sunlike Inspiration

Clump #191: Sort through son’s remaining eating/drinking-ware from college. Day sixteen of my 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge.

Over halfway through the challenge! Today’s clump is an example of the glacially slow pace of this project. Our industrious younger daughter dove in to start the job, organizing what had previously been stuffed into our overseas son’s bedroom when making space for overnight guests. She even labeled each pile. Now what to do with it all?

The plastic cups and aluminum bottles will go in the recycling bin. I gave him that box of cleaning tablets for metal water bottles … most likely one of my thrillingly practical stocking stuffers. (Oh boy! Just what I’ve always wanted!) I happened to notice that they’re untouched. They and the bowl and knife can either go in the Goodwill pile or hang out here with his other “keep” items.

It’s small, tedious piles like this one that make me feel as though I’m not making any progress. But the fact is, the room is clearing out. Drip … drip … drip.

I drove to Lancaster County to see my mom today, and saw this: So wrong!

The poor, garbed goose of Strasburg was entirely unprepared for the cold snap. She must have donned the floral number when temperatures were in the eighties.

I chose to focus on fabulous forsythia, with flowers and stems like rays of sunshine.

Sometimes my mom will say something so memorable, I have to write it down. Her most frequent question is “What are the kids doing today?” About one daughter, she said, “This is her sunrise time.”

I relayed her comment to our daughter, and she loved it. You don’t need to worry about or force the sunrise. It’s inevitable.

Inevitable as flowers in spring and warmth returning to the earth. And, now, clutter leaving our home.

April 15, 2014April 23, 2014 by clumpaday

Tickled Pink

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Decluttering, Errands, Jokes, Life, Photos, Pink, Recycling
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Clump #190: Recycle shredder, CD’s and cord. Reframe old photo.

Today I took a break from the clumps in our son’s bedroom. With all the paper purging I’ve been doing, we’ve had a casualty. Our shredder went kaput and couldn’t be revived. May I have a moment of silence for this fallen soldier in our battle against clutter? The drops on its top are rain, not tears.

I also deposited some unwanted CDs and a cord. This was a big day for Best Buy. I actually bought something there: a new shredder.

Then I took the picture below to another shop to get a new frame. It’s a lovely old photo of two dear family members. My husband was the photographer many years ago.

The cheap, plastic frame had a cardboard backing that obviously had suffered some water damage. Disgraceful! It was in the box I recently decluttered. Now to take care of it … honor it, or let it go.

I found a relatively inexpensive ready-made frame that did the trick. Wow! How much clearer it is through glass instead of ancient plastic! The “after” picture was difficult to photograph without my reflection looking like a guardian angel hovering over the scene. Trust me, it looks even better in person.

Ah, the man in the photo was our wonderful, late brother-in-law. He was fond of simple jokes that would be groaners if not for his excellent presentation and gravitas. One was: “What did the snail say while riding on the turtle’s back? … Wheeee!” He always pronounced the “h” in Wheee.

Thinking of him while doing errands on a day when it was raining cats and dogs, a similar joke came to mind: “How do you know it’s raining cats and dogs? … When you step in a poodle!”

The sidewalk to the shop was carpeted in confetti-like pink petals from the tree pictured above.

There is something so wonderful about pink in the natural world. It’s the color of cotton candy, tutus … Barbie’s favorite color … it’s an almost frivolous hue …

But it’s also magical. Like a silly joke. It brought delight to hum-drum errands on a dreary day.

April 14, 2014 by clumpaday

Goodbye to Dust Mites and Monochrome

Clump #189: Decide what to do with bedding from son’s bedroom.

Today’s clump was big and bulky, but easy to dispense with. Our son said he didn’t need his college back-cushion … so to the Goodwill it will go. I will launder the bedspread set. The pillows were as old as Methuselah (do people still say that?), so I threw them out. Heaven only knows the dust mite colony that likely thrived within.

In keeping with this color scheme, I thought I’d pay tribute to the tans, grays and browns that are quickly vanishing from the landscape. We’ll miss you? … Maybe just a teeny, tiny little bit.
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April 13, 2014 by clumpaday

Simply Present

Clump #188: Sort through three bags. Day thirteen of my 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge: clear out son’s room before he returns home with more stuff.

Today I had a good Skype-chat with our son and we confronted three piles from his room, including the dreaded “Miscellaneous.” We’ll keep the pile on the right. The other two are heading out, one way or another.

In documenting my visit yesterday to the tea ceremony at Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, I failed to mention the most important aspect: the tea ceremony was a physical demonstration of the concept of being in the present moment, of being mindful.

Each movement was so very deliberate. Each item in the ceremony had its purpose and was handled with care and attentiveness. The simplicity of the surroundings made the awareness of each item more distinct.

My friends and I were enamored with the Ikebana style flower arrangements adorning the house. I looked up Ikebana International when I got home and a definition on the official website read, “In principle, Ikebana aims not at bringing a finite piece of nature into the house, but rather at suggesting the whole of nature, by creating a link between the indoors and the outdoors.”

I know I will never achieve the austere beauty of the Shofuso House, after all, it’s not a real house where people live. But paring down our possessions will limit the visual field and allow us to more fully appreciate and honor the things we do want to keep …

And possibly link us a bit more to the outdoors.

April 12, 2014 by clumpaday

Tranquili-Tea

Clump #187: Clear out wire basket of assorted junk that had migrated into son’s bedroom.

There I go, anthropomorphizing the clutter again. Ahem. I shoved this stuff together when clearing out our kitchen desk. And it was before Christmas this year, when I was frantically readying for a party. No need for carbon dating.

Oh, my poor heart strings! Today is our son’s birthday, and when I turned over the picture frame on top I was overwhelmed. It was a photo compilation my younger sister had made for another birthday years ago. Here’s a portion of it, a little blurry, like my eyes right now:

My memory of driving our son home from the hospital is of all the trees in bloom. It was as if the whole world was celebrating. Today was a gem of a day, and I was fortunate enough to go with some friends to a Japanese tea ceremony at the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

We learned about the four elements to strive toward in the tea ceremony: purity, harmony, respect, and tranquility. They were all present.

We were served a sweet wrapped in a young cherry tree leaf that had been fermenting for a year …

and a lovely bowl of bright green macha tea.

The beauty of the setting was exquisite.

Even without many leaves.

One tree was perfectly pink against a perfect blue sky.

We were all struck by the elegant simplicity of the place and of the ceremony. No extraneous movements or things. I include this photo of a musical instrument in honor of our musician son:

Everything had a place and a purpose. I will try my best to remember.

April 11, 2014 by clumpaday

Lighten Up, Clean Up and Head Out

Clump #186: Find the one Billboard magazine our son wants to keep. Day eleven of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge.

This afternoon I was not liking my 30-day challenge. It’s Friday. I’m tired. I want to cut loose. My editing daughter needs my words earlier so that she can do the same. Then I received a text message from our son saying there was just one Billboard magazine he’s interested in keeping: “one on DIY topics.” And I’m off and running, not able to resist the pull of ridding ourselves of a big clump. I spent a good amount of time looking through all the tables of contents, until — Woo-Hoo — I spotted this one:

The rest could be stripped of their address labels for shredding and tossed into bags for recycling. I hope the men who pick up the recycling will be impressed that they’re in order by date (yesterday’s clump). Big weight out of the room! Not to mention our son’s life.

I’ll leave you with a series of photos I snapped while getting my car washed. Fun and a certain surreal beauty in a commonplace setting.

And … I’m I out of here. Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are!

April 10, 2014April 10, 2014 by clumpaday

Snow Glory Lessons

Clump #185: Sort son’s Billboard magazine collection. Day ten of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge.

Today’s clump seemed like a mindless waste of time. Our son had a subscription to Billboard magazine for about two years: 2011 on the right, 2012 on the left. They are now in chronological order. I remember asking him quite a long time ago whether he wanted to keep them, and he had said there were some articles he still wanted to read.

Oh my, the apple does not fall far from the tree. I know that impulse so very well. I’ve had to assure myself that various articles I’m still interested in, but haven’t gotten to, can be found online or in the library. He’s not missing the articles in Billboard from 2013 and 2014, because they’re sight unseen … on and on, but logic doesn’t hold much weight. The stacks of magazines do, however. I will await his decision.

The clearing of our son’s room, clump by clump, day by day, has made me think of him even more than usual. I had taken the photo, above, of a blue flower recently. It made me happy, not only because I love the color blue, but also because it reminded me of the blue flower in one of the Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Sucie Stevenson. I checked our “library,” and sure enough, it was in Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble. Not only that, our son’s name was written on the cover by his first grade teacher. Ah, the simple days of Henry and Mudge … I had forgotten how much I loved them! The flower figured in the first chapter, “The Snow Glory.”

The beginning is balm to the souls of all of us coming out of the deep freeze: “When the snow melted and Spring came, Henry and his big dog Mudge stayed outside all the time. Henry had missed riding his bike. Mudge had missed chewing on sticks. They were glad it was warmer.”

And then they discovered a blue flower. “‘Can I pick it?'” Henry asked. ‘Oh, no,’ said his mother. ‘Let it grow.'”… Henry couldn’t stop wanting to pick it and imagined putting it in a jar. … “He thought how nice it would be to own that snow glory.”

Henry finally can’t take it any more and says to Mudge, “‘Now I need it.’ And Mudge wagged his tail, licked Henry’s face, then put his big mouth right over that snow glory … and he ate it.”

“I said need it, not eat it!” In the end, Henry can’t stay angry with Mudge. “He knew it wasn’t his snow glory. He knew it wasn’t anybody’s snow glory. Just a thing to let grow. And it was just a thing to let go. Henry stopped feeling mad.”

The chapter ends, “‘Next time, Mudge,’ … ‘try to listen better.’ Mudge wagged his tail and licked his lips. One blue petal fell from his mouth into Henry’s hand. Henry smiled, put it in his pocket, and they went inside.”

A fitting tale to help me in this mission to figure out what to keep, what to let go, and what to let grow. What things do we really need to own?

April 9, 2014 by clumpaday

Food for the Body and Soul

Clump #184: Throw out old Easter candy and give away basket. Day nine of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge: clearing out our son’s room one clump at a time.

I really can’t remember what year I sent this Easter “basket” to our son at college. The bunny pasta has an expiration date of 5/08/14, so one of us should eat it up soon.

So much uneaten-candy … how can it be that I am genetically linked to this guy? Sadly, at this point, out to the trash it goes.

In other food news, I made 48 of my turkey, lettuce, cranberry sauce, and mayo sandwiches for an interfaith Lenten service and luncheon held today at our Quaker Meeting.

If my husband had been around at the time, I knew he would have been singing, “Sandwiches! Sandwiches!” I chuckled at the thought. You know you’ve been married a long time when you know each other’s favorite jokes. And I guess you’re lucky when you enjoy them. The origin of “Sandwiches! Sandwiches!” is a play on the song “Savages” from Disney’s Pocahontas. The movie came out when our kids were young, so we all enjoyed multiple viewings … it was one of the soundtracks of their childhoods. In the song, both the Native Americans and the English view each other as savages.

Somehow this theme seemed appropriate for a day when people of many different churches worshiped together. Too often religions alienate rather than unite us, which has always seemed convoluted.

More than 100 people came together today, worshiped and broke bread.

This was all the food that was left. More Sandwiches! next year.

April 8, 2014 by clumpaday

Time, Patience, and Compounding Clumps

Clump #183: Clear four items from son’s bedroom. Day eight of the 30-day, 30-post Bedroom Blast Challenge.

An easy clump, as clumps go. I had to tell myself that the goal is not always quantity, but consistency — keeping the momentum going. The windshield protector went into a car, the weights into the basement with similar exercise equipment, and the toolbox with other things to save for our son’s collection … it will join the bag ‘o office supplies from yesterday’s clump.

Note to self: get in shape! Those weights made my arms feel like rubber.

Each clump seems so small individually …

but joined with many more, they might really amount to something! (Taking another shot of the ribbon of crocuses today before it disappears.)

We expect quick results in this super-charged world. I opened a box of stationery to write an overdue note to a friend, and this quote was on the inside of the box. It was just what I needed.

April 7, 2014 by clumpaday

Follow Your Heart and Plant Pansies

Clump #182: Sort through two bags in son’s bedroom.

I enjoyed a Skype session with all three of our kids yesterday. Toward the end of the conversation, when it was just our overseas son and younger daughter, I said, “I don’t have a clump for you to look through right now.” Our younger daughter said, “There are two small bags near the door [of son’s room] that would be easy.”

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Clump A Day

postcards from the clogosphere

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