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| One of our many inherited antique clocks |
What the heck is this thing we call time?
The one-after-the-other-correspondence of things.
The succession of happenings, to be experienced as an irreversible sequence of events.
A longitude of change,
Incidents in nature and history.
Something to be viewed, depending on scientific (philosophical) views, as finite or infinite, homogenous, divisible continuum, which under specific points of view and appropriations act as a scheme of order.
All I know is I have been extremely busy since we returned home first of the month and have not been on blog which tugs at me, but time is limited and I have never been able to stretch a day beyond 24 hours. Someone might simply say, "oh use a planner, don't agree to so many things, and so on...." Jim Croce sang about it in 1973, remember the ballad--Time in a Bottle also used by the Muppets in a comical routine.. sing along with me now,,,
If I could save time in a bottle The following is an assessment of how time flies daily for me, for those who wonder, (as I did in the past) how can a person who is retired run out of time? For one thing, I no longer arise at 4:30AM and get almost double the sleep I lost in the past.
The first thing that I'd like to do Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you.
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them...... and that is my ear worm of the day.
Begin with the 24 hours each day 24
Slumber, "to sleep perchance to dream", 8 to 9 hours or more, depends on how physically demanding the day's activities have been -9
Each evening 1 or 2 hours pleasure reading - 2
Now we are down to a balance of 13 hours available from which hours deplete --
-1 Waking up each morning, meditation/prayers, personal hygiene, Keurig brew, dressing for Curves workout, making the bed prior to departure, Jerry conversations
-2 Checking email, Facebook and reading my online newspapers
-2 Business papework our Financials, Estate work, business of and the like (can consume lots more time)
-2.5 Working out/ and walking to do so ( 1/2 this time if I drive)
-1.5 Showering after work out and dressing for the day
-2.5 Our wonderful early spring weather means substantial outside work
-1.5 Domestic tasks like laundry, ironing, vacuuming, changing bed linens, unloading dishwasher, swabbing kitchen floor, dusting, etc. I try to do a minimum daily because I have a fetish for a clean domicile and I do not have the attention span for more time at that.
-2 Planning/preparing meals, unless we are eating out
-1 Eating and clean up afterwards
-3.5 If grocery or other shopping beckons driving to and accomplishing
-1.5 Nursing home trips for MIL, delivery laundry, other personal items, etc.
-1.5 Even a quick additional stop uptown to post office/library while I'm there invariably expands with a conversation with someone about something
-2.5 Special projects like the design of a book cover, correspondence or photo sorting or closet or drawer clearing or research through records or online
-2 Occasional TV watching some evenings, varies depending on programs, March madness or a great NBA game or watching a movie/DVD
-2 Visitors and this includes phone calls which I do ignore at times when I can't tolerate an additional distraction
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| This was a clock from Uncle John which is very similar to one my grandparents had...we have many clocks just not enough time ever. |
Currently I am engaged in another ongoing project that is taking hours of time, the online class on the Constitution and Principles in which I have enrolled through Hillsdale College. While lectures online are about an hour and the Questions and Answers another 30 minutes, the readings demand more hours each day than I have been able to garner, putting me sadly behind on the research. This is a most interesting course and something I have wanted to do for a long time, but never considering the time dedication involved. I could just skim and do online readings, but that has never been my way as a student; my alter ego, the old girl, Patty emerges hands on hips--""well you're not gonna skip over this are you? Remember you need 100% on tests?" And she goads me on to continue reading--it has probably been 48 years since I last read the Federalist papers. Grades and perfect scores mean nothing to me now, but still I persevere. I recall much of history teachings from earlier college and high school years but am learning more such as our founding fathers understanding of the true human nature...and the fact that they all had a solid base in the same educational experiences whether self taught or schooled--they knew the classics. They shared a similar foundation. We do not have that today. Oh, I have been getting all the questions correct on each quiz. No one knows my score but me and Patty and she is quietly pleased, dancing her little celebratory hop when that perfect score shows online.
My thoughts increasingly nag to get back to the blog especially before March departs because this is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts. I have more to say about that tomorrow. Here is the link to the Girl Scouts Blog where they claim that 2012 is the year of the girl. Hey, let's hear it for the girl http://blog.girlscouts.org/2012/03/on-monumental-100th-anniversary-girl.html
Oh yes trying to compose in blogger which is acting up with a vengeance.....timeless.
A thoughtful post! Love the connections.
ReplyDeleteWell, that list accounts for 29 minutes. What on earth did you do with the rest of your day?
ReplyDeleteFor who knows how long, the only time that mattered was "local" time, based on the position of the sun. If I remember correctly, the idea of time zones was hatched because of the accident hazard to railroads. Ie, engineers operating trains toward each other setting their time pieces by local time were unable to plan meeting at a particular siding at a specified time. Of course, block signals were unheard of at the time so there was a hazard of head on collision, or at the minimum, a 'main line meet' where the trains were unable to pass each other. 'Standard time' was the solution, whether it matched local time or not, and I believe this led to our present time zones. At one time, some railroad watches were made, or modified, with two hour hands for use where the run crossed into or from different time zones. I believe that time, for us, began when the "evening and the morning were the first day." But, for God, eternal, the concept of a beginning or an end is beyond our comprehension. Just like the Universe, or Cosmos if you prefer. I have read that some scientific types have stated that the Universe is round. To have a shape, there must be limits. If there are limits, what, then, exists beyond those limits? I am sometimes amused by the "big bang" theory. Whether it is true or not really doesn't matter. If true, what was out there before the big bang and for how long. And if, when, our universe implodes or explodes what will still be out there, but without us.
Tom
Whes, Pat I ran out of time just reading how your time is spent. I DO understand how there are not enough hours in a day, week, month...These days the only time I actually sit down to relax are after 8 pm and then it's to read a bit, watch a couple episodes on Cheers on Netflix and then fall asleep but by then it's nearly 11 pm and the 7 pm alarm comes around soooo fast. Great that the mornings are darker to sleep in a bit, but also means a longer day with outside chores now. Blogging is taking a back seat because to read and post takes up more time than I have now.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you given any thought to removing the word verification process? It really is quite frustrating and the words are really hard to decipher cause it takes me a couple of tried.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Bea.... I removed word verification...will see if it helps.
ReplyDelete