September beginnings

[vaneramos]

I arrived home from Toronto a short while ago after a brief visit with Danny. Dinner last night was a good old-fashioned LiveJournal jumble: vaneramos, djjo, bitterlawngnome, danthered, token_otter, redregon, kindar, rfmcdpei and Jerry. Watched my first Fellini film this afternoon: Roma.

I intend to work out a new daily routine for the fall. This is not intended to be rigid, but a framework, so, as lilactime once pointed out, I know what I'm supposed to be doing. Priorities to include:

1. Cleaning the apartment, an hour a day until order is restored.
2. Resume work daily on Pilgrim's Cross, the complete first draft of a novel I set aside almost two years ago.
3. Start taking mirtazapine a half hour earlier, at 9:30 p.m; hopefully I'll be able to get up at 7:30 a.m. a little less groggy.
4. Volunteering at Two Rivers, Out on the Shelf, and Rainbow Chorus will keep Tuesdays and Wednesdays busy.
5. Start a job search.
6. Back to the gym three mornings a week.
7. Resume a daily practice of meditation and walking.
8. Drawing two afternoons a week.
9. Regular time, once a week, for exploring and photographing Ontario countryside and nature.
10. Find or organize a writers group in Guelph.
11. A balanced approach to LiveJournal, correspondence, and relationships with other friends.
12. Time to read every day.
13. To approach showering, eating, masturbating, sleeping and dreaming with a sense of comfort and self-care.

I'm feeling ambitious. I've made regular habits of all these things at different times in recent years. Only the job search, country drives and writers group are new. The trick will be getting all these activities working together. Realistically, I'd be delighted to get four of them in place this week, and phase the rest in by the end of September. I also have wild elderberries to pick, canning to do, one more post to write about the Bruce Peninsula experience, and a load of more recent photos to process.

I don't feel the necessity, as usual this time of year, to take time out and withdraw. I do want to be honest with myself about how I feel, to allow time within my activities and creative work for processing it and resting, without letting it stall or isolate me.

One last photo of Dorcas Bay: