Magic, maths, and Minerva

Getting things in order is soothing to my soul. I don’t know why I don’t do more of it I know exactly why I don’t do more of it and that is because I forget. Neurotype… forgetful… out of sight, out of mind… squirrel… etc. This week I did it. Things, they are in order. Well, things in the kitchen cupboard; things in my wardrobe; things in the Where-Did-I-Put-That paperwork file (which we actually have now), and most importantly to me: things in my “office”.

My office is a tiny space off our living room which I suspect was once a pantry back in the days when our living room was a kitchen. It’s about four feet wide by ten feet long, with shelves and a deep window. Facing north, it’s chilly and dark. But I love it.

In recent times, there hasn’t been a lot of work being done (see my last post) and I’ll admit, this small space got cluttered. Which is how polite people say, “It was an absolute sh*theap”.

Yesterday, I got around to getting it in order. It looks awesome.

I called in my daughter who crawled off the sofa where she is currently brewing a powerful ‘flu virus that might just take down the patriarchy and a few colonial powers if she could be arsed to get dressed. “Look!”I enthused. “Isn’t it magical? It looks like an Olde Curiosity Shoppe! It’s giving magic! It’s giving McGonagall!”

“Mum,”she croaked, “It’s giving half mad. All that’s missing is the taxidermy.” Hitched up her heated blanket and slid back to the sofa.

Kids these days. No imagination.

Anyway, I’m inspired, which is just the feeling I was going for.

A few weeks ago I decided to invest in a programme of learning that will start in just over a week and run until the end of the year. This is no lightweight deal and I’m excited to be challenged and expanded by it. More on the content later.

I’ve also signed up for a couple of smaller things that compliment The Big One and feel ideal for warming up my brain cells. I’m ready to get this year started.

The snowdrops outside our front door have always flowered for the first time on either 1st or 2nd of February. This year I’m guessing it will be earlier. I’ll say January 29th. Between all the storms that have battered us (not as badly as many other parts of the country), and the occasional day of being trapped by floods, we’ve had some beautiful, blue-skied, sunny days. Today was one such. Based on this, it would be easy to cross my fingers and start thinking that spring is on her way but experience tells me not to be such a fool. There are weeks and weeks of cold and rain yet to come, and still the garden calls me.

I recently bought a car - this is not a “squirrel moment”; it’s relevant, I promise - and decided, foolishly, to do it online and have a car I’d never seen delivered to my door. It looked great and besides a few little niggles, I was very happy with it. Then there was something else. And something else. And after less than three weeks, the clutch pedal broke. Thanks to consumer protection laws, I am indeed protected and I sent it back. I bought another car that I examined at length and took for a test drive before admitting I was in love.

The point - for there is one - is that the second car cost less than the first one. So I have used my most excellent girl-mathing skills and decided that as I had already spent that money on a car, and now I have a car and some leftover money, that is free money and spending it on the garden will be like getting free garden stuff. Obvs.

I don’t always make sensible decisions and I can lean toward the dramatic. This is currently showing up as an urge to grow all our own food because Trump is going to be Dictator of the USA and ruin the world for all of us. The fact that I have never grown anything more than a few tiny tomatoes and a couple of bowls of potatoes - oh and a lot of herbs, to be fair - doesn’t seem to put me off. I’m thinking raised beds. I’m thinking abundance. I’m thinking salad for months. I’m not thinking very realistically. But who cares? It’s free!

Then there’s the fact that I’m yearning to get my hands in the dirt. To breathe in those earthy microbes and feel better than I do when I’m shut indoors. I have wrinkles and age spots to work on, under a hot sun. I have aching joints to strengthen after months of inactivity and cold. I have to renew my relationship with this piece of land and its many residents. I have meetings to hold with the nettles to agree on which parts of the garden are theirs this year. So many meetings.

Getting my hands back in the dirt is also going to play a part in the learning and building I have lined up for the rest of the year. By 2025 I’ll be a Nature Connection Practitioner and I can’t wait to start.

If you stick around I’ll share some of the best bits with you. Might even pick your wise brains.

Yours magically,

Minerva

xx