The end of May is fast approaching and I feel the need for a re-set day, a re-framing as we move towards summer. This hasn’t been the most decisive month for me and an adjustment in my attitude would be beneficial. Suddenly there are a lot of little things that I’m yearning to do.
Take, for example, my memo board (above) which I want to return to my bedroom because it struck recently me how much I enjoyed seeing it from my bed when I woke up in the mornings. At the moment it’s barely functional and sitting in a position where it is eminently ignorable, but I’m ready to get back to something more inspirational.
Then there’s a lineup of pens which I need to clean. I promise myself I will clean them one at a time and then I turn around and almost everything I own is waiting to be cleaned – if I don’t clean these ones there will be 8 sitting there in two days’ time. I’m looking forward to inking them up with new colours for June, but that isn’t going to happen until the old inks have been flushed out.
We mustn’t forget the knitting and sewing because there’s a pile of unfinished business here: a skirt I’ve got part of the way through shortening, a dress that needs something doing with the sleeves, and the pink sleeveless cardigan which is starting on its journey to reincarnation.
This candle tray is a barely-begun project. I’ve seen this kind of thing in some of the pretty (or do I mean “staged”) photos and videos on social media and rather liked the idea. I have several candles, all received as gifts, and I don’t often think about using them, even in the winter. Perhaps grouped together with some other decorative items they will at last serve their purpose or, at least, form a nice element in some of my blog photos.
All of this has me thinking about other things I have which I could be enjoying if they were out in the open, better displayed; if my rooms were laid out as they have been in the past. Why is it so hard to keep things looking neat and pretty?
Some things need to be done now and others will be highly suitable micro-projects to work on over the lovely long Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend. I’m going to start with the pens. Just clean the pens. If I clean the pens, the rest will follow.
Pam Alison Knits 
pen cleaning can be very relaxing if you take your time to enjoy it. I like to flush into a jar of clean water just to see the ink patterns. Just makes a chore fun.
Hi, Martin. You’re so right – you can make it fun. I bopped along to Slade whilst I was cleaning the pens yesterday and the time passed very pleasantly. Good idea about looking for the patterns in the water. Also, because I have quite an analytical mind, I found myself comparing the ease or difficulty of cleaning various pens and realised that my gut feeling that the Lamy converter is a bit of a nuisance to clean out is right.
It’s a nice idea to start new ink colours for a new month. Mine only get changed at random intervals. Then again I could not cope with your memo board and would have to lay out everything straight and not overlapping. 🙂
Yes, the memo board has achieved nightmare proportions. I couldn’t even hazard a guess what some of the items are about, although I must have thought they were important when I put them on there. Definitely time for a change.