What a time to be alive!! A pandemic AND an attempted coup d’etat. I felt like my brain was full of ideas earlier this week, while I was at work of course, and then January 6th happened. As I write this, I still feel as if this were all very surreal. So, what better topic talk about than: surrealism.
When real life seems dream-like, we say it’s surreal. There have been times in my life, though few and far between, where reality certainly didn’t feel like reality. The events unfold in front of me, us, and we just don’t know what to do. Or, we realize that there is nothing we can do about the event at hand, and so we go do something else.
When surrealism threatens, it’s time to back up and do some grounding. Touch something solid. Remind yourself of who you are, where you are, and what day of the week it is. And then, do something to switch your brain to something else. That usually means shutting down social media.
This week I’ve turned off social media, though I still appear active (hooray for scheduling posts). I’ve pulled out the art supplies. I’ve been making stock. I’ve been reading books. I’ve been working out.
Whatever 2021 has in store for the world, I hope that you stay grounded.
What do you do to be sure you’re in the here-and-now?
The Amusing Muse is student, office ninja, and chief sidewalk shoveler. She has spent much of the last five months up to her eyeballs in textbooks and spreadsheets. She will spend much of the next five months doing the same. She is hopeful that she will sneak in a few posts during that time.
Musings of the Amusing Muse 
As much as I am on that down hill side of life when you are suppose to dislike winter and move to Florida, or Arizona, I find comfort in asking my dog if she would like to go for a walk and seeing her spin her tail in excitement while I move toward my winter garments hanging by the door. Then we head out through the woods where she investigates every nook and cranny under fallen trees and old stumps. No cars or people noises. No man made noises other than my foot steps. My Bernise’s hips begin to wag with her tail as she picks of the scent of a recently passed otter and I smile at the tracts left behind as it slid instead of walked. Down through the woods we wander, slowly toward the lake below. This is a secure time of the year where I have no fear of her falling through the two feet of ice that covers the water below. She will explore the shoreline and check for places where muskrats have been coming and going, and the foxes have been looking for a meal. The lake is a tranquil place for us to hang out. Sort of our Walden’s Pond. It is a small lake of about 90 acres that we share with no one except the critters that live there. A benefit of living in the middle of a vast forest, no people. People are the cause of just about everything that upsets me, and creates the chaos. Hanna and I become void of all of that on our walks.
I still live in the last century, and that to has its benefits. No social media except for your posts. Not a member of Facebook, Twitter, or others. Still do not own a cell phone. My phone still has a cord. I do not read the news other than my local outlet, and that is mainly to see who died that I know. And with that I get the headlines of events like what has just happened. I sometimes think I would be much better off if I didn’t read either. But then… Wanna go for a walk? Spinning tail!
DAVE!!! I have missed you. I’m glad, like the woodchuck in my backyard, that you have popped up to say hello.
Still no dogs here, but I hope we adopt one or two (I’m hoping for two) in a year or so. We have a small pond dug now, which is presently frozen over, but this summer we hope to expand it. The wildlife jumps or crawls under the fence to visit it already. The goats are nonplussed by this development.
While we’ve not made it up to your neck of the woods, from all you’ve told me of it, and the photos, I know it to be a lovely, peaceful place. We’re a little bit busier around here, but that’s okay for now.
I have found myself burying my head in work . . . simply trying to do anything to keep myself from just refreshing my feeds.
Yep. Hence my stepping away. I felt my body react to the news feed as if I weren’t on medication to control anxiety. No bueno. Since I’m trying to be wiser as I get older, stepping away from the onslaught was a smart thing for me.
I go outside to tend the critters. Cleaning stalls, hauling manure to the pile, feeding the very NEEDY cats and trying to remember to take my phone so I get pictures of the frost. Rather glad I don’t have to converse with lots of people cause I am not normally confrontational. Would find it hard to not point out how wrong ’45’ is!!
Frost and cats are important things to document. So it hauling manure. 😉