Caught up?

Right now, Iris (our irobot) is cleaning my floors downstairs. Outside, it’s raining on my freshly mowed and trimmed grass. When Iris finishes (and I’ve had a shower and washed my hair), I will be officially caught up. Let that sink in: I will be officially caught up.

Now, I haven’t been in this position often these past several weeks. Fall brings its own unique challenges to our little homestead. Normally, we have both harvest season and leaf season happening together. This year, due to the garden being somewhat of minor failure, we just have leaf season. But leaf season alone is enough of a challenge when almost ¾ of your yard is ringed with trees. Because the wind blows typically from southwest to northeast, there’s really only half of our yard that gets the leaves. But that’s enough. Believe me, it’s enough.

Additionally, the past week or so has been busy with work for both of us, so that amps up the pressure to get caught up with four cats, a big yard and a big house. Still, there’s no mistaking it: in just a few hours, I’ll be caught up.

And just as I get caught up, we are on tap for a rainy, cold weekend. For others, this may be an ominous sign. For me? Well, it’s an opportunity to truly relax and unwind. Having no outside obligations, no travel obligations (until Monday) and a clean house means that I suddenly find myself with empty hours on a late Saturday morning. Candidly? The options are endless.

As much as I love summer and fall, there is a level of activity in those seasons (and in spring, too) that requires most of our free time. Those rare rainy, cold weekends – if combined with a clean house and a dinner that is miraculously already prepped – are simply treats.

Today, I am happily considering how I will fill those suddenly empty hours from a list of quiet activities I truly enjoy: reading a book, working a jigsaw puzzle, cooking or baking, browsing my favorite decorating sites or hanging out with my hubby and the furry ones. In truth, I will probably do all of those things this weekend. Yet, I am especially longing to work on a jigsaw puzzle.

Now, a jigsaw puzzle may not be on anyone’s list as a top activity except for perhaps within our family. We grew up with my mom periodically getting out a jigsaw puzzle. As we got older, it truly became one of our favorite winter activities. A jigsaw puzzle in the evening with a snack or (these days) a cup of warm apple cider is just a pleasant way to while away the time. There’s something incredibly calming about a jigsaw puzzle. As you look for pieces to fit, you can get lost in your own thoughts. Spend an hour and you come away with more than part of the puzzle getting filled in, a big part of your psyche has been calmed and soothed as well.

As I wait for Iris to do her work – I literally pick up all of the furniture that I can so she can get under the big stuff and do the best job possible – I know I’ve got hours before I get to the finish line. She takes awhile and once she’s done with phase one, I need to put the furniture back and then pick up the remainder of the furniture for phase two, which is admittedly much smaller and less obtrusive. When she’s done with phase two, it’s a mere few minutes before everything is back in its place. I also probably need to do a quick grocery run and the aforementioned “clean myself up”, but I have time. Right now, I am thinking about which puzzle to do.

I’ve got a stack of ‘em. Mostly, I favor landscapes that emphasize escapism: lovely gardens in summer, fall vistas with beautiful leaves and still, quiet ponds and winter scapes with snow, a fence, a barn and perhaps a snow-covered pine tree. You get the picture: as I work my puzzle, I am also escaping into a new world where everything is just right. Puzzles, to me, are the exacta of my simple peace: a calm activity and an escape into another world.

This time, I’m torn between a few: there’s the summer garden one I have yet to work but that feels more like a late February/March puzzle when I’m looking for hope for summer. Then, there’s the one with the old fashioned pickup truck in front of the country convenience store with a lake in the background and pumpkins sitting outside on the steps. That seems appropriate for now but honestly, if I look out my window, I get that vista and it’s real-life beauty. Finally, there is the Christmas-y one: it’s got a beautiful white house decorated for Christmas situated on a snowy lane with warm, yellow lights glowing from the inside. It’s way too early – and I tend to get excited for Christmas wayyyyyyy too early – but I’m leaning this way. If my goal is total escapism, this one speaks to me.

However, in a show of absolute consumerism, there is a fourth option: I can find a new puzzle. Honestly, I need to take a quick run to the grocery. There is nothing in the rule books that would prevent me from taking a quick side trip to the local department store and picking up a new – and hopefully more seasonally appropriate – puzzle. So, I’m not ruling that out either.

But the big point of this post is fairly simple: I am planning on enjoying these next few hours. Not just the act of doing a puzzle, but the act of figuring out which one to do. Not just the act of surfing my decorating sites, but deciding which site I feel like browsing. And most of all, as my husband and I plan an easy stirfry dinner and then a movie tonight, I’m anticipating that event. I am truly focused on enjoying the “now” as much as the future events that will bring me quiet joy.

So that’s all, folks, she says in a reference to Saturday morning cartoons of the past. We are all caught up here.