Anatomy of a Day

Ev’ning

Beautiful sunset glows
Time has wast’d away
Soon there’ll be winter snows
Outdoors I shan’t stay
Copyright BurkinaSciSteven 2010

I’ve been trying to take advantage of the natural beauty available off my lovely back porch during these past few weeks. While on my site visit, I spent 7 hours a day reading on my front porch, surrounded by animal noises and the green espoir (hope) of freshly planted crops. Now that I’m back in AmericaLand, I have a tendency to spend most of my day indoors surrounded by Wi-Fi and climate control. I don’t feel that I’m wasting my days, but I do miss that extra dimension. Sure, I catch a few minutes of time here when I let the cats out, there when I walk to my car but it can hardly compare.

I usually get up around 8 am, spend some time drinking coffee, reading the newspaper and easing into the day. Next, I spend a few hours on la Red (the Net en español) reading blog posts and newspaper stories – I hit up the New York Times, Le Monde, El País and amuse myself by attempting to read a few headlines from Die Welt. Lunch comes all too soon and is a pleasant interruption. Maman comes home to chat about the day so far, what we’ll do that afternoon and how spoiled the cats are. My last few PT appointments have been in the early afternoon which gives me a chance to stretch out a bit.

Une fois rentré (once home), I read a few chapters from An American Tragedy(Dreiser), Half Broke Horses (Jeannette Walls) or Lettres philosophiques (Voltaire). Normally I enjoy the comfort of my bed, but reading works as a pleasant outdoor activity for me. The antics of birds and rabbits are still fun to watch, though remarkably less so now that they’ve figured out that the cat is too spoiled and fat to pose any serious danger. Then that 5 minute Facebook break has turned into an hour of snooping and clicking on various Wikipedia links. A few days a week before dinner, I like to me promener (walk around, stroll) with my mother in our local park. Birds call, soccer moms power-walk and youth unencumbered by jobs or homework congregate in the street to conduct loud bonding rituals (yelling, chasing, posturing).

Evening is a time of reckoning, when we stop and take stock of our day. Was it joyful/sad/productive/restorative/unsatisfying? When you don’t have a lot of scheduled activities, it’s easy to while the day away and then feel guilty at its bittersweet end. Twenty minutes of outdoor time is my minimum requirement for “fine day,” as the status quo around here is luckily “good day.”

Wishing you all "fine days" and Happy Halloween!