Do you have typical
days, when the pattern of the previous day
is repeated almost identically,
like wallpaper ? Can you remember
all details of the pattern? Here's one of
mine.
Got up about 10
am when the phone rang. I usually set the
alarm clock for an optimistic 7:30 but since
I rarely get to bed before 3 or 4 am, when
it rings I switch it off, reasoning that
I deserve another couple of hours. Mornings
are something I would like to be better acquainted
with and enjoy the benefits
of more often. My mornings are blurry,
foggy, indecisive. Decisions like: should
I turn on the computer or have breakfast
loom unresolved. Breakfast won today
so I shuffled to the kitchen wearing pyjamas
and red bathrobe - this is a very old mumsy
robe which I must get rid of. Something
jazzier and more morning-friendly is required,
as long as it doesn't have a belt. I hate
belted robes so don't get me one if you're
thinking of it.
Breakfast is two wholewheat
mini-pitta (from Marks & Spencer)
toasted in the toaster then spread with unsalted
butter and a couple of slices of Emmental.
An apple, a clementine, a cup of maté,
no sugar or honey. While consuming this petit
déjeuner I read yesterday's newspaper,
the Independent. Because my morning brain
is foggy, I read everything, even if I'm
not interested. I have been known to read
the advertisements for cars, which
I have no interest in whatsoever. Droning
in my blurry consciousness is a robot voice
which sounds, I'm afraid, like Stephen Hawking,
insisting that I should stop this robotic
behaviour and Get On With The Day.
Eventually I obey and
shuffle to the bathroom. No, first I
turn on the computer to check email
and to find out if there are any
comments here on the blog. Well, overnight
somebody in another time zone might have
commented, innit? Bugger, no
new comments. Quick peek at my stats:
not much traffic there either. Shit.
But wait: the stats say I've had 699 visitors
so far this month - 699 and October has
just begun! That's more people than I've
met in my entire life, probably. Okay
maybe it's not 699 visitors but 699 visits. Even
if it's only 300 people that's still
more real people than I actually
know. So what if they don't
comment? They have visited this space
and I should be gleeful. I am gleeful.
I make a couple of administrative phone
calls.Then I put some laundry
in the washing machine. Then I go in
the bathroom.
Bathroom business
takes quite a while. I need to stand in the shower
for at least ten minutes even though
that's terribly wasteful, ecologically speaking,
because only hot water running down the back
of my neck dispels the brain
fog. I dress in my painting clothes, old
striped purple top and blue no-Yoga Yoga
trousers and then it's face-the-face time:
in magnifying mirror on bedroom window-sill
I examine my morning mug and adjust whatever
can be adjusted, which is not much. A
bit of concealer under the eyes, some plucking
of stray hairs, lipstick. Now
I'm ready for the day. It's
about 2 pm.
I go upstairs to my
studio and confront The Painting (DNA/Prism/Frames
of Reference). I stand back and examine what
still needs to be done. While
I'm working I notice how much painting ressembles
carpentry or construction in general. All
about fitting this into that, balancing,
assessing, eliminating, concealing, revealing.
It's not glamorous or inspirational, it's
just work - if some mystery or chemistry
subsequently occurs between viewer and
finished canvas, that's a bonus. I
work until about 5 pm then
go downstairs and make coffee, eat a couple
of biscuits and a clementine. Quick look
at email then back upstairs. More work
on the painting until daylight starts to
fade. Very annoyed that the days are getting
shorter. Have to stop, the colours are wrong
under electric light. The painting still
needs more work, I'll do it tomorrow. It's
about 7 pm.
I start preparing dinner,
my only real meal of the day. I've got some
organic beef and a lot of vegetables. I rarely
eat beef but when I do, I like to make a
hearty dish and tonight a casserole suits
the approach of winter. I'm a good cook,
if I say so myself, unschooled but creative
within a limited range. Occasionally I'll
follow a recipe but mostly I improvise, throwing
together flavours I like. Turn the oven on
to 200C and while it heats up, sauté the
beef chunks in a bit of olive oil with a
chopped red onion, garlic, chopped ginger,
a red pepper. Add spices: cumin, coriander,
thyme, black pepper, salt. A dash of red
wine and stir on high heat until the meat
is well-browned. The oven is ready so
transfer the contents of the pan into a
deep earthenware pot, add more red wine
then pile in the rest of the chopped vegetables:
carrots, new potatoes, parsnips, courgette,
baby corn. Put the lid on the pot and bung
the thing in the oven. It will take an hour
and a half/two hours. Meanwhile I nibble
a few black olives and drink cold coffee
in a tall glass with ice cubes and a dash
of port, the real Portuguese Port from Porto,
a recent gift. I don't know if my mixture
is a proper drink but it tastes good.
Back to the computer
to look at email again, write a few replies,
browse some blogs, then begin writing this
blog post. Around 9:30 pm the delicious smell
says my dinner is ready. I add some quickly
boiled fresh peas to the mix and ladle out
a very generous helping of my casserole.
It is exquisite, of course. Half a glass
of red wine remains in the bottle so I drink
it. A clementine is my dessert. End of food
for today. Washing up can wait until
morning.
I come back to the
Mac and move the August and September
blog posts to my archive. It is now five
past 1 am on October 13 and I think I will
go to bed unless I decide to add a picture
to this post and then maybe browse some
blogs.
This was my typical
day that was. How typical was yours?
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6 comments:
I find cold showers better for dispelling brain fog - perhaps not 10 minute ones, though.
Often thought about writing "a day" myself. Might do it.
Cold shower? Aaaargh! That would send me straight back to bed. Hot is good, cold bad.
Writing this was a revealing exercise. Makes me anxious to change the pattern.
Am curious to read yours, Dominic.
I'm always on the lookout for brainfog-cures myself. I realised soon after I commented before, I should have said "one can always head off to the Heath, to the lido". I've never been in, but it looks like a cure for brain fog if ever I saw one, especially this time of year :)
I'll have a think about writing about a day...
In brain-foggy mornings I wouldn't have the energy to walk up to the Heath nor to the lido and certainly no desire to plunge into icy water - I'd rather keep the brain fog! You take the Heath, Dominic, I'll take the hot shower.
I pretty much am awake by 6am or before depending on the day. I read news first thing, have breakfast which is usually eggs, thin toast and coffee and then writing which doesn't always go well but it's the morning. I do check the livestock somewhere in there, sometimes go outside for yard work which right now means blowing oak leaves off driveway and grass. I am kind of flat right now and so the afternoon is reading a book and thinking haphazardly about dinner which might be chicken thighs tonight, cumin, pepper, garlic, onion and tomatilla sauce then later, after the chicken is tender, tortillas, rice or pasta depending on the mood, usually sheep cheese and currently baby carrots to nibble on. In the evening we generally watch a movie, a new netflix if it happens to be in, then maybe a little chatting with a friend on messenger if she happens to come online, but pretty early to bed as in before 10. I am also feeling the need to shake this all up though.
Rain,thanks for the report. Your day sounds a lot healthier, more active and outdoorsy than mine. Haven't been to bed before 1 or 2 am in years but keep meaning to try being an early riser.It would change my life-pattern entirely.
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