Friday, February 3, 2012

Thankful Thursdays {Do You Piddle?}

Recently I was reading a magazine article that talked about the lost art of "piddling". I had almost forgotten what the word meant. The article went on to mention what it means to "piddle". 
After reading it I had to ask myself, "Am I a piddler?"
You see piddling isn't something you do because you HAVE to do it. It's not something you do because it produces an end result. It's something you do for the sheer joy of doing.
To piddle away time.
My husband is a piddler.
He often piddles in the garage with his knives and sandpaper often carving and sanding and carving and sanding. 
I see no end result. He simply does it because he can.
He spends hours out here, while I go in and out taking out the trash, bringing in mops and brooms, taking them back out, bringing in plants, etc. 
He just looks up smiles and piddles away.
I envy him.
I don't think I know how to piddle.
I inherited this inability from my  mother.
But wait, does window shopping count?
She loves to window shop.
But I don't ever remember my mother just piddling away time.
She was always doing something "productive". 
But is it really THAT necessary. I mean to always be "productive".
In this electronic, urgent, age, we are almost always connected (or disconnected) by our gadgets: I-pads, e-readers, I-phones, blogging, facebooking, etc., that we have lost the art of just "being". 

 

 image: clip art

 
Interesting and simple concept - Piddling.
As I read the article, I begin to examine myself a little more.
I like to garden. But that leads to something. It produces something. 
I know! I love watering. I love to hand water with the hose!! Eureka! That's it! I know, I know, it's a necessity especially in the summer, but we have a sprinkler system and yet I love to go outside and just sit and hold the hose and water the lawn. I spray the trees, and I just stand outside and I just am.
It's so soothing. The fine spray of the water glistening across the darkness of the sky.






 image source Starry Sky


 
And then it happens.
I start to make out the outlines of the different shapes like the big dipper and the little dipper. And I lose myself in the vast darkness of the night sky.
I guess you can call it piddling.
Because it truly is enjoyable and I can spend hours by myself just looking at the sky.
I'm a piddler afterall :)


Have a great Friday!


Patty








inspired by this article in Southern Living Magazine Rick Bragg "Piddling" Article

Would you like to comment?

  1. You're going to have to teach me how to piddle. I don't think I know how. :) I tried attaching a link to your photography button and it still didn't work. Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I call it "puttering". I kind of wander around the house, idly picking things up and putting them away, not really aware of any purpose. My mother did the same thing.

    ReplyDelete

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