Sunday, April 19, 2009

Fresh Air

It was such a productive day here. I spent about an hour and a half this morning just putting away clutter, throwing out clutter and reducing piles. I would pick up one thing and not put it down until I had dealt with it. Then I would move on to another. And another. I threw out some very old stuff that I thought I was attached to but in the past year what really matters to me has changed. Then the garden got about two hours of raking and cleaning out. I managed to clean out the perennial beds at the back of the house, re-set the fencing around them and the same for the raspberry bushes. I got the table de-tarped and the shovels and hockey sticks away. The rest of the day was spent at the park. The sun felt hot enough that I put some sunscreen on both of us; a friend of mine got quite a bad sunburn on her face last week at the same park in just an hour so I was scared into it. In his six years Riley has yet to have a sunburn. It's something I take quite seriously since I grew up in an era before sunscreen and with the lifestyle of playing outside all day in the summer, I would burn over and over just about every day. I have blistered, peeled and freckled more than I care to remember. And with fair skin, a mother with a grade 4 melanoma, and my own personal history of a benign type of skin cancer that necessitated plastic surgery just above my eye, I have reason to be a little bit cautious, maybe overly so. I have to weigh the odds of the chemicals in the sunscreen versus the chance of getting a sunburn and I've been through all the literature, and all the latest reports. *sigh* We can't we just enjoy running outside, skin bare to the elements? My dermatologist wants me to wear a 60 spf every day, rain, shine or snowstorm regardless whether I'm outside or in. That I find excessive and feel I'm educated enough to make some of my own decisions about that. Such a rebel.

I do like the feeling of having worked outside in the fresh air because I resent being cooped up for so long, layers of clothes covering my body, feet encased, not breathing. There is such a sense of satisfaction when one task is done, standing back and admiring the order (which, of course never lasts long in a garden). I neglected to bring out any of the lawn chairs in case I would be tempted to plant my self in one and then not get up. It's been done once or twice. So I'm a nice kind of tired tonight. I really feel aired out.

Guess who is back? Bono showed up to do a little break-dance for me.

4 comments:

Snap said...

Sounds like a wonderful day with Bono! There is nothing like being outside in fresh air. Here -- with no ozone warning! I can sunburn in the shade ... arggggggh. Have to take extra vitamin D.

Beth said...

I too shudder when I think of the sunburns I had as a child – and have lathered gallons of sunscreen on my kids throughout the years. At this point, I can only hope they continue to do it themselves.
Any thoughts of hiring yourself out as a de-clutterer?? I could use some help here!
So nice of Bono to drop by to entertain you! Love the shades.

Sherry Goodloe said...

You have inspired me to continue with my de-cluttering next week when I'm off work! I'll give myself a time limit each morning and then drive to the beach, park, or just go outside and take a walk each day.

Sherry said...

Sounds like a productive day -- and the weather being lovely enough to enjoy the outdoors.

We so often take our skin for granted...and you've learned how easily we are "fooled". Protecting our skin year round isn't what comes naturally to us born before we were aware of the dangers of the sun but we are learning how valuable that protection is.