Just enjoying pottering

Aveline

I annoy myself. When I'm busy I wish I could have a day to myself to just potter or not do much at all. However, when I do have such a day I complain about having nothing to do. Can't win and I'm only in competition with myself!

Love this! And I know just what you mean!

Love pottering and because we both still work my days off are precious. I’m eighteen months off retiring and look forward to it and more pottering.

Twig14

We are currently attending hospital appointments for my DH who has Cancer. Plus my 104 year old mother’s care home. I wake up in the morning and would love a day just pottering around it would be sheer bliss. I’ve also got an operation myself on Friday so hopefully post op I can just have a nice few days recovering. I hope we get some better weather and would love to sit out and enjoy the garden. Make the most of your time potteting

My word, that’s a lot to think about and deal with.
I just wanted to wish you the very best of luck for your op and I hope you get some rest after that. Surely, after an op, you simply must!
Hope your husband stays as well as possible too. 🤞

I notice that I can stand at the kitchen window watching birds faffing about in my tiny garden for long long minutes. I did this as a child …then life got busy for 60 years or so.
Second childhood?

We all need ‘me time’

Thinking of you Twig14.
You have a lot of stress just now. I hope the op is straightforward and that once it's over you have some "recharging of batteries" time.

I'm a potterer. I go out into the garden, not to do anything in particular, and an hour or more later I'm still there. A weed here, something to deadhead there - and so it goes on. When Reggie Perrin returned from the dead and visited his wife incognito, he said he did 'guttering and perching' and clarified this by adding 'Perching on gutters'. It's exactly what I used to say to my late DH when I disappeared into the garden.

We are currently attending hospital appointments for my DH who has Cancer. Plus my 104 year old mother’s care home. I wake up in the morning and would love a day just pottering around it would be sheer bliss. I’ve also got an operation myself on Friday so hopefully post op I can just have a nice few days recovering. I hope we get some better weather and would love to sit out and enjoy the garden. Make the most of your time potteting

We run our small family business from home so it’s quite difficult not to be involved. My DH, 70, works more or less full time I, 72, declared myself semi retired but usually do a few hours and fill in for holidays etc. Our youngest DS works with us and older DS’ lovely partner also but part time and we give her paid time off when the DGC are on holiday and I usually have to step up a bit more then. As I did when DS and his partner had their first baby earlier this year and he had a month off, our 5th DGC but first for 11 years.
Last year we had 1 week abroad and a few days away in this country plus a couple of days at Christmas. So far this year we have had a week visiting DD and family in Spain. Sometimes it’s difficult even to sort out lunch with my lovely sisters and brothers in law.
It sometimes feels very frustrating at others I feel blessed that us and our children and grandchildren are healthy, have homes, plenty of food and we can take them out for something to eat now and then. DH and I are members of a community choir and have met some lovely people and have a great laugh every week and the odd performance. We babysat our new DGD for an hour this morning and all of us (except the Spanish contingent) are going out for brunch tomorrow so life is pretty good really.

ayse

I’m looking forwards to having some pottering time. Tomorrow and until September it’s very busy. One DD is moving on Friday and I’m doing childcare for her Mon-Weds next week. DH had a cataract operation today and will be recovering. Once the youngest break-up it’s more childcare. (The are 9 right now but are very different and do loads of arguing). Then August visit family in Bristol, more childcare and camping holiday. Then A BREAK until school goes back. Then regular childcare and a week of holiday on The Broads. Then maybe I can potter on days I’m not child-caring.

Whew! I feel quite tired atm!

And you haven’t even started yet! 😀

I’ve been widowed for 3 years, and moved to a tiny house which is fine for me. I have settled into a loose routine of relaxed pottering at home all weekend (avoiding crowds and screaming children), doing house stuff on Mon/Tues, group stuff on Wed/Thurs and solo outings on a Friday. I can honestly say I have found contentment with my life now.

I am so pleased I read this thread. I have only been retired for a year and am still at the stage where I feel very guilty for not doing anything at all. All your posts have helped me realise this is the time to listen to your body, heart and head and do exactly what you like whenever you like. Thank you all - I am totally vindicated in my doing-nothingness!

There is nothing wrong with pottering , you need to have some down time especially if you have had a stressful period in your life.It is lovely to chill out, make the most of it while you can .It will soon be the school holidays and we will be helping with the grandchildren.

The days are full of nice things now - grandchildren visiting and zooming both happening this weekend, gardening and yesterdays rain has revived a favourite dahlia, piano practice if I get round to it - I'm proudly tackling Grade 3 this autumn - writing - another chapter done this morning, don't hold your breath, it's taking me ages. I might ask DH to go walking by the sea later on, but only if we both feel like it... is this tiffling? If so, I like it.

It’s perfectly normal, gives time to reflect, and chill out.

So long it’s not long term absolutely, no issue.

ant? Where did that come from? 😁. At, that should say.

I agree with everything that has been posted. I enjoy a mixture of pottering ant home, doing little, and going off to visit places for days out, plus holidays. Mostly, I’m happy doing all these things, yet sometimes I feel like Aveline, and when I’m pottering wish I was busy “doing” and when I’m busy “doing”, wish I was pottering. What a contrary creature I am sometimes 😂😂.

Super photos NotSpaghetti.

NotSpaghetti what a lovely thing to do!
I love Italy and so I just might just have a little potter around there today!
Thank you.

blue14 I sometimes potter round places I love - courtesy of Google.

It's a lovely thing to do. After posting the photos I've been all over Southern Italy!
Not sure it's really pottering!

I was the most creative I have ever been before or since during our enforced Covid imprisonment in Australia. Lots of sewing, cooking, making things in general. Sadly, I have gone back to ‘normal’ now, can’t be bothered.

What beautiful photos NotSpaghetti.
I'm very, very happy pottering around my home doing 'nothing.'
However those photos get me yearning for a holiday away!

GrannyIvy, much like you I have found it hard to slow down, I only have one day, today, so far I’ve done several loads of washing, cleared up a bit, read a couple of chapters of my book, ordered something online, now I’m going into one of our local towns to leisurely look at fabric samples.
I enjoy it, but I know everyone at work will be having to cover my jobs, so I do feel a bit guilty

I’m not sure why I posted this thread really. I’ve been retired 4 years and it has taken until now not to feel guilty if I am not rushing around and very focussed! I do have a fair bit of childcare to do but as both at school a lot less. Tiffling is what I call doing a bit of reading mixed with bit of cleaning and clearing up, dead heading the roses and small garden jobs just a bit of this and bit of that. I guess just pottering really. When first retired I need to be out and about meeting friends and trips here and there and everywhere. I had my grandson one or two days a week. I have now learnt to relax at long last and not feel guilty having time to chill. Just happy with my own company and not a formal list of jobs. Tmrw is another day….

I love my pottering, a catch all for doing absolutely what I want to do. I live alone, widowed, have done for 9 years after a whole lifetime of being busy with other people

I have several very good hobbies and love my cycling, which gets me out and about with exercise. I `did` the NT properties in the early alone days, it does rub-in the fact of having to wander solo so I don`t bother any more even though I have a lifetime card. U3A is not for me, chit chat about nothing in particular, I became good at socialising during endless dinner parties and business functions. My choice to do whatever I want now, I either get to enjoy alone-life or I don`t, so I make sure that I enjoy my pottering and hardly ever have a down day

Gosh all these posts sum up how I feel!

Much as I enjoyed my last job, being retired has meant that I now get to fit in a fair amount of pottering in between the bizziness 😂

I’m quite sociable and enjoy spending time with friends and family but need it to be interspersed with nothingness IYSWIM !

I can feel overwhelmed with too much going on with calls on my time left, right and centre so am careful to plan a couple of days with nothing in my diary and wait and see what turns up…something invariably does!