My darling daughter asked me yesterday how I was getting on with my ‘Sixty for Sixty’ list. Not very well, as it happens. I started the list, I stared at the list, I became overwhelmed by the list and set it to one side, deciding I didn’t need the pressure of coming up with sixty things to do when I am sixty because, well, who needs that kind of shizzle as they enter the elder phase of their life?
Of course, by darling daughter asking me this question, I immediately began thinking about the list again. This is what happens. I have a good idea, I lose faith in the good idea, someone shows interest in the progress of the good idea and I am at once invigorated anew by the good idea. I think this is grossly unfair, this going round in circles approach to life but it has dogged me since forever and is, apparently and according to philosophers, a ‘thing’ to make you learn lessons. Pah to that!
Anyway, I was pondering this ‘Sixty for Sixty’ thing again today and have realised, that by some weird form of cosmic osmosis, I’ve already come up with a few more ideas to add to the list! One of them is to become more proficient at playing the piano keyboard. A little practice every day and that is sure to happen, oui et n’est ce pas? I bought myself a music stand (purple) on Thursday, because my keyboard does not have a built in music stand and I was fed up with propping my music books up against the wall and them falling off the moment I hit an exciting point in whatever tune I was playing. A dedicated music stand is far more efficient.
Next, on Monday I was drawn to the Beaver Trust website because there had been an item on the news about more beavers being released into the wild to help the environment, which piqued my interest. The home page had a very amusing video clip of a beaver lost in the moment of having a jolly good scratch. Added to this that I was a big fan of the cartoon, ‘The Angry Beavers’ back in the ‘90s (darling daughter and I would do the dance and sing the song to the enormous hilarity of us both!) I was interested to learn more. These are ‘The Angry Beavers’ by the way:
And that led me to think about other wildlife charities and deciding, ‘I could donate to more wildlife charities, and become a active member to help them,’ so I did some more research - hedgehogs, dormice, bats, badgers, bees and owls - and I thought, ‘I could join one a month,’ which would spread the annual donations across the year AND this would tick another ten things off my ‘Sixty for Sixty’ list!
Only ten, I hear you say. Surely there are twelve months in the year, you numerical challenged nut-case? Yes, I would say back at ya, but I already support hares in October and butterflies in August, and I do like to keep things neat. I’ve got four more to find, but that won’t stop me signing up to a new one this coming week.
Also next week, I am going to submit my application to become a volunteer at the Festival Centre in our local town. The Festival Centre is a community run gem of a place. It contains a little cinema/ theatre, a cafe, and a series of rooms that are used by many groups and clubs providing activities such as yoga, Pilates, keep fit, children’s dance, martial arts, French language learning and U3A. It also provides a home for basic banking services. The Festival Centre relies on volunteers to keep it going so I thought I’d give it a go. Another thing to add to the list!
More ideas are beginning to brew. I might just make ‘Sixty for Sixty’ yet.
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KJ