Dear Reader:

One of my “old” blog posts written in ChapelofHopeStories (Part 1 2010-2014) popped up as I was looking for an old photo of someone from 2013. As I was idly going through old posts…suddenly one post on “moodling” jumped out….and I realized…that was what my problem was lately…I needed more “moodle” time.

Tommy and Kaitlyn are planning most of their own wedding (and keeping it quite small) to save money for a honeymoon trip to Ireland, including Dingle, Ireland, of course. When Kaitlyn sends me itineraries and photos of different places they want to see while there…memories of the 2014 trip Anne and I took to Ireland… have started coming back to me with such fond and funny recollections. *(The lounge overlooks Dingle Bay)

*Kaitlyn found this lovely B&B in Dingle where she and Tommy will stay …It comes with three pet ‘live-in residents’…Mollie the cat  (as seen in the photo) then there is Rio the dog, and the Three Sisters (three hens)…Irish hospitality at its best!

They are going in May and I told Kaitlyn that this would probably be a good month since Anne and I discovered June is hay-bailing season for the Irish. So, in addition to, the typical sheep and cattle crossings…in June you find yourself behind many trucks filled with hay….precariously close to falling off the back or sides…and the truck, itself, precariously close to taking up both lanes of traffic!

All this ‘happy idling’ of thoughts (moodling) came back to me when I pulled out all my tax information to start getting the information organized last evening. I found myself, instead, sweeping my den, putting clothes and dishes in washing machines, and dish washers, watering plants, changing sheets….any chore seemed preferable to tax preparation.

*Joan…I also pulled out my adult coloring book you gave me with those gorgeous pen painted markers….so soothing on the nerves!

On the bright side, however…the thought of tax preparation brought back to mind the word “moodling” and I was so happy because I love using fun, interesting words. (and because I remembered the word from 2014…quite an achievement!)

Here is an excerpt I found on the word (moodling) that I found quite relate-able.

…“Moodling, which I learned from Brenda Ueland’s marvelous book, “If You Want to Write*,” is a precious gift we have sacrificed in the name of accomplishment. Children know how to moodle; they are natural virtuosos at it.

You never see a child look up from his blocks to say, “Man, I really should work on my taxes soon.” You never see a young child stop to question the motivation of a game or joke.Children, precious moodlers that they are, have enormous powers of concentration.

They take their world very seriously, playing school with more truth and conviction than a doctoral candidate. All of us were once moodlers, whether we admit it or not. But the art of moodling is drummed out of us pretty quickly.

An adult will tell us, “Stop all that silly daydreaming. Why don’t you go out and do something worthwhile?” The teachers will tell us, “Don’t waste your time with such nonsense. The world is not a game.” Being adaptive creatures, we learn to stop our moodling in order to be accepted, taken seriously. We put away our imaginary friends. We close the coloring book. We become…grownups.

And in that transition from Divine Foolishness to Productive Adulthood, we lose something profound. We lose the opportunity to see a castle in a pile of backyard twigs. We relinquish our birthright to play, to fun and laughter. In essence, we become ponderous automatons, more concerned with making a living than with living itself.

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So tomorrow I am going to compromise…finish getting my tax information organized and ready for my tax preparer, call and make the appointment like a “real” adult…Afterwards I will go celebrate by getting a large ice cream cone and then start cleaning out the wheelbarrow to make room for 2017’s spring fairy garden land. Ah…a wonderful moodling day!

So until tomorrow…Take time to moodle and doodle and let your imagination take you away from adult concerns…in other words…Let’s go play today!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Joan said she was in a reflective (“moodling”) mood last evening remembering their first family vacation trip with ‘little’ John and Michele…and now they are watching John and Mandy take Eva Cate and Jakie on family trips…a lot of nostalgia and (as I told Joan) history repeating itself with the similarities.

John and Michele                                  Jakie and Eva Cate

*Speaking of John and Jake….Today is National Tater Tot Day and both those boys LOVE their Tater Tots…You must take Jake out and get some today in celebration, John!

Today is, also of course, Groundhog Day, but regardless of what Phil says…Boo predicts the “elevator” weather for eight weeks and then an unseasonable warmer spring and hot summer! Just saying…How about ‘dem apples Phil. Let’s see who’s right! The challenge is on!