Wouldn't it be nice if the world worked perfectly to fit our own little ideas of our own little schedules?

Would it?

In a perfect world, I would be completely recovered from the bad head cold I came down with several weeks ago. I'd be free of the sinus infection that followed. My voice (that I lost last week) would be healed in full. My house would be free of clutter. I would have had enough energy after teaching all day yesterday to swim laps last night instead of collapsing into bed with a pizza and laptop streaming tv shows. I would have woken up between six and seven this morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed. I would have known when the painters and maintenance supervisor were scheduled. I would have left the house in time to arrive for my morning appointment on time. The download link I sent out to students this morning would have worked correctly. The electricity would not have gone out and my computer would not have shut down while I was trying to solve the download link problem. Just as I was sitting down to write, the leaf blowers would not have started up outside my windows. Um... and so forth.

It's 5 pm and I feel like I'm just getting started. Speaking of which, a few minutes ago, I started out writing about schedules and time and now find that I'm writing about a perfect world. 

The facts are that I did wake up this morning (I could end this sentence right there) in plenty of time for everything that needed to happen. (Although I have not yet done my morning Kundalini Yoga set.)  I was ten minutes late to my morning appointment (but I made it). I swam half a mile mid-day. The maintenance supervisor solved the mold problem. The painter has almost finished her work. I solved the download link problem. The "landscapers" are almost finished. And everything is probably going to be all right.

I don't deal well with chaos and clutter. That being said, like it or not, life tumbles along amidst chaos and clutter. You never know what's going to happen next. 

For example, last Saturday, I went out for a walk around the neighborhood in absolutely perfect weather. On my way back, about three blocks from home, a single storm cell flew in with serious horizontal lightning, the air turned orange and then green, I practically climbed the fence of the first neighbor I knew and begged for a lift home. Fortunately for me, he dropped everything and gave me a lift. By the time I'd run into the house and turned on the lights, I looked out to see that enough hail had fallen to mimic a snow storm. The roofs, cars, parking lot, lawn, everything was covered in white. You never know what's going to happen next. 

While I was thinking of writing this post two weeks ago, I was really struggling with the sinus infection, low energy and a hoarse throat while working pretty darn hard. I kept thinking of that Winston Churchill quote,

and while continuing to think about writing this post (instead of writing it!), this aphorism came to mind,

And so I am. Keeping on going. Putting one foot in front of another. I mean, I'm not in hell by any stretch of the imagination. It just feels like things are chaotic. And they are! At the last minute this morning, I pulled towels and toiletries and whatnot out of the bathroom, moved my kitchen table and grabbed my coats and bags off the wall rack then threw everything in miscellaneous piles in the living and bed rooms then ran out the door to my car. Now the painter has just left and, though she did the best cleanup she could, I have to go back in and mop up sanding dust. I'm going to do that, now, while the daylight is still with me.

I'm not sure what this post is about, exactly. It seems to be part venting about not very interesting or important stuff, and part just going with the flow. As it happens, as it happens.
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I mean, I know all too well that what I've described is simply incidental living and nothing compared to true chaos and upheaval. Not to discount or minimize in any way my own traumas, but even those experiences pale compared to what others are experiencing or have experienced.

Life just is. What's that other adage? Life is what happens while you're making other plans?

It was actually a pretty good day. The weather was pleasant. Some problems were solved. I have a few more jobs to tackle.  Then I have the great fortune of laying down in my own bed with my furry little beast and drifting off to sleep, perchance to dream.

Right now, I'm going to mop up that drywall and paint dust.

I swear to god, if I wait any longer to start this blog and write this post, I'm going to pop! Every time I intend to restart my blogging life, my online writing and posting, my whatever this is I'm trying to express, something comes up and offers interference. I have succumbed to that interference so far but no longer.

One week ago, shy one hour, I was rear-ended by a distracted 22-year old and my life turned into smashed cars, pain and suffering and doctors visits and hours on the phone with insurance agents and arranging for and picking up rental cars and adjusting to new circumstances and intending that all of this interruption and challenge is a blessing in disguise. Yes, this is a blessing in disguise although I'll only recognize the blessing in retrospect.

That's how life works. The strikes and folds, the bends and curves of whoa! this roller coaster our souls have bought a ticket to.

But moving back a bit, had I not been rear ended while waiting patiently with my brake lights and turn signals on, with my spirit uplifted and motivation intact, I would have started this a week ago. But, to be honest, there have been interruptions of different sorts arising for months that I've allowed to hold me back.

If I'd moved through any or all of those interruptions, I would have said, I started this year in the throes of an illustration project for which I was also hired and charged with designing the book and managing the project—an illustration project of 60 fruits and vegetables. It was a mighty task and I loved it—the challenges and victories alike.

Here's a glimpse of what the end product looks like:

"Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life."
~Oscar Wilde, 'The Decay of Lying: An Observation', 1889 

In late spring, as I completed the illustration phase and moved into design and project management , I found a few trays of organic tomato and pepper seedling on top of the trash cans at my apartment project. 

No, no, I thought. This will never do! I rescued the seedlings, adopted some out-of-date recycling bins which I filled with good dirt and started a garden project outside my bedroom window. One thing led to another...

"At first, art imitates life. Then life will imitate art.
​Then life will find its very existence from the arts."
—Fyodor Dostoevsky