Springtime Chores

By Paul Roberts

Chore: noun

 a routine task, especially a household one; an unpleasant but necessary task

One of the categories that I include in my weekly newsletter post, in addition to my creative outlets with Grow Me a Story, Mountain View Congregational Church, and the Sixth Street Theater, is currently titled Spring Prep Chores. Not that long ago it was Winter Chores, which I consider to be much more chore like. When I took care of one my spring chores today it was anything but an unpleasant, routine task.

Our covered patio has two distinct seasons. In winter I use old, spare windows and wood planks to create our own enclosed little world for our portable hot tub, which doubles during the winter months as a warm water bed for Clark and Leo, our two cats. The hot tub was taken down sometime in March, along with a good portion of the temporary walls, but it wasn’t until Carol gave me the go ahead today that I was able to make the change to our spring/summertime look. 

I’m not used to the wide open look the patio has had in the brief time in between seasons. It’s interesting, but bare, sparse, visually bland. My chore today, if I can call it that, was to take all the indoor plants that I have nurtured throughout the cold winter months and move them to the patio. It is work, and I could consider it a chore, a routine task that must be done. But I chose to view it as pleasure. As creativity. It is never the same, even though some similarities exist from year to year. There is an explosion of life from one hour to the next as I move the plants to their new home. And they love it! I enjoy watching the plants throughout the summer as they turn toward the ever growing sunlight, there leaves drawn to the life giving warmth.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty blaaagh about writing my blog. I was tired, headachy, unmotivated. I was feeling like some of my plants. I needed a shot of spring. Moving them outside is a risk. It may be too soon for some of them. The summer heat may be too much for some of them. But I, like my plants, need a change sometimes, a challenge, an opportunity to grow.

They look beautiful out there. Maybe someone will say they feel the same way about something creative I have done. If I’m going to bloom, I need to take the risk of getting outside and experiencing the real world.

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What can you do to get your creativity out into some sunshine? Be brave, be bold, and share with our creative community. 

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