"A reminder helps you remember, whether it's an appointment, an acquaintance's name, or a grocery list." Vocabulary.com
I have spoken before about my various little tasks I set myself. Well in the past couple of months I gave up writing a short 'to do' list of things I would cook at least once during the week The first is always new or guru - these alternate week to week and mean that I should cook something new or from one of my old gurus - from an actual recipe that is - that week. The others are vegetarian, fish, legumes and freezer - the last meaning actually use something that has been sitting in my freezer for some time.
When I initiated this list I was all enthusiasm and tried very hard to tick them all off as done. Gradually I slipped and so in a fit of depression I decided to drop the list. After all if they are sitting there as reminders, and you don't do them, it's a sort of an admission of failure. Therefore depressing. We do not like to be reminded of our failures. Besides I thought to myself I still have them in my head so I can still aim to do them.
That doesn't work let me tell you. If they are not there looking at you accusingly then you don't do them. So today I decided to reinstate them - and you can see I have already got one tick - which made me feel good. Indeed it actually influenced my choice of what went into the using up the leftovers that went into last night's soup. The legumes were a tin of butter beans, and some frozen peas, although it could just as easily have been some lentils.
Anyway it got me to thinking about that word 'reminders' - a word that contains just about everything in your life - past, present, future, from the inconsequential to the sublime. Add another word - as most of the Urban Dictionary contributors seem to do - such as gentle, friendly, grim, and you refine it a bit. When I looked at the etymology of the word I realised that its meaning really all depends on the 're' part of it:
re- word-forming element meaning "back, back from, back to the original place;" also "again, anew, once more," also conveying the notion of "undoing" or "backward," etc." Etymonline
Which is almost two opposites in one tiny word - 'back' and 'anew'.
But enough of the abstract. Back to that diary page - then I'll go to my desktop, and kitchen.
The page - when it is new to me - is a place for messages to myself that remind me what I need to do that week, and also a reminder of what I have done. At the bottom of the page is my other 'to do' list - I'm aiming for 7 blogs this week because theoretically I have the time to do them. Two down, five to go. Whether this one will get finished today is currently - the present - an unknown - the future. So far I have done two - two ticks and two titles recorded on the days I wrote them. I have taken to doing this so that if I wanted to I could flick back and see what I have done recently - the past - a reminder of what I have done. As are the ticks.
I have also taken very recently to writing down what we had for dinner. I'm really not sure why I'm doing this - I mean how peculiar, and borderline obsessive. I think perhaps it's in case I need to remember for any reason whilst writing a blog.
4 walks - it's all I do in the way of exercise and even so I don't always achieve it - mostly because of the weather, but sometimes because of lack of time. The last 'to do' is to fast - hopefully only once a week but if I stray over the magic 60kg then it's twice - or at least an extra half day of fasting. I know it's a bit obsessive - but it does keep me at a reasonable weight. If I did not check on a regular basis then I would balloon to dumpiness in no time and it would take ages to take it off.
But this is a diary, and so, of course, it has appointments - this week - book group today and Zac - my hairdresser, Thursday Italian. If this kind of thing does not get written down then it doesn't happen. I know I can do it all digitally, but for me a diary that sits on my desk at my side reminding me, is much better. Besides if I have chosen my diary well - not this year - I have occasional inspiring images to inspire a blog or two, or just lift my spirits or make me think. This year's diary the Redstone Diary has a theme of Family and is full of mostly pretty strange pictures. This week's image for example is this - a postcard from 1910 in India. I find it strangely grim - particularly the child on the right. Thoughts yes, but no inspiration for a blog there. And yet - well I have used it haven't I?
Thus on one page I have the past - that photograph, what I wrote about, what I have achieved so far; the present - in this case in the broader sense of 'this week' and its activities; and the future - the rest of the tasks to complete, and the Italian class to go to.
Perhaps most crucially of all that diary page places me in time, the week beginning 7th October in 2024 and each day it reminds me of what day it is and what date. If I was that way inclined I could ruminate on how those names - the month, the days of the week came to be, and also how the actual calendar came to be. But that's taking it all a bit too pretentiously far.
So yes we need everyday ordinary reminders, of appointments, tasks to complete. The 'Italian' tomorrow is to not only remind me to go to my Italian lesson but also to pay for the new term. Just one word, however, is enough to trigger that thought. In my kitchen I have my blackboard to remind me what I need to buy, and if I have more than one or two things to buy, then I will write a shopping list to remind me when I am in the shop. All practical things.
Sometimes our body memory kicks in and reminds us to clean our teeth, take our pills, wash our hair ... Sometimes we forget, increasingly as we get older, so the need for concrete reminders increases.
My desk is also full of reminders of many, many kinds. In front of me are a number of small objects, each one reminding me of a place, an event, a person - and in the case of Monika's earring that she lost here recently - a reminder to return it to her when next we meet.
My computer screen wallpaper is currently that view from our house in Abruzzo that I wrote about recently. At the moment there is just a glimpse at the edge of the page I am working on, but in between tasks and as I start up the computer I see it and a whole host of memories and images floods into my brain. The books at the back left with little yellow post-it stickers poking out from them, are reminders of potential subjects for a post - theoretically they all are but then when I come to check them out I will find that some are not. The diary sits beside me as you can see, and in the box on the left are small notebooks, each containing reminders - past and present of all manner of things - one is a reminder book for holidays past with dates, times, flights, addresses, phone numbers. At the time it was the go to place for reminding me what was next, and what I needed to know. Now it reminds me of the holday itself - although it tends not to be looked at. There is my ideas book - and one of those books, dare I say, lists passwords somewhat randomly. In that box are also a number of bookmarks - a physical object, created just to remind you where you are in a book, or which page is important. Some are also reminders of places or events at which they were obtained.
On my right and out of sight - out of mind too most of the time - is a large heap of filing which really has to be done at some point in time, although it is not urgent. It's a guilty making reminder, however, of how I have let things go in my old age somewhat.
Perhaps most importantly are the two pictures you see here. The one at the back is a drawing of a leaf that my younger granddaughter made a few years back - she is now fifteen, so maybe she was about eleven or twelve. It's just a leaf, and I suppose it's not great, but I like it - it has some kind of spirit about it - and she's my granddaughter, and it always reminds me of her when I glance at it.
The drawing from Winnie-the Pooh - just a print, not an original, was given to me by my older son who understands my quiet obsession with the works of A.A. Milne and the drawings of E.H. Shepherd and so it reminds me of the books I read as a child and to my children and grandchildren; it reminds me of my son but mostly it reminds me of how life should really be - full of life, joy, and love. Utopia. An unreachable dream I know but something to aim for. The future.
Today, as I walked I saw this butterfly - well actually there were several - a reminder that summer is not far away. A reminder also that pests - the butterfly - and weeds - the shasta daisies can be beautiful too. There were small hard red plums on the trees as well. A reminder that before too long I shall be battling the birds for ownership and hopefully making lots of beautiful, slightly tart jam.
One little word that says so much and encompasses even more if care to think and explore.
POSTSCRIPT
Today October 9 - in the past. I wonder where we shall be in 2025 on October 9?
2023 - I forgot to take any photos - a reminder of a family gathering
2022 - Should we acknowledge french onion soup in a packet as an ingredient? - somewhat retro
2021 - Dinner brings memories of yesteryear - reminder leads to remember
2020 - Minor magic - more memories
2019 - The 'miracle' of chia seeds
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Silicone cookware
2016 - Supermarket wars in suburbia
One word to REMIND us of the world and all that flowers in it and buzzes around it. A world of phiispohical thought. Did Socrates have Reminders lists. Ahh... that is what writing is for. Without writing nothing but fading mmories. Our poor indigenous peoples - no writing, just dots.