Me & SunRise
Big Cypress Daiseys
Vulture’s Moon
Panther Print
Key West Lilly
Family, High School Senior, Wedding Photos on the Beach and more!
Is it an exclusive practice of the male social security sect or just a wide spread pasttime of those guys? No, it has nothing to do with golf, but the meticulous dedication, attention to detail, and demand for precision are similar and may be practiced by the same individual. Golf is usually a long procedure that drags on for hours; when I go through the TV channels it seems to me that the same thing is happening over and over as I pass by. That’s similar to puttering, too, but puttering is not limited to hours, it may continue for days of amusing pleasure and certainly doesn’t have a lot of exacting rules, like golf. Much too lei’d back. Microsoft Word’s definition of putter includes: tinker, fiddle, and mess; that’s getting close. Puttering almost always accomplishes something, just not quickly, and is also satisfying to the putterer, maybe not to others, but the putterer cares little what they think. He probably isn’t even aware they exist. He’s too engrossed in his project, as he cogitates his next move, and lots of times he’s happy with organizing and reorganizing his stuff. I’ve been asked, what do I do with all my time as you meander from one warm place to the next when it’s cold here in Maryland, especially deep in a nowhereland off some less traveled road. People think I do a lot of reading; I should and I’d like too, but I don’t. Do I do crossword puzzles, play games, or watch movies or TV on my computer - no. I do spend a lot of time on my laptop editing photos, though, but I’d rather be outside than in the RV. I enjoy puttering, but it’s an activity that’s hard to describe. I’ve watched the dozen or so other “resident” campers spend their days at Bear Island 20 miles deep in the everglades in Big Cypress National Preserve (www.nps.gov/bicy). They are not idle. They don’t sit in the sun with their feet propped up. What they do I call puttering, but what is that?
Sometimes something is accomplished by it, but more than likely it’s nonconsequential and if it didn’t happen the world wouldn’t stop, the sun would certainly still go down in the evening and reappear in the morning, or very few would notice; but it can easily take all day and though is done slowly, systematically, and usually exactingly. One other very important attribute must be mentioned before the skeptics out there say it’s a waste of time. The opportunity to spend the day in this manner has been well earned. The person has worked a life time to get here. It’s also a great time to enjoy a cold ACB or two or few. Although these puttering sites are called campsites, camping is done in a tent not a Recreational Vehicle, motor vehicle, slide-in camper on a pickup truck (like I have) or other living space pulled by a vehicle. Those ways of living in a campground are easy. I know - I pitched a tent and set up a camp ground for four months in many places for 11 years. Tent = camping and none of those putterers sleep in a tent. Here these BI “residents” aren’t really here to enjoy nature and see all this wildlife, although it’s a great sidelight benefit and they’re thrilled if an egret, panther, or even a bear wanders by one of these people busy puttering. They are here because it’s warm in the winter, there is no fee to “camp” here, and there is no time limit on the length of stay.
Puttering also has something to do with doing these little things you think of, but never do. If you’ve earned the opportunity to putter then you get them done at leisurely pace. Puttering may be hard to define, but it’s an enjoyable practice. Maybe it’s a woman thing, too, and I just haven’t seen any of them do it. I do know it fills the day slow and easy, happy, relaxed, with no stress, and is peaceful. I do a lot of photography, discovering, looking at, watching and examining things, too, but a bunch of that time is filled with puttering or maybe that’s just a better way of saying doing nothing, especially since I don’t have anything that I really have to do. Enjoy cogitating on these images and Happy Fireworks Day!!!
Here in Ocean City summer is progressing nicely, hot, muggy and with a cool breeze to keep it enjoyable. Local sweet corn has appeared several weeks early to join the abundance of blue crabs; two staple necessities that make this a paradise amongst sky blue water. All that is needed now is the tomatoes in my garden to turn red and I’ll have it all! You can see crabs crawling and swimming in Assawoman Bay and in the canals. Birch’s Produce has that sweet corn and lots of delicious fruit and veggies grown right there on Rt. 611 near the airport. Life is good!
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