Internet Deprivation

So, we don’t have a tv. People (regardless of nationality) are usually shocked by this and proceed with the question, “what do you DO if you don’t have a tv?” Our response…”well, we do a lot more than when we had a tv.”

I don’t mean to sound preachy about the tv thing. I actually love watching tv (especially big screen ones with the option of fast forwarding through commercials – amazing!). It was actually an accident of our last move that we ended up without one. David did all the moving of stuff from our last house into this house (thank you, honey!) because I was already in the US. When we came back to the house in the fall I said, “wow, I like how you’ve arranged everything. Where’s the tv?” David, in his wonderful David way, gave the question a thought and then said, “hmmm… yeah… I don’t know. I might have given it to someone.” We spent some time without one and then just kind of got used to not having one.

So, what DO we do without a tv? We read a lot. And have dinners that start before dark and finish well after dark. We play a lot of cards. I knit and David putters in the garden. AND, as I’ve realized in the past two days alone here at the house without the computer (and my husband), we do A LOT of internetting (can that be a verb?).

So, what did I do when I didn’t have a tv OR a computer?

--I read two whole books.

--I knit approximately 100 of the 181 squares I need for the knitted quilt. (Ok, ok, here’s the truth…I knit exactly 92 squares, 722 stitches per square, which means, ROUGHLY, I knit 66424 stitches… roughly.)

--I learned to make two new pasta dishes.

--I reorganized the armadio that houses all-things-paperwork-like. This job included filing things (bills, bank statements, residences forms …you know, all those little things in life) from the past 4 years (I don’t much like this part of running a household)

--I did copious amounts of laundry

--I washed the kitchen floor (which happens about as often as I file useless-to-me paperwork).

--I wrote (yes, HAND-wrote!) three letters.


In addition to these very concrete things I also did stuff like: enjoyed the view from my terrace through binoculars, took walks to collect wild flower bouquets, and I watched the cat and the dog trying to be friends.

If you are ever feeling restless, I highly recommend a couple days of tv and computer deprivation. Warning: at first you will feel even more restless…very shortly, however, well you will have 92 hand knit squares that are part of a quilt…or whatever the equivalent for you might be.

Totally unrelated to anything I’ve been talking about…

--Many many many congratulations to my cousin Denna and her new hubby on their wedding. I’m sad to have missed seeing you look so beautiful, Den!

--And, in response to readers’ comments: Katie, dear, glad you’re on the case! Hansi, I must say that I’ve tried both snitting and knitting and, well, they are different. Both enjoyable but different. If you’d like to learn to knit, instead of snit, I’m more than happy to help.