Saturday, October 10, 2015

Summer of Doing Manifesto - Recap

I thought I would take today to recap my our Summer of Doing.  Back on June 5th I posted our Summer of Doing Manifesto list of all the things we wanted to do, places to see and adventures to be had. I declared it to be our Summer of Doing.   Without declaring a list, a manifesto, Mr Man and I often end up on weekends or vacation days going back and forth, "what do you want to do or I don't know what do you want to do?"  Because of tough work schedules we are often left to exhausted to think of anything, so pre-season making of the list really helped us.  I know it may sound odd but it worked for us.  I will do again.

I think we did pretty good with the list.  Some things that didn't happen were beyond our control, such as wanting to visit the art gallery.  The re-opening was delayed several times and while we couldn't visit inside the gallery, we did walk around the gardens were there were several art installations.  The visit to an ostrich farm didn't happen because on the day we had scheduled to go, it was just too hot to be outside and then it fell off our radar.  I did spend some time reading up online about ostriches. The ploughing match happened on a work day so we could not attend.  The visiting of waterfalls, which use to be such a passion for us, was something we just couldn't find the energy to do. (I have 2 scrap albums devoted to waterfall adventures.)  One of the things with waterfalls in our area is that those that are fairly easy to access, we have done, those left, require higher hiking skills that either of us have developed.  Visiting a friend's cottage, well our schedules never matched.  The highland games, no idea why that one didn't get participated in.  Maybe next year.

With Rinda's Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt we got all the items both on the main list and substitute list.  It was our third year of participating and the first time we scored all. In the Summer of Doing, Mr Man's favourite was the Puslinch Lake Boat Tour with Belwood Lake a very close second. We both enjoyed being tourists in our own region.  But I think the very best for me was when Mr Man thanked me for putting our Summer of Doing together.  Oh and the celebrating with gusto and cake - that isn't going on any list again - we embraced that one too much - DIET!

2015 The Summer Of Doing Manifesto

  1. Explore Wellington County (separate plan list)
  2. Tea on the patio every morning possible (weather permitting)
  3. Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries with gusto & cake
  4. A picnic
  5. Re-vist a favourite waterfall
  6. Re-read the entire Harry Potter series
  7. Participate in Rinda's Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt
  8. Eat on a restaurant's patio or outdoor space at least once
  9. Celebrate Canada Day 
  10. Find 2 new restaurants to eat a
  11. Attend an outdoor concert or festival
  12. Visit a friend's cottage
  13. Attend a horse show 
  14. Read at least 6 new books
  15. Discover a new to us waterfall 


The Explore Wellington County List
  • Puslinch Lake Boat Tour
  • Belwood Lake Conservation Park
  • Ostrich Farm Tour
  • Guelph Civic Museum
  • Wellington County Museum
  • Walk in The Arboretum
  • Strawberry Picking
  • McDonald's Art Gallery (when it re-opens in August)
  • Wellington County Ploughing Match
  • Fergus Scottish Highland Games

13 comments:

  1. Even retired, we find it necessary to actually put an event or day trip on a calendar if we want to make sure it happens. We both have so many projects, that it's always easy to just let those activities go. You did a great job!

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    1. Thanks Karen. As a list maker I thought the manifesto was an upgrade to my typical lists plus it seemed more like a contract :)

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  2. Isn't it funny how just having things on a list helps make it feel 'official'? It's how I feel about the Scavenger Hunt too. It really focuses the mind. I had a few plans for our summer bu never quite wrote them out as a 'manifesto' ... maybe next year [or even this winter!].

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    1. I think there is a saying, if it's not on the list, not going to happen, which then translates to if it's not in the scrap book it didn't happen. I've thought about a winter manifesto but with December Daily it seem too much (for now). Umm that gives me an idea of how to translate DD into a Winter Manifesto ... stay tuned!

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  3. Even the phrase "summer of doing" sounds so full of intent and energy. I'll have to remember it for next year

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    1. Thanks Sian - we really needed to pick up our life game and I wrestled with the term summer of doing, as at first it sounded SO commanding, but in the end it motivated us more.

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  4. This is such a great project, and you have crossed off LOADS. You are making me think :).

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    1. Thanks Alexa. Being local tourists really opened our eyes to the richness of our area. So now if we get any out of town guests, we can tour them around with some knowledge.

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  5. Our "doing" usually involves my cousin and his wife - the Bluefunnels - They run their own business and decided several years ago that they needed to be away from home for one day a month. We took up the challenge and a formula evolved of alternating vehicles so that on this trip they drive and decide and next trip we drive and decide.. We also have an advantage because there is a thing called Treasure Trails that takes us to plces we thought we knew and gives us a set of clues to follow and things to find. We like a list, I also like it when Mr M says "shall we go for a ride?" and where we end up can depend on just how badly the person in front is driving, so when they turn right we will turn left.

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    1. That sounds like an amazing adventure and enhanced with friends/family. I must check to see if we have anything similar to Treasure Trails, that could open up a whole new venue of adventures for us. Thanks for the idea! Lists and a car ride .... ooohhhhh

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  6. I did a list last summer and it was a complete success - I did loads instead of just letting the time pass by. With that in mind I've done an autumn one and will continue to do one each change of season.

    Sometimes I think you just have to mark off days on the calendar for things you want to do, otherwise 'life' just takes over!

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    1. You know Eileen I like the idea of making a list for each of the seasons. Thanks for the idea. When winter sets in we really do tend to tuck in deep. I try to remind ourselves that we are not bears that need to hibernate. Life does tend to blend into work/eat/sleep repeat if we are not pro active.

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  7. Amen to all of the above. Lists really work!

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