Tony tootling around Hay on Wye
Some words just make me smile. Tootling is one of them. We were just tootling down the road with the dog, taking a spin around the neighborhood. You really can’t be grumpy or down or anything but smiling when you’re tootling. We should all tootle more often. I think of tootling as a cousin to meandering. The origins of tootling are unsurprising. According to The Oxford Dictionary, it is a verb that means, “Go or travel in a leisurely way”. It also means, “Casually make a series of sounds on a horn, trumpet, or similar instrument”. My husband is an aficionado of tootling (the traveling kind, not the instrumental kind). Never try to hustle him along when he’s in a tootling mood. I tend to get impatient at times. But if I can hold back, go at his pace, I find my heart rate slowing down and a smile creeping up. Give it a try!
