Wanting more

I often hear the words, ‘I want, I want’, and see photos on such sites as Facebook where people say ‘I want one of those’. I have always tried to be happy with what I have, after all, I have things some people don’t have. Look at the refugees for example. I have a roof over my head, enough to eat and wear. What do they have? I can also see that life in other countries offers them hope but when they do get there it is not often as they saw it in their minds. Life is not easy anywhere and as my mother used to tell me ‘Life is what you make it’. I think there is a grain of truth in her words.

But at times I wish for more in my life, not material things but things like companionship, friends who visit often and so on. Living alone is fine and I am independent in many ways but because I am disabled I cannot get out easily and rely on others for help with that. I try to work with the life in my garden but they don’t answer back when I talk to them. One of the things I miss most is conversation, not just general chit chat but conversation about other things, life and its meaning, the ways of the world and so on. Finding people with similar interests can be quite hard even though I do belong to groups in our local U3A (University of the Third Age) I run a French for beginners group and am a member of a local history project group. But there are times when I feel I need more. There is a limit to how much time I can research my family history or make macrame bracelets or take photos of the garden and even work with my Zen colouring books for adults. There are far too many hours in the day sometimes for me to fill them in a satisfactory way. Am I wrong to expect more? Should I be satisfied with what I have? How important is good conversation to my life and the lives of others? Do you have similar problems or know someone who does? How would you deal with them?

Telling the truth

Truth, according to the Oxford dictionary is, ‘ That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality:’ So do you always tell the truth? Thinking about this I can see that there are times when what are called ‘little white lies’ are told. These often occur when someone asks if something suits them or asks if they look good in something. In order not to upset that person often little white lies are told saying you look fine or similar words.

But there are times when truth is needed. I think this word truth has been in my mind recently during the contest for the Labour Party leadership. I can see that many untruths are being told and sometimes what is true is manipulated to make it sound untrue. As a druid I find this kind of thing unacceptable. We all need to be more honest in our everyday dealings. Sometimes the truth hurts but it then helps in other ways.

When writing my family history or other thematic writing I try to stick to the truth all the time. Sometimes I have to use newspaper stories but in previous times I feel these were more true than those told today. People swear on oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yet some pervert the course of justice by telling lies.

I feel that truth is no longer part of our world. What are your thoughts on this?

The following photo is a true representation of something in my garden yesterday.

Unexpected changes

I did not expect to be writing this today. My surgery was cancelled so here I am ready to go. It does seem as if it was meant to be as all I feel is a huge sense of relief! That tells me something.

But it is so good to be at home watching the weather and the garden. The weather has been bad for a couple of days, heavy rain and dark grey skies. But yesterday was better and this morning it was cool and fresh. A hint of autumn on the way I feel.

The birds have not disappointed me and are feeding well while the bees are still on the lavender and a few other flowers that are still blooming. I am told the current weather patterns are due to the jet stream. I do understand from my studies many years ago how the jet stream works and how it can be affected by many things. The temperature and salinity of water can change rapidly and this has a knock-on effect on everything else in the water and how the current of water works. This understanding of the deep connection between everything in the world is not understood by those who govern countries and that is why we are in such a mess. It is good to see how nature recovers after floods and fires but it can take some time. But have things gone too far to save our planet?

One of my morning birds is here. I’ve chosen this one so you can see the cobweb on the feeder. An added bonus!

Feelings of achievement

This week has been a week when I feel I have been achieving things. My photography has improved and I have managed to get some really good photos. I also managed to walk (on my crutches) down to the river with a friend. On the way back we were blessed to see a young fledgling who came closer and allowed me to take a photo. What a bonus that was. Yesterday my son took me out to Langar again for a final visit before I have surgery on Thursday. Again I got a few good photos.

I have not been able to do so much for nearly a year now so I feel very good about things in general and am reasonably confident that my surgery will go well. (no blog next week on Sunday but maybe later) Looking at my photos and magnifying them on screen shows the delicacy and complications of nature. The delicate colours and feathers on the fledgling, the web like structure of the wings of a dragonfly, only seen when close up so perhaps not appreciated by others.

So what do you feel you have achieved this week?

I couldn’t make up my mind which photo to post so you have the dragonfly. Zoom in on it to see the detail.

 

Just thoughts of the week

First of all can I thank those who sent helpful comments about the bird feeding last week. They were much appreciated.

It has been an interesting week at times. I have been away from home cat sitting in a small village. No birds to watch but other things to see. Wandering down the lane on my crutches I found an interesting set of tree roots (see photo). They brought to my attention how everything spreads out and intertwines.

It is Lughnasadh, a time of harvest. I have noticed in the village that there are seeds on the sycamore trees and lots of green berries on the rowans.The berries will be needed by the birds of course but they always look wonderful when ripe. But it still seems as if summer has not arrived and it is very autumnal in the mornings. The tree roots intertwining with the soil and the bricks of the wall made me think just how much everything is intertwined and connected. Without one thing, another cannot be and so on. And how everything spreads out like the roots are doing and how ripples on a pond spread out also. You never know how far they are going to reach. I shall ponder on this more during the week.