Some Random Thoughts

Summer is here again, very hot and sticky weather, thunderstorms, torrential rain and some dull cloudy days. Typical British weather and typical of the British we also complain about the weather. It is too hot, too cold, too windy and so on. It seems as if we are never satisfied.

So today is one of those dull cloudy days with a drizzling of rain. But the rain is good for the garden and enables the plants to grow and also means I don’t have to carry a watering can around to water the flowers.

I lay in bed this morning thinking yet again about choices. As I am retired and live alone I can do what I want when I want so if I wanted to I could stay in bed all day and do nothing. But that is not the kind of person I am. I am a get up and go type of person although I do take time out to relax. But it is my choice to get up, what to have for my breakfast and what to do with the rest of the day. It is my choice to write this blog, to do the filing later and to enjoy reading a new book and the latest family history magazine.

Obviously when I have appointments with the dentist and the osteopath my choices are defined but I also make a choice to go and visit these people. Life is all about choices. The choices we make, define us at that point in time. Some choices we make might be good ones while others may not be as good but we make these choices and they give us our path to follow.

Many years ago now I chose to follow a druidic path with a dash of Native American ideas within it. I chose to learn about Reiki and other stuff such as astrology and numerology. These choices have defined my life ever since and I still make choices about what else to learn about, what to read about and whether to become more involved in some of these things. I believe that we learn something new each day in one way or another and that does seem true. Recently I have learned more about insects and also learned more about how vaccines are produced. I have a thirst for knowledge of one kind or another. I think that is a very good thing but others might not agree with me. There is a saying something like better the devil you know than the one you don’t know. So I learn as much as I can about things that interest me even if that interest does not last long. I don’t think I’m unique in this but I do get funny looks sometimes!

More choices and some other thoughts

It looks as if we here in the UK are going to have to decide for ourselves what is best for us to do in the next few weeks and months. Being sensible about things would be a good idea like not going in crowds and crowded places. There are some people around who do not think of others at any time and just go on their way passing on to others the thing that they do not want at all. I am being careful how I word things here as I do not want to get banned fro anything at the moment and you can’t be too careful but I am sure you all understand what I am saying.

Our lives are changing in many ways and we are all having to make choices about what to do and where to go. One of the things I have noticed is that children nowadays do not play in the dirt. Every surface is sanitised and they never come into contact with dirt. This leaves them with no immunity to whatever is in the dirt. Another thing they don’t do generally is walk and talk together. Many of them seem glued to the phones in their hands.

There is so much to see out there in the hedgerows and bushes. I am lucky enough this last few weeks to see butterflies that I have not seen before. This for me is a wonderful thing. I like to sit outside in the shade and watch all the insects flying around. I am discovering the different bees now as well and have taken photos of some of them. There are a lot of different insects that I have noticed and there are so many varieties of them too. Ladybirds are one example. There are 47 species of these in the UK alone and many more worldwide. I like to see how many spots they have and also how different their larvae look. They are not all red either. But they are tiny and often go unnoticed by passers-by.

It is extremely hot this morning so another choice to make. I shall go outside shortly to check whether my small garden patch needs watering and then stay inside for the rest of the day. Each day brings choices of one kind or another and we make choices without thinking at times but some choices need a lot of thought and I am still working on some of these. I do feel though that my original thought is always the best and that is my gut reaction so I do tend to follow that.

Challenges and choices

I was not sure whether to write a blog this week or not but eventually decided that it was right to do so. The last few weeks have been full of challenges, physically, mentally and emotionally and they took away all my energy and I then spent several days just resting. Unfortunately some of the challenges are still unfinished like the heating refurbishment and the shower that does not work.

My 80th birthday brought its own challenges. How was I going to cope with this milestone? Would I continue my life in the same way or would I take more time out and rest more? Dementia runs in the female line of my family and generally started soon after the 80th milestone birthday and I am very aware of this. I would not like to be in the state my mother was when she was diagnosed with dementia.

I have decided to do some tidying in my home and change some pieces of furniture for others to make it easier to store items I wish to keep. This will take some time however as the kind of furniture I like is not always available but I will keep looking. But it is a choice I have made as the challenge of putting a 3 bedroomed bungalow into a 1 bedroomed flat is very difficult.

Another choice to make is whether to continue writing blogs and possibly new books as I do love researching. Another choice is what to do with my photos. I generally get the best ones printed and make scrapbooks but I am already on scrapbook 2 this year with more photo prints on order. I do find that the time it takes to make the scrapbooks can be therapeutic and also bring back good memories.

Other choices to make are either to put myself first all the time and take care of others or help others only occasionally. I am the kind of person who will always help others so I don’t think putting them last would work. It is part of my soul plan to care for and help others.

I love to teach as well and am still doing this remotely but feel it is something I can continue with for the moment. After all we learn something new each day. I have started to take more care of myself, visits to an osteopath who does myofascial massage and also a visit to the dentist. I have started to use my etheric weaver more as well. So I am choosing to take more care of myself.

While out with my son this week we saw a butterfly we had never seen before. It was white with its wings closed and then it opened its wings and there was a wow from us both. It was a purple hairstreak butterfly. Nature brings its rewards. So those kind of walks will continue as long as possible.