A Birthday Celebration

A World Apart

“Children, sons and daughters,
are the anchors of a mother’s life.”
Judith Baxter, 1938 –

Wednesday, 29 August 1962. To Bob and Judith a beautiful little boy!

And now that ‘little boy” is 60 and on Monday the family celebrated his birthday.

Now I ask myself, how can I possibly be that old? And now my little boy is the age I was when his father (My DYS) died all those years ago. How the years have flown.

To mark this occasion I gave him an authentic newspaper published on the day of his birth. As he was born in Glasgow, the chosen paper was The Scotsman. Interesting to read what was occupying the public mind at that time.

As Chairman of British Railways, Dr Beeching was in the news daily,  and his report on reshaping the railways “The Beeching Report” led to far-reaching changes in the network and…

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Friday’s For Friendship and Foundations

Friday in Wellington

A World Apart

I have told you before about we four friends who call ourselves The Mutual Admiration Society Sisters. We meet often and about once a month we plan something a little different for MASS. This month it was on Friday and we went to see the BNZ (Bank Of New Zealand) Artwork Collection display.

Unfortunately, only three of us went; the fourth having succumbed to a particularly nasty and painful bug.

So. in the pouring rain, we three met up as planned for coffee before going off to be surrounded by works of art that have been collected over the past forty years by this major bank.

We were told, by a very helpful assistant, that the BNZ art collection was started in 1982. And now after four decades, around 350 pieces of artwork in the collection will go to auction.

The proceeds will go to the bank’s new charitable foundation…

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No news is……

A World Apart

I can’t really say there is no news but, to be more accurate nothing that catches my interest.

My last post was about less thinking and more about doing. And then a blogging buddy, Basia left a comment saying, ‘sometimes it is perfectly okay to sit and do nothing.’

And I thought, ‘YES!’ No, not like that, more of a quiet ‘yes’.

Every now and then I do a bit of meditating, usually choosing something from YouTube, and I slow down. Less doing. Less thinking.

Doing nothing can be restorative.

I did check out the local paper for news ideas.

So there were things to discuss. Just not today.

We have about a month left of summer, but Autumn is in the air and that is traditionally a time for this Canadian to begin a slow-down. A grounding as it were. And it feels good.

So from North of 43…

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Afraid of the Light

A World Apart

Afraid of the Light

Much has been said about the recent decision on the rose versus wade legislation. The media have covered it at great length. We have seen and heard the talking heads on this subject and no doubt, most of us have discussed this with friends and other groups in which we are involved. I am not going to get involved in the discussion here. 

I simply want to tell you about a book that I picked up from the library last week. In our local library which is very small and an offshoot of the Wellington City Library, there is a table holding copies of the librarians’ picks. Knowing nothing about this author, Douglas Kennedy and always ready to try something new, I picked up his latest book, Afraid of the Light.

“WhileAfraid of the Lightisn’t a novel solely about abortion, it explores the complexities…

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Why is everyone so mad at Will Smith?

A World Apart

This question has niggled at me since The Slap.

Seriously, I lost all affection and inclination to watch anything with this man, even though I have adored most of the movies he has made, and most of the interviews he has done. I mean he was an icon.

The characters he played were so doggone good. Ethical, brave, kind, so kind. And always with a joie de vivre and a smile that just made you want to hug the daylights out of him.

And therein lies the answer to the question. We are not mad at him. We are mad at ourselves.

How could he fool us?

But guess what? I have come to the conclusion it is OUR fault.

Why?

Because we persist in putting people on pedestals. And then we scorn them when they fall off.

Why do we do that?

I am sure there are deep conversations…

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Everybody’s Talking About It

A World Apart

What does he know? He’s just a bear with very little brain.
Not much dancing here.

There is only one thing on everyone’s mind today – Rain and it’s consequences.

Click here to get the scene playing out in the South Island.

And in the North of the North Island it in’t much better. Here in Wellington there have been major slips and landslides cutting off some communities.

Enough said.

JB. Wellington
August 21, 2022

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The Case of the Missing Card.

A World Apart

Today is Friday here in a very wet Wellington. On Wednesday my daughter cleared the mailbox and handed me a rather woebegone envelope. It contained a card from my alter ego on here, Chris.

Of course, I was delighted to receive a card from her but thought “Oh well. She’s losing it” when I saw the date, August 2021 penned in. Then when speaking with Chris yesterday, she said she hadn’t sent me a card, but when I showed her the card and envelope she remembered sending it to me when my sister died last year. Hence the date August 2021.

So the question now arises “Where has the car been for the past twelve months?” I guess we will never know.

Scaffolders working in the pouring rain.

And a little excitement to brighten an otherwise ho-hum day –
Don’t know what they found to be cheerful about.

Now…

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It’s an Odds and End kind of day

A lovely new word. See how I have used it in my comment to Chris.

A World Apart

The kind of day when I did not have to be up and out in the morning. It called for a nice cup of coffee (Ethiopia) my current fave. And propped up in bed catching up on blogs and comments.

I don’t often play the WOD challenge but I really should. I like the idea. I noticed the Word for the Day today is Pervasive which the Oxford Dictionary defines as ‘(especially of an unwelcome influence or physical effect) spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people. “Ageism is pervasive and entrenched in our society”

**No, I don’t think that counts as using the word. We’ll see if it comes up in this post.

Cindynoke.Wordpress.com one of my regulars sent me a link in a comment connected to a previous post of hers about Molokai.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/05/when-the-last-patient-dies/394163/

I can’t find the author of the book I read…

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Apologies

A World Apart

When I wrote my post yesterday, it was the end of a very tiring day, several hours spent with and for my friend, and I was almost asleep on my feet. Now I have to apologise because there are mistakes in that post. Obviously, I didn’t read it properly before I published it

In paragraph two, the final sentence is repeated, and typos appear in the Shirley MacLaine quote.

“When we release others from the expectations we have of them, we truly love them.”

I am away from home without my laptop (who ever does that) and writing using my phone does not help. So again, apologies.

JB, Raumati, New Zealand, August 16, 2022

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CONFIDENCE

A World Apart

How long does it take for a person to move from being a fully functional adult to a little old lady sitting in her room for most of the day, and taking little or no interest in for is happening in the world.
I can tell you exactly how long it takes as I have watched my friend deteriorate over a period of only eight weeks to get to this stage.

Over the eight week period she has had five visits to the regional hospital, has been diagnosed with cancer on the lung, has had a car accident almost wrecking her brand-new car, has had Covid and over this period has dislocated each of her hips, and through it all she has suffered badly with asthma. It really is no wonder she is feeling depressed.It really is no wonder she is feeling depressed.

So what can I do? On the…

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