A Real Concern

Yesterday, I went with a friend to see the much-lauded and commented upon, Napoleon. This certainly wasn’t one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. In fact, I found it quite boring. So many, dead bodies, damaged horses, and very little of anything else.
I do recognise that those many history buffs who are interested in the wars, and particularly those in which Napoleon was involved, would have found the almost 3 hours of film, fascinating.
The movie started at 12 noon and so it was almost 3 when it finished and we left the cinema. We decided that a late lunch was in order and we made our way into downtown Wellington. Our waiter, a charming young man whom I would guess was around 20, asked if we were having a good day. We told him that we had just been to see Napoleon, and to my surprise, he did not know who Napoleon was. What are our young being taught in school these days?

A couple of months earlier I had been for a light lunch with two friends. The deal was that as I was taking one of them to lunch and so when the bill came we asked it be divided in three. The bill was $45 so I told the person at the cash desk that I would pay $30 and my other friend would pay $15. The cashier proceeded to get out a calculator and then asked me how I knew that my share was $30. Again, what are our young being taught in school these days?

End of today’s rant. Following on yesterday’s post, I can say that we woke this morning to heavy rain and wind once again. So summer is still not here and possibly won’t be for a few more days.

An Epiphany

Epiphany Definition – a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality
or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple,
homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

I have told you before about the times I played companion to an elderly lady in West Sussex.   She was a peremptory old woman, used to getting her own way and being obeyed at all times. She objected to being called by her first name and it wasn’t until my third spell with her that I was allowed to call her Phyllis.  However, we seemed to get on quite well (helped no doubt because I was not reliant on the position), so I went back on a couple of occasions.

It was usual for me to take her to church on a Sunday morning and after the service, we would either go home and have others join us for coffee or alternatively, we would go to somebody else’s house. Often the priest came for coffee with us. 

As I’ve said before, it was a very small village with a 12th-century church and some distance away, a gas station, but nothing else. Of particular interest was the lane leading to the church, Church Lane, lined on each side with chocolate box cottages all with thatched roofs. In one of these cottages lived Hans. a Lutheran pastor who had been married to one of Phyllis’s close friends, an American called Dorothy.    These people had met up somewhere in the world and the two women became close friends very quickly so after a short sojourn in London, Hans and Dorothy moved to the village. 

One Sunday after church we went for coffee with Hans. There were just the three of us that day and Phyllis had been not feeling well and having drunk her coffee she promptly fell asleep. So here was I left talking to this man whom I hardly knew but who was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. He was probably five years older than me – at the time I was probably 62 or 3 – and we began to talk about the Second World War and then I had what can only be described as an epiphany.

And it was only then, all those years later, that I realized that there were children growing up in the same way that we were but in Germany – the enemy.

Hans had been born and lived in Hamburg, a large city and industrial centre. The shipyards and oil refineries were obvious places to be attacked by the Allies. We both talked about growing up with bombs falling from the air and waking up the next morning to see great holes where houses used to stand. Hans had been a member of the Hitler Youth as all young boys had to. He said they had to wear a uniform and march around holding sticks as if they were rifles. They also had to go a couple of days a week to watch for enemy planes at a lookout post on the river close to school.

Everything was rationed as it had been in England but of course, at the end of the war, in Germany, there was nothing to be had.  Long lines waiting for a small loaf of bread, few vegetables in another long line, no coffee, tea or really much at all. In Britain, we continued to suffer rationing for months after the war ended, but their plight was so much worse than ours.

I don’t recall how long we sat talking on that sunny Sunday afternoon, but for me, it was really an epiphany.

At age 87 Michelangelo is reported to have said “I am still learning”
and so am I.

J is for – Judging a Book by its Cover

I could find only two posts from the hundreds I have written, that could fall under J.
Je ne regrette rien – the life of Edith Piaf, a favourite singer (January 5, 2021) or this one.
Obviously, I chose this one.
I was fascinated by this couple and I wonder how they are doing know

******

Judging a Book By Its Cover

Posted on August 23, 2012 | 21 Comments | Edit

Opening my emails from blogging friends has taken on some of the qualities of Christmas morning.  They all purport to come from Lenore Diane so the excitement builds as each surprise package is opened.

Today I opened one that came from my blogging friend Val at Arty Old Bird.  She talked about accepting that one might be different to others and coming to terms with it..  Do go over to read her blog post.  I am sure you will find it interesting/illuminating.

About two-thirds of the way into the post she directed us to Israel who sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow with such feeling that it brings tears to the eyes.  Most of us have heard this version of the song and loved it.  And yes he does look different to most of us.

And then there was this – Jonathon and Charlotte.  This odd looking couple competing in Britain’s Got Talent earlier this year.  Just look at Jonathon; at the time of the audition  he was 17 years old and Charlotte was 16.   As you can imagine Simon Cowell et al dismissed him but that was before he started singing.

Look at the faces of the judges and the audience and then look them as Jonathon starts to sing.  Who would have thought this young man had such a voice.  And how many would have dismissed him because of his size and the way he looks?

We are all guilty of judging a book by its cover and in doing so how much do we miss.  We know that first impressions are important but …  We may miss out on a great friendship because of judging somebody by the way he/she looks.

This couple totally wowed the audience and the judges.  Simon Cowell has now signed them to a GBP 1million contract and admits he was wrong in his first impressions of this duo.

As a footnote do you believe that this couple with those voices, were beaten in the final by a performing dog?  What were the British people thinking.

B IS FOR – BLANK MIND, BLANK SCREEN

As you may know/recall, Chris from Bridges Burning and I have a joint site which we started at the end of 2021.  Originally, we attempted to write posts on alternate days, but then as we say, life got in the way.  We continue to write on our own blogs and in turn, we reblog them onto the joint site – Aworldapartintwo.wordpress.com   Today’s post was originally written for the joint blog on January 5. 2022..

“Listen – are you breathing just a little, 
and calling it a life?
Mary Oliver

Today it is my turn to write a post here and have no idea what to write. Having been sitting here for an hour or so, with coffee and trusty notebook at hand, I was no further forward in determining what to write about – Head weak; brain dumb; inspiration won’t come…

So once again I decided to look back on some of the posts from when I started blogging. On November 15, 2012,  I wrote about Africa. I have always been fascinated by this continent.. 

I have written about Kuki Gallman, her fascination with the country, moving there with her new husband, his death and subsequently the death of her beloved son in A Life Being Well Lived And then, this conservationist was in turn shot by cattle raiders on her land. Kuki Gallmann survived and still lives in Kenya. A movie was made of her life starring Kim Bassinger titled I Dreamed of Africa

I also read the book and loved the movie of Karen Blixen’s life in Africa – Out of Africa.

And now my fascination with and attraction to this continent is fuelled by Michael Stanley a duo of writers whom I follow in Murder is Everywhere.

But back to the blog post I wrote in November 2012 – I Know This Place

In that post, I talked about how words, well written, can transport one to another place. Perhaps a place never visited but somehow you feel that you know it. 

On that day I had discovered Eliza at VisionandVerbs. Unfortunately that Blog no longer exists and so I can’t transport you to a place where she lives and calls home. She has a small house with three stoeps from which she has a variety of views. She talked about the village some short distance away in which the coloured community live – shacks, old abandoned cars and children running wildly about. She compared this to the other nearby village. Here there were mainly white people, well-maintained houses and gardens, and cars neatly parked away in garages.

Such a different life to mine-yours?

As her Blog can no longer be found, although I was. able to log onto it earlier today, I can’t follow this accomplished writer now.

JB WELLINGTON,
May 2, 2023

Don’t Hesitate

Mary Oliver

From one of my very favourite authors. I think this is appropriate for today’s different world.

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it.
There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be.
We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world.
It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Don’t Hesitate!”

And a quote from a poet new to me –

“The Joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard,
dies young.”
Ann Sexton, American Pullitzer Prize winning poet
1928-1974.

Take great care. Be safe, be kind and remember, this too will pass.

A la prochaine 0r until the next time

More New Words

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” 
― Rudyard Kipling

I have always been mesmerised/entranced/spellbound by words and in this, I am joined by both my sisters.  I suspect this is because our father was similarly mesmerised/entranced/spellbound.

Last week I came across the word multifarious and while I was sure I could guess at its meaning I looked it up.  It means having many varied parts or aspects.  And then a couple of days later, one of my sisters of choice, Chris at Bridges Burning posed a question that asked for one word to describe yourself.   Chris chose Flotsam as her word,  and Celi at the kitchen gardens chose eclectic, and I chose multifarious because I think it absolutely describes me. What word would you choose?

And then, my ever resourceful sister in Los Angeles came up with

I’m now trying to find a sentence in which to use this lovely word.  That is of course if I can work out how to pronounce it.

Note:   According to Stephen King

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus
is the wrong word.
There are no exceptions to this rule.”

And who am I to argue with the master?

And turning to the Oxford English I find that logophile is the noun to describe a lover of words.

 

 

 

A New Kid on the Block

Today I came across a very new blogger.  Well at this time she has posted two blogs.  Today’s post really resonated with me.

Those of you who know me, know I have a real ‘thing’ about how today’s young are mollycoddled, wrapped in cotton wool and hardly ever left to their own devices outside in the fresh air.  Go over to Heidi’s blog here.  Please do.  Remember when we first started on this blogging journey, writing our posts and wondering if anyone was ever going to read much less follow us.

And this came up because Darlene Foster posted this today.   Darlene was a farm kid from out back Canada (sorry Darlene can’t remember where) and so she particularly liked this and shared it with us.  Thanks, Darlene.  We townie’s love reading such things.

And one of my favourite farmer bloggers is Cecilia.  She is a New Zealander residing in the US and running a small farm.  Currently, she is caring for Waimoana, or Wai for short a pot belly pig rescued from a farmer in Kentucky.  This poor pig has been treated so badly and Ce is doing her best to help him recover.  Here’s the link to the first introduction to Wai.  Each day Ce posts on his recovery.  Oh, it’s so slow but it is happening.  We all have our fingers crossed for Wai.

And another blogger Patricia at Patricia’s Place today mused on being grateful for kindness.  and of course, that took me back to this time last year when I was recovering from my big adventure aka accident and I had to learn to accept the kindness offered by everyone.  It is often easier to give than to receive and one has to learn to receive graciously the kindness offered.

And today, my sister of choice Chris at Bridges Burning caught my attention with the title of her post ““J.K. Rowling thinks of Harry Potter series as an ex-lover.”  She talked about headlines and how they can draw you into an item and how sometimes, they disappoint.

And another of my sisters of choice Dor at  Virginia Views talked about the To Do List and how even though we are retired many items just don’t get done.  Oh, at least she has Bill to cover for her.  How often during those busy, busy years did I think of what I would do when I had the time.

At the start of my blogging journey,  I wrote about the busy years and now, once again life has taken a 360-degree turn and things have changed. It is interesting to look back to June 20, 2011, and see how things have changed.

And so the musing of this elderly woman in far away New Zealand comes to an end for another day.

“And as the water continues in its downhill rush over rocks
and the thoughts continue to tumble around in my brain
with no defined pattern or path,
they eventually find and settle into a safe place
and the void is suddenly filled
and my mind is active once again.”
Judith Baxter, sister, mother, grandmother
blogger, and friend
1938 –

 

Moving Forward

Today, I changed the header to my blog. Not because my heart became ready for the Architect to leave but because this is a New Year and time for new adventures (hopefully happier ones than last year).  I shall never forget the Architect.  Along with my Dashing Young Scotsman, he’ll always be part of the rest of my life. but as Mary Oliver says “I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

So being a firm believer in the fact that no experience is ever wasted, I ask myself what did I learn from the major accident in 2016.  I learned that

• One quickly finds out who are your true friends
• And the real meaning of friendship
• It’s alright to ask for help
• How to ask for help and accept it graciously and gratefully
• People/friends and family are only too willing to do anything they can to help
• I don’t always have to be in charge
• Others often have a better way of achieving something
• It’s a real bonus to have so much time to read

And then a short 7 weeks after  I was proclaimed all healed by the fact that my driving licence was no longer suspended I managed to fracture my shoulder.  I used those things i learned over the next 6 weeks while the shoulder healed.

So now going into this New Year, knowing just how fragile life really is, and armed with a desire to do and achieve more I’m going to be more aware

• of what I do,
• of how I can help others
• of time spent with family and friends

“…there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.”
Mary Oliver September 1935 –

Dust if you must

If this is your copyright, I apologise for using it.  Please let me know.

I have no doubt you have heard of our earthquake.  7.7 on The Richter Scale – yes, it was a big one.  While we celebrate the fact that only one death was directly attributable to the earthquake, that of a man who was killed when a historic homestead collapsed and a woman who died of a heart attack; we mourn for the two lives lost. The man’s 100-year-old mother survived.

And those of us affected by minor damage in our houses try to get back some sense of normalcy into our lives.  Added to the damage caused to roads and buildings, has been the torrential rain that we have experienced since the quake.  Many buildings in Wellington’s Central Business District have been damaged, shops, offices and schools are closed while the result of damage to the properties is evaluated.

But down south at and near the epicentre things are so much worse.  Some places are cut off entirely as roads are impassable.

It is at times such as this when we thank the powers that be for our being unhurt by a disaster of this magnitude that we take stock of our lives once again.

Shirley Conran told us that Life is too Short to Stuff a Mushroom” but this poem by Rose Milligan says it for me:

“Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better
to paint a picture ,or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
Music to hear and books to read,
friends to cherish and life to lead?

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there,
with the sun in your eyes and the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
this day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself will make more dust.”

Wikipedia tells me it was originally published in 1998 in “The Lady” Britain’s longest-running weekly women’s magazine. It has been in continuous publication since 1885 and is based in London.

So dust if you must, or stuff a mushroom but for me, this has been yet another wake-up call.  So I’m off to see what other adventures await me.

 

More Walking

“One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, 
“and what is inside them,
for words have the power to change us.”
― Cassandra Clare, American author of young adult fiction,
1973 –

Many years ago I discovered Julia Cameron and her book The Artist’s Way.  Through this book, her suggestions and in particular, her Morning Pages, I found that what I really wanted was be a life coach.  I then discovered a special Life Coach, Cary Volmer in Minnesota, and found out first hand what a life coach does.  She encouraged me and subsequently I took a Life Coach course in Australia  and became certified.

So why am I telling you this today, many years after the event?  Well, today I purchased Julia’s next book – The Artist’s Way for Retirement.

As usual, I’m spending the weekend with my son and his family.  Today my son was asleep as he works as Night Manager at a Wellington Hotel, my grandsons and their mother were all working and so I took myself off for my walk and ended up in the local mall.  The bookshop, as always, drew me to it and I saw this book.  I picked it up just to look at it, you understand.  The book fell open and the first thing that jumped out at me was the paragraph that included:

“Walking makes” a quilt out of the silken patches of our experience.
So yes, it’s important that we walk.”

For me, walking has broadened my life, making me more independent than I have been for several months -4 or 5 kms a day makes all the difference to my life.  So of course, I had to buy the book.

As I’m almost completely recovered I now have to decide what to do with this life of mine and so I’m starting the 12-week course covered in this book to find out where I’m going next and what I am going to do.  So as we say,and if you’re interested, watch this space.