More Wood Anemones

Here is a another picture of Wood Anemones in bloom, taken a couple of days ago, which shows better how they usually grow - lots and lots of them together under the trees.

Quotation of the Week (18/09)

The worst is not
so long as we can say
"This is the worst."

Shakespeare, King Lear, IV.I.27

Carpe Diem

All of April so far has been unusually fine (and very dry), the mornings a bit chilly but some sunny afternoons feel almost like summer. Yesterday was one such day, 20°C (=68°F) in the afternoon. I spent the day at my parents' house outside town. Had some paperwork to sort out with and for them, but I also took the time to take a walk by myself through the wood down to the lake nearby. The wood anemones are in full bloom everywhere. I hadn't got my camera with me yesterday, but I insert a photo that I took two years ago. I picked a few flowers and brought back for my parents to put in a small vase, since they can't get out into the wood themselves now. I also sat a while on a fallen tree trunk down by the lake, and just listened to the sound of gentle waves lapping on a little sandy beach. When I got back to the house, we were able to have our afternoon coffee and tea outside. It is good to be able to "stop time" for at least a moment on a day like this, and just take in the sun, the spring flowers and verdure, and the sounds of waves lapping, and birds chirping.

Raven's Wordzzle #60

Wordzzle Challenge #60 at Raven's Nest

Ten Word Challenge: preparation, tic-tac-toe, splurge, auction block, the bitter end, milk, papyrus, when the parade passes by, bill of lading, stone wall

Mini Challenge: polar bear, 20 seconds, get it together, spasmodic, antiquity

My comment about this week's challenge:

I feel I'm kind of half-cheating this week in my mix of the words, but I didn't have much time. Half way through the first paragraph (last Sunday), I got a sort of emergency call myself, and then had to spend the rest of the week sorting out "real life" stuff instead, including both real emergencies or half-emergencies and false ones caused by technical problems as phones and alarm systems out of order... Today, looking back at the chapter I managed to put together this week, I think it almost sort of reflects my own week... (Well, except for the butler and the fire and the pool and whatever... But still...)

The Slumber Party Mystery

Chapter 6 - Fire alarm

With a spasmodic little jump, Bumblebee, the butler, carrying the tray with the ingredients for the Sunburst cocktails through the library, only just avoided tripping over the polar bear skin, which the General had bought from the auction block. The General sometimes liked to indulge in a splurge when it came to aquiring unusal objects from all over the world. Bumblebee sighed and picked up the Antiquity Journal from the desk and put it under his arm. He noted in passing that he must remember to water the papyrus plant in the evening. Then he went out through the open glass doors. On the terrace, he froze. It took him nearly 20 seconds to take in the scene and get it together: the sausages sizzling on the grill, the fire spreading through the dry grass, and the General lying motionless in his chair by the pool. Then he quite calmly put the tray down on the stone wall surrounding the terrace, took the jug of orange juice and splashed its contents over the worst of the fire, went over to the Generals deck chair, which was on wheels, and pushed it gently down the sloping ramp into the shallow end of the pool. Himself standing knee-high in the water, he took his cellphone out of his pocket.

At the fire station it had so far been a quiet afternoon. After having made preparations for next week's fire drill, Joe had read two chapters of a detective novel entitled "The Bitter End", played a few games of tic-tac-toe on the computer, and was just pouring milk into another cup of tea, humming "when the parade passes by" to himself (and thinking that no, he couldn't remember the lyrics properly…) when the alarm call came.

About the same time, the delivery van from the grocery store drove up in front of the General's house. The driver had been delayed because of some problems with a bill of lading back at the store.

Aches, Pains and Worries

"Aches, Pains and Worries"... When I created my blog in January, it was really as a kind of escape from these three words. But this last week they caught up with me again.



Since it seems my blog has somehow managed to gather a handful of followers over the past few months, it is perhaps time I at least mention that the APW:s are there. The Aches and Pains are concentrated to my neck, shoulder and arm; and they very much limit my ability to do things I like to do (including reading, writing and blogging), as well as all the things I don't particulary enjoy but that one has to do anyway... (It was a seemingly minor accident at work that started it, and I've now been in early retirement with disability insurance pension for five years.)

Right now, there are additonal Worries connected to suddenly having to take on sort of parental duties towards my own ageing parents. The W:s increase the A:s and P:s, and then in turn the A:s and P:s increase the W:s, and it quickly becomes a vicious circle... If I'm not able to spend as much time in the blog-world over the next few weeks as I have been doing lately, this is why.

Quotation of the Week (17/09)

Another quotation from Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, which I'm reading slowly...

"War's never a winning thing. You lose all the time, and the one who loses last asks for the terms."

(said by an old colonel, when the boys ask him to tell them about "a battle won")

Old Friends & Lyrics

Simon & Garfunkel - Old Friends concert, 2003

My favourite songwriter since nearly 40 years is Paul Simon. I "discovered" him (Simon & Garfunkel) when I was 15, and I still listen to his/their records. The old LP:s I had, I now have on CD. (I still have the LP:s as well, but no record player to play them on...)


My previous post - "The Age Thing" - made me think of the lyrics to

Old Friends, from the album Bookends (1968)

(Paul, born in October 1941, was then 26)

Old friends,
Old friends,
Sat on their parkbench
Like bookends.

A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes
Of the old friends.

Old friends,
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sun.

The sounds of the city,
Sifting through trees
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends.

Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a parkbench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.

Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years,
Silently sharing the same fears.

Time it was
and what a time it was.

A time of innocence,
A time of confidences.

Long ago... it must be...
I have a photograph,
Preserve your memories,
They're all that's left you...

I loved Paul's music when I was 15 and I still do - so that part of myself remains pretty well "preserved"! Some of the early songs also bring back lots of memories; for example of old friends with whom I used to listen to the records and interpret the lyrics back in the 70's.

But I also love that he has kept moving on as a musician. Come to think of it, isn't this really a great illustration of what I was discussing in the previous post: a musician still playing the old music, but also continuing to write new songs and trying out different kinds of music and rhythms...

On his 2006 album, Surprise, 65-year-old Paul also discusses the problems of growing old:

It's a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain.

It's outrageous a man like me stand here and complain.

But I'm tired. Nine hundred sit-ups a day.

I'm painting my hair the colour of mud, mud okay?

I'm tired, tired. Anybody care what I say?

No! I'm painting my hair the colour of mud.

---

Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone? God will.

Like he waters the flowers on your windowsill.

(from the song "Outrageous")