Living Life As It Is
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
LEFT BEHIND
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Simplicity at its best
Children with rosy cheeks sleep quietly amidst the din. The mother shows me how knuckle stones are used in games and divination while the father plays the horse fiddle and does throat singing.
Friday, January 17, 2025
Perfect
17 days into the New Year and shall I make any resolutions?
We had snow and we had storms and we had rain. So this morning's weather was pretty good in comparison. The best thing to do when the weather is fine according to my trusty brain is to get out and see green.
Green as in fields that are so green they never disappoint. The best view of course is from the passenger seat, with the faithful gentleman love-of-my-life on the wheel, and my favourite songs in the background. Miles and Miles of green. Feeling very safe and loved.
My thoughts drifted.
Dreaming of dragons and kings just like Neil Diamond did in Brooklyn Road, every time I passed an abandoned castle, I wondered….
Did they dance in the grand hall with a blazing fire and dined on pheasants brought in from the wild by the gamekeeper? How did the ladies in their long dresses negotiate the very narrow winding staircase? The pomp and the gains. Perhaps they thought that would be eternal, but now is only in ruins.
I looked into popular cafes. Where people entered to be seen rather than to eat. I can’t help agreeing with Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:14. ‘ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun and behold all is vanity, a futile grasping and chasing after the wind.’ And yet we do that over and over again. Every generation. Any age group. Many wants. They are all too tempting.
Looking at the road signs and shop names in English – my brain went into auto mode and was busy translating them into the little Irish that I have learnt. Once a student, always a student. My kind of fun.
We were on the way to an open market that only happens once a week only to find that we had got the day wrong and there wasn't a stall to be seen. What next? Like the ITV Lingo host Adil Ray who always says 'Never mind’ we paused and told ourselves, never mind. No disappointment, only opportunity. So we went to search for a megalithic wedge tomb instead. It helps to have a wide spectrum of interests. Archaeology being one.
I hear that the alligator can live to 100 years.
I think I could live for a 100 years and more.
Just like the alligator. Sometimes snappy. Most times happy.
Enjoying the people I am with. Loving my surroundings. Loving me.
17 days into the New Year and shall I make any resolutions?
No I won't.
Pure content.
Perfect.
Saturday, April 13, 2024
DEFYING GRAVITY
We were about to go to church and I was putting on a pair of dress boots and carrying a pair of trainers as well. He asked: 'Why are you carrying another pair of shoes?' So I said, 'my feet don't listen to me anymore'.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
HUMBLE SERVANT OF THE EARTH
So, I've been invited to give another presentation. This time I title it My Garden, My Canvas. Every now and then, I switch modes. From the usual housekeeping mode, I make a beeline to my laptop and start putting together my thoughts to get ready for the talk. It is actually very intoxicating. Lots of adrenaline pumping. I haven't lost it.
I'm a visual person so I believe in more pictures and less printed words. This means I've to rummage through plenty of gardening photos through the years. I have them all stored according to categories. This is where organising and safe keeping skills honed over the years come in very handy indeed.
Since this is my 14th year in Ireland I have 14 years of gardening memories. From knowing next to nothing about the growing seasons to where I am. From being overwhelmed by slugs and snails to being the human that those slimey creatures slither away from. From being overzealous and over ambitious to being more practical and realistic.
I think I have done quite a lot.
In fact I'm stunned at the power of learning and adaptation to a new hobby. There is an inexplainable glow within as I pat myself on my head and whisper softly, 'Well done, good and humble servant of the earth.'
Money wise it makes no sense to grow my own vegetables or flowers when supermarkets are bursting with cheaply priced produce. Peat free compost, horse manure, fertilisers, slug pellets, gardening tools, gardening equipment - they all don't come cheap.
But the non-monetary benefits!!
Peaceful days
Beads of healthy perspiration, a happy heart and a sound mind. Not forgetting lovely fresh produce right in my backyard. Call me bias, but a homegrown tomato vs a store bought one, is like comparing apples to oranges.
The beauty of tenacity.
Storm Kathleen has just passed and the garden is in a mess. The pergola is wrecked but life goes on and we can rebuild.
So even as I prepare the power point slides I continue to discover.
I want to incorporate a home made video into the presentation but don't know how. How thankful I am for good friends like Robin Wallace who will help me brainstorm over a cup of Milo next week.
Then I found that my 24 year old slide clicker is not working. So before I threw it out, I read the instructions again. Yes, the little instruction booklet is still there in its case. Then I realised that there is such a thing called a battery which needed to be replaced.
So what can I say?
Another year and onwards to more self discovery and the little pleasures of life.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
WELCOME Home ❤️
Saturday, December 30, 2023
THE JOURNEY
It was a cool morning and the final week of 2023 when my friend and I decided to meet up at a local cafe. She ordered peanut butter toast with banana slices and I ordered a bap with cheese and egg. Not one who has a great appetite for breakfast, I couldn't finish the bap and so I ate the good bits - the melted cheese and the egg - and left some bread behind.