I was musing

Yesterday.... I was musing & thinking of several of my friends who are venturing into new lives ... experiences... & wondering how it was all going.

As I stepped over the threshold carrying a cane laden basket of crisp sun dried laundry ... it came to me, that these folks & many of us more are rather unique people.
Doing these things alone is not always beer & skittles as one of my work trainers said eons ago... as he lurched a load of reluctant public servants into a new era...
It is scarey and exhilorarting stuff.
Where the emotions run from the first buzz... then the cold icy blood shoots to your toes... then the dogged plod to get from A to dry land again... floating in holding patterns tests everyone...
But once on the otherside there is rarely time to sit and reflect on it all as one has to hit the ground running.

These unique ladies... have just begun new journeys... with a:
* guest house,
* has sold a business & will begin study in the new year as well as work in the business that was sold...
*India on a textile tour is another destination that begins today.... I applaud their courage to change their direction, their sense of self, their inner beauty.... and I wish them the best the world can offer....

Bridges crossed or to passover

BRIDGES... many we have crossed and more will arise to pass over into new places....

Just think how many times we have metaphorically crossed over a bridge because we had a choice, or it was the best option or it was the only way forward.

Sometimes I have pondered on a bridge & watched the water rush by, always going some place... except in droughts where the water became in some cases a pool of stagnant water.

Just as in our lives sometimes we have these flurries of enormous change & then that settling period to sometimes ( I smile) it too becomes the ho hum everyday.

I bought a sweet little book of days on the weekend & has well thought out entries... I opened it at random while I ate lunch the day I bought it & there at number 44 was... It is ok to make U Turns in life ......... I loved that meaning.

It went on to say how it takes courage to change one's mind... and I now rest my case... cross a bridge today... watch what is about & under you... and how it feels to be able to get to the other side of a divide !

Teachers arrive when one needs new lessons

How wonderful it was to gaze into this mandarin tree, laden with the colours of it's fruit.....

it has stood bearing fruit for many many years through waterlogged years & dustbowl years & some beautiful perfect years... just like people really there are many seasons we all have lived through & each one day is different from the next.

As I wrote that I wondered about perhaps how some keep each day so tightly controlled that the predictability is their safeness.... the day begins at the exact time as yesterday & then one's routines begin. Ah now I understand how some get so upset when the daily newspaper is not on it's standard arrival time of 6.43 am precisely. I seem to like to listen in on these complaints in newsagents whereever I am... they are the same melody....

Why I returned to write a second rambling today was I have ordered 2 books from Amazon on women living single lives. You know how when the student is ready & the teacher arrives... in the newsletter filled usually with decor books to tempt me came a whatever thing on living singularly... intrigued I read the blurb.. & then roamed through several books... coming back time & time in the followings days until I did select 2 which are now happily on their way.....

I am interested as others tell their stories... I love that the best in books today... it for me gives inspiration, it often normalises who I am & I love to read what we all think of our own lives as ordinary... I so enjoy being in these lives as I think they do write with honesty

Which is a thing for me.... I kind of understand this some more now as I spoke to a great aunt & she tells wonderful stories as she talks & weaves a beautiful tapestry of life that my genes are linked to ... an ancestor from Ireland was a Quaker & she spoke & possibly lived with the ways of quakers... never a lie to be told has come down through several generations... given one's word is another that I wrestle with... and as I meet more of the links I see the openess to people that comes with one's word is always good & honesty is a virtue to behold & here we are very trusting & open folk... with a private side of course that each respects & comprehends this to be so... small traits passed on.

SNOWPEAS

The day has begun with gentle drip drop of rain.. and now it has a steady rhythm on the tin roof... a snug feel.

Today I love it & after some years of drought the sounds of rain are like natures' symphony....

I open the door this morning to find to my utter delight a blackbird on the wood stack by the door.... it is a silent moment for us both before he takes flight....

Snowpeas are a gift from my neighbour ... the lovliest of surprises are gifts from another's soul...

It is to be taken as an exchange ... how it reminds m, as a child when making friends... that new experience as 4 & 5 yr old as one extends the gift of sharing what toy I had to another with absolute good faith.

This is what I measure generosity by... it is given.. my hand is turned upwards & open....it has no threads of conditions ..it is just pure & simple a gift.

We all have gifts to offer another, some have enormous gifts of time... to give to another. Some cook wonderfully & their kitchens are always open... others push bunches of flowers into one's arms & we laugh.... The snowpeas came with abundance... I felt gratitude that I was thought of to be given so many wonderfully freshly picked produce...

In a busy world we often forget to just be who we really are... the opening of one's heart to the pure ( as in not altered) giving and also of recieving gifts is a delicious nectar.