The cool of a summer night

five minutes of fame
How refreshing to know that while it has been hot outside you have been so comfortable in a cool house. And then the joy of actually feeling cold as you sit under the fan.

Simple joys.

Simple pleasures, yet in the sense of the humidity, hot relentless sun that so much of the world lives under, what luxury.

Let Trump have his marble and his gold fittings and what for five minutes may be the best of what he can achieve..........But give me the blessing of a cool house in the heat and this luxury means more than most others I could even begin to consider.

And then to have rain. The gift that always remains a gift from above, but which refreshes, greens the grass, lifts our spirits and grows the newly planted seedlings.

I am blessed. So much to be thankful for.

the morning after

Oh the joy of a super long deep deep sleep and the lesser joy of waking around midday with a hot cat cuddled up to the back and adding to the warmth of the encroaching summer heat.

But a long deep sleep. What a blessing.

Five minutes of fame

If help was really helpful!

I always wonder why the obvious in so convoluted and obtrusive. Why is the help button usually the most frustrating one to use on the internet.

I lost my pass word

I lost the dashboard.......Well the one in my car is ok ...If a bit dusty.

But where oh where art thou, oh blogger dashboard?

I can find my blog.......Ah but signing in.

We again have the password caper. This is such fun.

Unless you are somewhat obsessive you tend not to have all that many passwords. Some wonderful institutions such as bigpond delight in giving you new ones as, sometimes the least obvious answer to the question. But blogger.......Now why would I use anything but one of my normal passwords, my everyday it does not matter much if not desperately secure passwords.........Why would I not use that?

It might be five minutes of fame but it sure is much more than 15 minutes of blogger-send-me-password-help, trivial self indulgent waste of words that I am indulging while waiting.

Again an early morning.

Again up with the dew and aching all over, no doubt the promised of at least some rain to come. Starting what watering is allowed in this time of drought and again seek from the One who gives us all good things to enjoy, and who gives the rain on the good and the evil alike, that blessing of rain, appropriately dispersed in catchment areas and in our gardens to give that refreshment that is like no other.

So much to be thankful for in the beauty of a rose bud, and the glimse of the sun about to rise.

Reflecting again on the topic of dogs.........
I neglected to speak of lame dogs, which was really the central theme of my last post. It is the lame dogs who trip us up. Who call forth our sympathies which are often then so grossly abused as we have no way of assessing the truth of what is lame in actuality and either fake or grossly exaggerated.
Those are the ones that need the swift kick.
Oh that I were strong enough to give it..........But the kind heart gets in the way of the strong foot.

Kicking vs sympathy

DOGS, SLEEPING, LAZY, AND JUST LETTING THEM LIE!

Having picked up the odd dog that appeared to need a helping hand, and having that hand bit rather badly, it occurs to me that it is more than just a saying to "let sleeping dogs lie"

Of course we get sucked in as we hear their whimpers, and being basically kind in nature, we give them a pat, some food and drink and where withal to get on their way.

We seldom see things as they are, dogs being lazy as a long term life style, even though they are often self proclaimed.

But we feel we can assist, rescue and get them onto their feet as productive members of life again.

How often do we look at the down dog and say......I am sure he deserved it. And so keep walking.

No there is some appeal about the hang dog look that call in our misplaced sympathies.

And what do we get?

Another oldie but a truism...
It bites the hand that feeds it.

So what do I do next time I see that dog on the ground.......

hold me back someone........Before I give the first kick!

The perfect way to spend a hot day was yesterday. House superbly cool, sleep a welcome refuge from the temptation to do anything that would disturb the peace and tranquility inside. Outside the sun blazed, the ants scurried, the birds burrowed in the lawn and it was hot, disturbing and unfriendly.

And with that heat the fires in an adjoining state. People making wrong choices in the heat and confusion and trying to outrun the fire and buring to a cinder. The utter tragedy of the grandmother minding two children.

To lose not only children but a Mother. To have to question your judgement for the remainder of your life. The horror of heat. No wonder heat is the analogy for hell. How can people be so equally dulled into not looking at choices of life beyond death. Of not even daring to read the Bible and never giving the still small voice of the Almighty a chance to speak. That is the ultimate tragedy!

Today, not as hot. The handyman did some more basic work on vines on trellises and planted a few seedlings. The lawn edges were done but time ran and so I must find enthusiasm from somewhere to attack lawns in the next couple of days. Again without cash. How easy it would be if he would only take a cheque. How easily people evade tax.....How conforming I must pay it.

Having settled those issues I retired with breakfast muesli extra chopped apricots and shaved almond pieces and a dash of cream. Total decadecne - served in a soup mug and accompanied by a new book to read. So it was not breakfast but brunch and a delightful falling from reading into sleep.

Awakened by the phone, Clarence the man from the US of A, selling magazines here in Australia. Less job opportunites seen here so he would hold to the one he had. Cut my subscriptions to a more basic level for the next 20 months but locking in a price of approx $3.50 rather than around $8 plus each piece of eye candy.

Wish it were as easy to solve the storage problems of yet more paper entering the house.

People must be returning to work. Two more telmarketers swiftly dealt with. If only Clarence had known how lucky his day had been!!

before the sunrise

Having been rudely awoken the third morning in a row by the furry one playing with meals on wheels, I decided to rise and have a drink.

Sleep alluding me and the furry one deciding to crawl around my head and in under the sheets I again tried to settle.

Finally the mind went into full action and the body reluctantly followed and I wandered outside, the dew wet on bare feet and changed the fitting on a hose that had been leaking.

Satisfied that no more water would be wasted I left the system on and noticed the Peace rose bush.

Being top grafted it was like a mop top of soft satin palest of pink creams. It seemed a shame for the sun to spoilt it so I cut them. Stems around 40cm long and massed with flowers.

Also collecting some red rosebuds to add to an existing vase I came in and arranged them.
It was just light enough for the sensor lights to still engage.

Now as I sit and type I see the full sun creeping under my lounge room window giving promise of a day that will probably be hotter than my natural preference, but a lovely reminder of the balance of rain, dew, sun and darkness.

That same balance that is seen so often in our lives as we move from dark places into shade and then sunlight again. From barren dessert to the refreshment of rain.

So much to be thankful for and not yet 7 am.

chaos in the bath!

This chaos is becoming maddeningly normal. The process of selling one home and deciding what to keep and what to relocate in the present home is an interesting one to say the least.

If a Mother is a collector and hoarder and a daughter follows in her tracks, how then do we decide what is trash and what is treasure.

Do I accept the dictum's that creativity and tidiness are not normal bedfellows, or shall I challenge accepted patterns of thought?

Do I throw things away because that is what others do, or do I take time, especially do I allow my Mother time, to chose and to adjust so that at the end of her life it is not a major time of loss all around.

I took time. Yes I lived in chaos. But I am grateful. The last thing I expected was for my Mother to have to be in a nursing home, but how grateful I was to have kept enough of the essence of her house, so that she could visit and still see that in essence she still had a sitting room. That the choices of furniture she had made were not trashed but treasured.





But back then I mused......



Can I create in a tidy world?





I certainly prefer to be tidy and I much prefer to start with a clean slate.



Can I intersperse elements of order into the mess and confusion?



Looking back small steps of progress has been made.





Some elements of projects have been securely located together.





Maybe I shall find order in my world.

At least I found order in the bathroom!