Describe your ideal week.
The list just kept on growing. An ideal week, you ask. WP come on! There is plenty to do and plenty to see… but do you know what?
I’d settle for a guaranteed week of no incidents or accidents, no drama, no shocks, or nasty surprises….plus good health for all. Wouldn’t that be something?
The undersea cables reported to have been cut near Jeddah…..Does this have anything to do with WP being so quiet today, do you think?
The full Harvest Moon last night was stunning. I saw it twice in different parts of the sky. Both times, I was mesmerised by its absolute beauty. It’s power.
Today, we were treated to a spectacular start to the day. Perfect, really. A cloudless sky, beautiful sunshine, and only a whisper of a breeze and a smidgen of bite in the air.
The morning was ideal to go further afield to give Himself a change of scene. We only drove for less than five minutes to find a footpath sign I hadn’t seen before. We parked up and set off for a stroll into unknown territory.
The path was more of a private road between cottages. It led up hill, where it stopped at a five-bar gate and an opening to the side. Ahead looked to be a country type of industrial estate. Sparse but for several huge buildings.
In the distance coming towards us was an enormous double-decker transporter. We waited for it to pass us on the corner, and as it did so I immediately saw the grills on the side, which said to me livestock. My heart lurched, and then the sight of a mass of pigs with their noses to the light finished me off. And that old heart of mine just sank.
What had been a joyous and beautiful morning had vanished.
Pigs are so bright, the intelligence of a five year old child, they say. During loading, they would have sensed everything was all wrong. The journey to disturb them even further and then they would have smelt something to put the fear of death in them.
I loved the Harvest Festival at primary school. It was the only assembly I understood. Giving thanks for the harvest. Made sense to me. The rest of the year crammed into the hall day in day out meant nothing. Well. I guess Christmas was exciting, but I was a child.
‘We plough the fields and scatter, the good seed on the land‘. What a joyous song to sing at the start of the day.
In the centre of the stage would stand a huge loaf of bread shaped into a sheaf of wheat made by a local baker. I loved to see that. It was surrounded by the open shoe boxes we had filled at home with jars and tins and made to look pretty. Later, they would be taken out into the community for the elder folk.
Yes, even at an early age, I understood gratitude.
Name the professional athletes you respect the most and why
Ellie Simmonds gets my vote. In Bejing in the 2008 summer paralympics, at just thirteen years of age, she won two gold medals, then went on to win three more gold,a silver,and two bronze ( Paralympic medals)
Born with Achondroplasia- small stature in 1994 and adopted at three months by a West Midlands couple who cherished their new daughter and encouraged her desire and ability to swim.
Today Ellie is named Aqua Owl by the Girl Guides, and she is an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, WaterAid (a magnificent charity), and The Scouts Association.
Since retiring a healthy career in TV has followed, she has made documentaries and taken part in fun shows.
A true star in and out of the water, this lady has my respect. Totally.
How do you relax?
It’s possible once upon a time if I had heard the word poetry, I’d be ambivalent or worse if the idea of a dusty ol’ Shakespeare sprang to mind. But if Edward Lear, Spike Milligan or Roald Dahl were mentioned I’d sit up..So maybe I’d always felt something as a younger soul?
The most beautiful Lesuire by W.H. Davies has been on my radar for a very long time, and Emily Dickinson and Sara Teasdale, amongst others certainly stir me.
In the bleak mid winter ( once titled A Christmas Carol) by Christina Rossetti began life as a poem…and then became a Christmas carol. I love this, the words, the music. My favourite to hear at that time of the year. ( In fact, I’ll let you into a secret, I find myself humming this tune all year found) So haunting.
Christine’s brother Dante Gabriel and the Pre Raphelites have fascinated me for decades along with William Morris, my hero. But I digress.
DP asked what we do to relax…I thumb through endless poetry books and search sites to feed my appetite for words from a time gone by for poems that resonate. Bliss.
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
We’re bloggers WP, and you want us to give up a word? I’ve been thinking this over, and I cannot think of a thing. Arhh, there you go, you can have thing… but only for today..
I’ve got to that interesting stage in my life in many ways amazing. The wisdom that lets itself in is quite something.
I’m sure most of us have heard someone say ‘ knowing what I know now’ in respect to having the ability to go back in time and relive some of those years.
Yeah, if only in hindsight, we could live those lives differently. I may have chosen to be less generous. But hey.
And yet it wouldn’t have brought me to where I am now. And if we’re comfortable in our skins, we can be grateful for those experiences that led us to this point. Can’t we?
Funding our lives is a bit of a challenge, it has to be said…admitted at some stage. If I am going to be transparent and authentic with you.
Patch and his needs cost me the earth. But what he gives me on return is truly priceless.
If push came to shove, I’d sell my soul for him.
Money cannot buy true humbleness. Can it?
Are you holding a grudge? About?
A grudge is something we really do not need to be carrying around with us. Like it’s ally bitterness, it will chew you up and it doesn’t spit you out. It stays and festers, and only the holder suffers.
It’s not hard to imagine that most people have at one time or another been wronged by another. Slightly or savagely. It hurts yes, and it will own you unless you take hold and choose to let it go…
IN THE BOOMER PIGEON HOLE? 
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