Ponderings In The Park

ChickPea and Mr Mutt took TH to his work one morning recently, then they found a cheeky (and slightly illegal, we have to confess) parking place so that they could head off to the park for an hour before Morning Prayer (which might, perchance, offset the ‘illegal’ thing a little)……

The weather was dry, the sun was out – it was A Good Place To Be. A good place to buffer the body with a little exercise and buffer the spirit with Time Out.

They galloped a very little, ‘power walked’ a small little, walked fairly fast a lot. Stopped by to watch the ducks ….. including the very tall long-leggedy grey ‘duck’ with a very long pointy beak who was clearly really pretending not to be a heron (“Herons eat fish” he said when ChickPea asked him – “I’m eating bread, and I’m in a DUCK pond, so I must be a duck”)….. And then it was time to find a seat and cool down a little. Well, 2 seats as it transpired…..

The first seat was by the pond. In their wisdom, Those Who Did It positioned the seat to face the path and some bushes, ie. with back to the pond…(nuhr…) …so no chance of comfortable distraction and oblivion by watching the ducks then…….

So there they were, Mr Mutt and ChickPea, watching the world whiz by, variously on 2 feet, 4 feet and 2 wheels…. Distracting really……. Most distracting………. Increasingly and irritatingly distracting. Hence The Other Seat.

Now the Second Seat was a wee bit away from the beaten track, slightly up a slope, overlooking the river, and the university, and The Ways Of The World. Here, several paths converged – or diverged. Dependent upon your perspective. So, from Here you could see where these paths led – well, the first bit of the path anyway. So you could choose your way forward with a little enlightenment. Unlike the challenge of trying to identify Potentially Possible Paths in th’ ol’ “Life” context. ChickPea and Mr Mutt sat in the sunshine and Pondered………

Yesterday ChickPea and Mr Mutt kindof did much the same. Tho the day wasn’t. Maybe it was because yesterday was the Feast Day designated to Mary Magdalene. (That was a nice surprise).

But yesterday there was atmospheric dampness. The park was quiet. Mr Heron was pretending to be a garden statue. And there wasn’t a lot of pondering. In fact, ChickPea’s Head was remarkably quiet. Settled even. It seems like some of the re-filing has happened, some of the initial angst is maybe past, and some of The Dilemma isn’t anymore. Time Will Tell (but there, Time never could keep a secret).

But - tell me – this question remains - is something still a “choice” if you don’t see it or recognize it as such ? …… ChickPea can look back from this far distance to when she left school, and ponder the choices she made then….. and re-evaluate ... and Wonder Why she didn’t see the other options that were also there… that now seem so obvious, and maybe would have been attractive to choose….

But, if something is unrecognised / unidentified as An Option at that time, maybe it isn’t An Option at all …… What thoughts, blogreader ?

(C’mon – I dare you - have a ponder an’ share it with us – live Life On The Edge………)

Walking the Way..........

ChickPea rediscovered the canal towpath yesterday. Was a Local Holiday day. TH needed a breath of fresh air, Mr Mutt needed his constitutional, the car needed to be collected from overnight parking near the hostelry they visited the night before. This combination of factors has previously resulted in Parkland Perambulation or Riverside Ramblings. But yesterday it was the turn of the canal.

The sun was shining…….Mr and Mrs Morehen and family of four were paddling out and about……. the dragonflies were practicing aerobatics…….. the ‘Wild Meadow’ plants alongside the sparkling water were resplendent in purple, white, blue, red, yellow…… the footpath had been restored since ChickPea last visited (about 15 years ago).....

.

.......TH was clicking here and there, camera in hand...........Mr Mutt's eyes were shining.......... and gee it was warm…......

Was Glorious. Was Time Out. Life Is Good.

BalloonFest

ChickPea opened the door yesterday, and got visited……… by the WhatIfs, the IfOnlys, the WhyDidntIs, the MaybeIfIHads and the PerhapsWeCouldHaves. Quite a crowd. Somewhat of a rabble. Most Distracting.

The visitors had a rare old party.

ChickPea wasn’t so sure. But luckily there were balloons………loads and loads of balloons………. and loads and loads of air……..(she hadn’t been mixing soufflé recently)……..and a wee breath of breeze……….. Ideal ingredients for An Alternative Approach.

Best party game of all time……… ChickPea was steward and Had Responsibility to organize the event……..each contestant gets given slightly more balloons than necessary to suspend their weight above the ground…….. open the door and ………. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !

GREAT. Peace and Quiet came round then. Much easier company.

Kindness

Apologies for ChickPea’s absence. And thanks for kind comments. Fuelled by incense from the Thurible, Lay Clerk’s insurance nightmare, and Can Bass 1’s dilemmas of form-filling, we find ourself here again.

Has been a rollercoaster week and weekend. TH and ChickPea have met such kindness throughout. We’re not into ‘soppy-stuff-religiosity’……. But nonetheless, sometimes you just find that the Love of God envelops and enfolds you and carries you through something. That’s how it has been this week, preparing for and living through DJ’s funeral which happened yesterday. A most difficult experience completely transformed by Love, Caring and so, so much Kindness.

And now the clouds of yesterday morning have passed, sunshine is with us, and both Eeny and Meeny are giving us eggs on a daily basis. Mr Mutt is dozing with one eye open, and on us, in hope of a Little Light Exercise. Ms Mog is deep in The Land Of Nod. The Chooks want Someone To Talk To……Anyone Will Do … (and Please Please PLEASE Give Access To The Garden at the same time…..)

Normal Service will resume soon……….

Dearest DJ. R.I.P.

We knew we were nearing this time, but expected ‘the day and the hour’ to be a while away yet. We were wrong.

Thankfully we had visited him in his Respite accommodation most days over last week, and had spent much of Sunday afternoon with him out in the sunshine in their garden. Though dozing much of the time, he clearly enjoyed both his own and my tea and egg custard pies, and surprised us with an appreciative comment regarding the roses. (He spent many years in his own garden, and cultivated beautiful roses which gave both him and his wife such joy). He was settled, appeared comfortable and at peace. This reportedly continued after we left. He enjoyed his supper and a later snack, and was sitting quietly in the communal lounge, apparently dozing in accustomed fashion.

But he had slipped away to The Next Realm. He had been so ready and waiting – and so impatient - to Go for so, so long.

May he Rest In Peace.

Quite By Surprize

“Hello. This is us, sayin' for ourselves. Not too bad a day today – we’re now getting’ the hang of how to get ourselves out the hoosie an' down the ladder and how to scratch and peck right down into the grass roots to find Interesting Things……. Mostly Tasty, of course…….

“There was a lot of precipitation yesterday, so we got muddied feets – some sunshine today, which was much better.

“But she tricked us again tonight.

“Earlier, we’d popped into the hoosie for a wee rest, and He came out the door – so we went out to make sure He knew we were onto Him, and not caught napping. Thought He’d maybe got us something to eat – but He went away again. So we pottered about, at This An’ That, got bored and went up into the hoosie for a rest.

“Then She came out – Quietly – or so she thought – but heh ! WE could see her from here – so out we went to say ‘hello’ – and she went and disappeared off again. Oh well… (Fluffs feathers a bit…..)

“Then it was getting a bit dark – an’ that tabby cat from next door wiz thinkin’ his arm could jus’ reach in thru our door…. An’ then She shut it …….. took us Quite By Surprize, She did – must’ve crept out the front door and down the side of the house to catch us out like that – very quietly - She DID talk to us – once She’d shut the door - so we knowed it was Her…….. but Quite by Surprize….. we’d’ve gone out to say ‘Hello’ if we’d known……… so we told Her – even tho the door was shut - we told Her real good – we told Her alright……….. if only we’d’ve seen her coming……….”

Discerning The Time........

Now – what IS ChickPea on about this time ?

‘Discerning The Time’ … could be about the sun……. When Mr Mutt was out for his ‘early’ constitutional recently, the sun was well up, but had not yet reached the zenith. So I guess it must have still been ‘morning’. But getting any closer to digital accuracy would be tricky. Aye, Discerning The Time can be interesting, plus or minus a sundial.

Or it could be about ChickPea’s infamous watch….. An A**a Special (we’d better use the stated principle of Protecting The Innocent – even for A**a…) which cost ChickPea an extravagant £5 when previous watches had Given Up The Struggle or simply Wandered Off Elsewhere. The previous A**a Special was of analogue design, with clockface and hands ……. and a wee chappie on a surfboard (yup - kinda fun !) This yin is digital…….. and ChickPea finds herself doing mental gymnastics to re-visualize the figures as a face with hands…….. ‘cos rarely is she asking “What time is it ?” but “How long have I got till……” or (more often) “How late am I ?” This yin also has the irritating habit of engaging ‘reset’ mode at most inconvenient moments, so even a digital representation of the time is something of a surprise…... Aye, Discerning The Time can be challenging with a digital watch, too……..

Maybe she’s concentrating on ‘The Time’ because ‘The Way’ is actually the relevant question. Where on earth does she go from here ? Where and how will she find employment ? How will she pick up the current pieces and make them fit together in a gainful package ? How will she motivate herself to cope with it all ? Aye. A wee episode of Displacement, maybe. (And complete lack of Discernment of any sort at all).

Perhaps she’s bogged down in ‘Biological Clock’ stuff. That would certainly help explain some of the loopiness we’re seeing (according to ‘Grumpy Old Women’ programmes on UK TV).

Or maybe she’s gone metaphysical on us, and is alluding to Those Moments In Life when you find yourself drawn towards Another, and Wondering………”If I Should”……. or, “If I Might”…..… it may be someone you know, or someone you don’t know – but the dilemma can be similar………. sometimes The Time Is Right to reach out and give…… or to Open Communication Channels and drop the barriers and receive……… and sometimes The Time Is NOT Right, or not appropriate…….. Who Knows ? Aye, Discerning The Time can be most perplexing….

Or it could be that she is still going over and over and over in her heart concerning the unfolding of timing regarding DJ’s re-location of living circumstances into Permanent Residential Care……..

Aye. ‘Discerning The Time’……a dilemma…… and I guess sometimes, despite determination….. you just can’t.…. for yourself. Sometimes you just have to Trust Others, knowing that their ‘outside insights’ are shared thoughtfully, kindly, carefully……… with Love For All Concerned.

Who Knows. (That Immortal ‘Who’ again….)

'Discerning The Time'. What are your experiences and insights ?