Help Wanted?

Surprisingly simple

this act of service.

Surprisingly difficult

when I don’t feel like serving

Surprisingly simple

just to help with the dishes.

Surprisingly difficult

to wash when you’d rather dry.

Surprisingly simple

to walk or jog for a cause.

Surprisingly difficult

to know what cause to support.

Surprisingly simple

to just say no to any demand.

Surprisingly difficult

to discern what is really needed.

Surprisingly simple 

to volunteer for everything.

Surprisingly difficult

to know when not to volunteer.

Surprisingly simple and difficult

to listen to your mind or to your heart.

“The art of decision making includes the art of questioning.”

~ Pearl Zhu, The Art and Science of Decision Making

Surprisingly Simple ~ SERVICE ~ February 2019 Theme

Surprisingly simple….

Everlasting satisfaction….

Reliable protection….

Velvety touch…..

Intuitive dance steps……

Contrasting balance……

Eager sincerity….

“The interior joy we feel when we have done a good deed, 

when we feel we have been needed somewhere and have 

lent a helping hand, is the nourishment our soul requires.”

~ Albert Schweitzer

Movie Review ~ Mary Poppins Returns directed by Rob Marshall

In my own circles, and at a grocery store, I received unsolicited rave reviews about Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins. All of these reviews were from children over the ages of 65. Smiles and laughter emanated along with firm direction: 'You must see this movie.' I would have gone to see it anyway as the original Mary Poppins is one of my all time favourites. So yesterday afternoon was designated my movie outing to follow my youthful heart. Bag of buttered popcorn in hand I settled in to watch this movie that has joined the original Mary Poppins as the twin of my all time favourite.

Imagine my dismay when I read reviews this morning obviously written by children that were far too grown up. Well, pish posh to that! What I loved about this movie is that snippets of the original story were carried into the new story of Michael Banks and Jane Banks, sister and brother, grown and with grown up lives. Michael Banks, played by Ben Wishaw, is a newly widowed father with three children played by Joel Dawson (George), Pixie Davies (Anabel) and Nathanael Saleh (John) living in the family home at the fictional address of 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Jane Banks, played by Emily Mortimer, lives alone in an apartment. In a nod to her mother in the original Mary Poppins, Jane is the organizer for SPRUCE (The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Underpaid Citizens of England).

Without going into too much detail, a tattered kite flown by young George Banks gets away from him and is returned by none other than Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins has returned to her early charges when trouble at the bank, managed by William W. Weatheral, played by Colin Firth, threatens to take their home away. From the opening of the movie, Jack, a lamplighter by trade, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda, weaves the same magic that Dick Van Dyke as Bert did as a chimney sweep in the 1964 movie. His lamplighter colleagues, Leeries as they are called, have a lovely dance scene reminiscent of Bert’s chimney sweep colleagues. 

Topsy, played by Meryl Streep, plays with upside down worlds every other Wednesday but can fix everything. Dick Van Dyke, at 91, tap dances on his nephew’s desk - and fires him as bank manager. Angela Lansbury, the Balloon Lady, appears in the last scene with her own bit of magic. There are many more hints from the past, all of them tucked lovingly into the story. Did I say I loved this movie!? Yes indeed I did and I do hope that you love it too. It could be in my all too resilient imagination though.

“Practically perfect in every way.”

 ~ Mary Poppins

Directed by Rob Marshall

Screen play by David Magee

Story by Magee, Marshall, and John deLuca 

Partial Cast

Emily Blunt - Mary Poppins

Dick Van Dyke - Mr. Dawes, Jr.

Angela Lansbury - The Balloon Lady

Lin-Manuel Miranda - Jack, lamplighter

Ben Whishaw - Michael Banks, 

Emily Mortimer - Jane Banks

Meryl Streep - Topsy

Julie Walters - Ellen, house keeper

Colin Firth - William Weatherall Wilkins, nephew to Mr. Dawes, Jr.

Joel Dawson - George Banks

Nathanael Saleh - John Banks

Pixie Davies: Anabel

Cherishables

For a writing exercise today, I was asked to ‘number from one to ten. List ten things that you can cherish in the life you’ve actually got.’ That seemed to be quite easy however after the first couple of things, I started having difficulty deciding what to put in my Top Ten. My first inclination was to say ~ my kids, all of my family, my friends. On second thought, none of these who I do cherish are ‘things’. The author of this exercise, Julia Cameron, specified things. So I took another tack and started my list. All of the 'things' on this list require people to give my life the resiliency I cherish.

1. My seizure free status. Diagnosed with epilepsy in the summer of 1967, and after many false starts, I learned to manage the epilepsy residing, uninvited, in the amygdala of my brain. That took many years. Unforeseen difficulties arose here and there, but at this writing I have now achieved 19 years seizure free.

2. My career in nursing: I have learned so much, from so many other nurses, doctors and my patients while in three provinces in Canada and several U.S. in employed situations. Additionally, I have learned from health care professionals in seminars, workshops, conventions and online conversations.

3. Retirement: As little as about eight months ago, I wouldn’t have said this. Retiring from a cherished nursing career into a dark oblivion did not appeal. Over the last 53 years, along with all of the rest of life, nursing (and the pay cheques) has been a part of my life and living. So how can I say that I cherish retirement ~ quite frankly because I am tired. Retirement offers time to rest, to recuperate and to rebuild. 

4. Writing: My first desire to ‘write a book’ was in Regina in the 1970’s, the most accurate I can be about the time. I kept diaries and journals almost every day and still journal every day. There were blank weeks, months and sometimes a year or two, but always I have returned to writing. A light bulb moment one day suggested that writing is what I could do in retirement.

5. Sunshine: I love and miss the prairie skies that are big, wide and beautiful. Sunshine that colours have been cherished since I first stepped outside on a sunshiny day. Sunshine that paints clouds in reds, pinks and golds on this Island, where grey skies predominate winter skies. I cherish each ray of sun entering my living room, each ray that brightens trees and sidewalks and that warms my face.

6. Cooking: To prepare, cook, plate (a chef expression) and eat good food is a joy that I have difficulty describing. It is meditative, it is creative, it is nourishing, and allows me to participate in my own life on a very basic level.

7. Dirt: not the dirt that is dirty, dusty and makes a mess, but the dirt in the garden. The dirt, better called soil, that tucks in seeds and roots. The soil that gets under my fingernails in the spring time . 

8. Order: Order lends a calmness within my day. Creativity does require an energy that can also create disorder. But at the end of my day, I put my ‘toys’ away to create the quieter energy I need to sleep.

9. Beauty: Colours, shapes, the mechanics of our bodies….I seem unable to describe what beauty means to me. I only know that I cherish beauty in all people, the environment and my personal surroundings.

10. Body Awareness: Body awareness goes so much deeper than body image. Learning how my body functions and what causes my precious self to feel good or not so good, I become alert to the life I want to live.

“Cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey.”

~ Jack Layton

Time Travelers

Time is inflexible and open.

Clocks tick irrevocably.

Curling into each minute

with resilient calm or panic,

days revolve to nights to days,

our lives carried forward

with the choices we’ve made.

Clocks tick irrevocably.

Time is inflexible and open.

“How did it get so late so soon?”

~ Dr. Seuss

Pulling Taffy

To watch people laugh

brings a smile to my face.

To hear people laugh

teases a chuckle from my heart.

When I laugh with my friends

tears spring from my eyes while I hold my ribs tight.

Laughter is the resilience of our emotions

pulling with the sticky sweetness of silken taffy.

“And what is laughter anyway? Changing the angle of vision.”

~ Erica Jong, Fear of Fifty: A Midlife Memoir

If I Had a Spade

If I had a spade

to dig into the ground 

of my past

it would not be silver or gold

If I had a spade

to scrape off dust and dirt

from cardboard boxes of memories

rust stripes would decorate it.

If I had a spade

for the archaeology of drawers

filled with cards, cords, and bags of stuff

my hand would be a much more resilient spade.

If I had a spade

to retrieve wordy jewels

shelved in the darkness of my mind

my pen would breathe new life into old plans.

“Archaeologists only look at what lies beneath their feet. 

The sky and the heavens don’t exist for them”

~ Agatha Christie, Murder in Mesopotamia