Branches

Intending to follow 

the direction of my heart,

I set out without a map. 

As a child, instruction from parents 

~ and any adult ~ 

composed a singular map 

Adults were all knowledgeable? 

An adult for many years, 

the truth of what I have known  

has been pared, shifted and changed 

with many maps needed and used

   Lives lived by example

     

   Instructions books

       Text books

   Advice from family and friends,

    Books of all kinds

  Noticing nature’s ways of growing

I set out with many maps in my heart. 

“Maps are way of organizing wonder.”

~ Peter Steinhart, writer and naturalist

To Branch or Not to Branch

I love trees. Individual trees. 

Tall or short, 

grand or stumpy with 

trunks, leaves and branches, 

home to birds and squirrels, 

insects and tiny bugs. 

possibly an orchardist in another life, 

I see a tree in need and want to prune it. 

trim off random suckers draining it of life

remove dead, bare branches that weigh it down

cut away branches broken by wind or a passing semi

 

when the wind swirls ideas, 

poems and stories through my mind

I can pick up my pen and write or,

let flashing, shiny coins distract me or 

pick up my pruning shears and get to work.

“As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into 

one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off 

your miscellaneous activity and concentrate

 your force on one or a few points.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Squirrel Chatter

 

Nerds? Are they ever without a camera?! I wasn't even posing; she just about caught me! But I scampered ~ that is the word those two legged things say ~ down from a really good branch. I had spied a rather juicy morsel and I just had to get to it before any of my buddies did. I was really more interested in food than if I was presented on Facebook. 

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to be 

a squirrel any more. I’d rather be a bird!”

~ Erin Hunter, Moonrise

Overthinking

Which leaf?

Which branch?

Maybe a twig?

“Soon you will be dead and none of it will matter.”

~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: A New Translation

After the Fall

The speed limit sign says 40kph ~ prairie winter winds don’t even want to read 

Twigs and pine cones are strewn on snow coloured and dirtied by sand and salt.

Elderly trees have been blown over damaging property and wires

One branch rests nonchalantly

on its frigid landing pad.

“Nothing is so bitter that a calm mind cannot find comfort in it.”

~ Seneca

On the Island

The south east wind blows cold, flattening long grasses

til their heads bow low

obedient to the whim of this bossy wind.

Brown eyed Susans stand bright and tall, cheerily defiant in these late summer days.

Tree branches wave and bob restlessly in jazz time and tune to this gutsy weather.

Fat rain drops, refrigerated by snowy mountain tops,

are flung helter-skelter onto patient Mother Earth,

into gullied curbs, container gardens and questionably brave umbrellas.

Fall edges closer but is still days away.

Today already feels as though this hilarious

west coast winter is impatient to race in and take over.

“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.”

~ Mark Twain

Shadowed Senses

Blackened branches

lean against hard grey concrete

wavering in cold winter winds

Resilient shadows in streetlights glare.

“There is a strong shadow where there is much light.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen

Author's note: Edited March28, 2024

A Winter Peace

I look up to the bare winter branches to see peace in the gray-white winter sky. Rain 

hesitates to fall yet lets go spare drops to dot blue-gray pavement and gray sidewalks.

I look up to the bare winter branches to see peace in the gray winter sky. Cold air hovers quietly. Only a breath away from wind while rose-colouring my cheeks.

I look up to the bare winter branches

to see peace in the gray winter sky.

Even crows sit silently on fence posts 

and high wires in sleek black tuxedos.

I look up to the bare winter branches

To see peace in the gray winter sky.

Soft mounds of faded leaves spread 

and build against broad, gnarled tree roots.

“I pray this winter be gentle and kind ~ 

 a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.”

~ John Geddes,  A Familiar Rain

The Tree

October, 2017

The tree stood still

Waiting

For the next breeze

Or wind 

To stir passion into its branches

Or maybe

A bird - a heavy bird

Coming in to land

Only bouncing a few leaves.

“Patience is not simply the ability 

to wait ~ it is how we behave while we’re waiting.”

~ Joyce Meyer

Pruning

From Sept 2013 after much pruning

Tonight, I trimmed my tomato plant growing too tall for my container garden

so tall that leaves and stems were curling and browning

so tall that it was stretching up to the overhang

rather like an ego fed by the little voice inside

with edges curling and browning

in the face of comparisons 

with others

with our youth 

with messages of should be

pruning the dry, curling branches back

is an act of kindness.

“Criticism, like rain should be gentle enough to nourish

 a man’s growth without destroying his roots.”

~ Frank A. Clark,  politician

Butterflies, Dragonflies and Ballet

It was a lovely afternoon. My plans for the day were to enjoy my home and be fully content. To write, to read and to have a quiet day. Then an invitation to join a friend for a Romp in the Park intrigued me. A Romp? Had I looked online, I would have been sceptical about ballet in the park, but I didn’t look. I welcomed the invitation which, after a couple of emails, expanded to the coffee shop first, the Romp activity and then to Big Wheel for a burger.

Cameron Bandshell in Beacon Hill Park was bathed in sunshine streaming between the tall Douglas firs. The abundant seating of  green painted benches created a woodland amphitheater. Great blue herons are the first to arrive - actually we were invading their living room! They have their nests and noisy young in the highest branches. Spectators of all ages streamed in to watch the dancers from as far away as South Korea and from Guelph, Ontario. Dancers from Ballet Victoria completed the performers. (Did I mention dogs in the audience of all sizes, all seeking the shade?)

For the next hour we were entertained by the grace and agility of the beautiful dancers. Contemporary dance, ballet, jazz and tap kept me tapping and swaying. From Swan Lake to Jazz dance in ballet our attention didn’t deviate. Except to watch the children that attempted their own form of ballet, to look up in the trees when the herons squawked, and to see the dragonflies and butterflies that danced over the crowd. 

Victoria’s own, Suddenly Dance Theatre is a charitable non-profit society. The ROMP Festival is a free two week program held annually in the summer, bringing dance and ballet to outdoor audiences. This was the 20th year of this wonderful experience.

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair……”

~ Susan Polis Schutz, author

https://www.suddenlydance.ca

Theme and Theory

Prose or poetry escapes me this evening.
Running to hide in the corners of my mind,
only peeking out briefly for this little muse.
Today’s focus, besides the usual homemaking, was writing.  
Oh, not penmanship or scratching and scribbling on the page, 
but scanning through books for structure and form,
sketching ideas on my dry erase boards
fleshing out what has already been written
designing ‘tips and tools’ to fit the theme being written
hanging from the branches of theme and theory ~
and so the muse continues to branch and grow.

“The absence of a muse can be even more inspirational than it’s presence.”

~ ALAgrApHY

An Evening Theme

Truthful branches.
Honest discourse of discovery.
Enthralling topics that fascinate.
Morality wins favour.
Ethics leap over political correctness
Summary ends the day.

“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”

~ Socrates

A Conundrum - Seminar Day Two

I felt rather tiny in the midst of all the non-nursing discussion about biopsychosocial issues.

There are two branches of this sort of health care with a third tiny sprout in the middle.

The main trunk is the first branch

medicine - I think.

To the left is the next branch

psychiatry - I think.

Sheltered and tucked away is addictions medicine, 

more specifically medical detox - of that I’m sure.

Some health care providers, nurses specifically, work in Medical Detox.

What does treatment of psychiatric conditions 

have to do with them?

Well, I think that is the wrong question.

The question should be:  

What should medically trained nurses working in Medical Detox know 

about psychiatric conditions?

Seminar attendees learned about only two of these conditions:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder

there are so very many more......

Have I mentioned the people that carry these conditions?

In medical detox, we care for those people who carry, not of their choosing, a dual diagnosis - Addiction and a Psychiatric Disorder.

How do I assimilate the information learned today 

so that it will inform my nursing practice?

A conundrum for sure.

“There are no extra pieces in the universe.  

Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, 

and every piece must fit into the big jigsaw puzzle.”

~ Deepak Chopra