On an Early Evening Walk ~ An Accidental Kindness

Exploring my neighbourhood, streets graced with tall old elm trees, gardens barely starting to grow, long grasses with delicate seed heads and a variety of lawn art. I chanced down a short connector toward Wascana Park. On my way back, at the head of an alley, there they were. A clump of lovely yellow and purple irises planted by the homeowner outside the fence. What a treat! As always, my walk provided me with joy and beauty.

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

~ Henri Matisse

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Luck

Too far from home to dash in and get an umbrella, I watched the storm clouds gather. I knew the forecast was for rain for the afternoon when I would be out and about. Did I pay attention? Would it have done any good? The wind was one of those umbrella destroying ones. But I did manage to avoid getting soaked. Luck, definitely not good sense. I got my errands done and after I had stopped for coffee and a read, the sun was out and the sky seemed to be clearing. The real rain, complete with thunder, lightning and hail, didn’t start until I was safely home and dry. As I said, it was luck, definitely not good sense.

“However small the chance might be of 

striking lucky, the chance was there.”

~ Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

On a Late Afternoon Walk - Taking a Chance!

Interested in the pieces of tiny hail bouncing on the sidewalks, against the bridge and on my hooded head, I picked up my pace. The black cloud above, thundering and tailed by lightening gave me more encouragement.

On my way to dinner with friends, I was getting wetter with each step. Veering into the park, I saw shelter! A restroom with an outdoor overhang that I shared with a cyclist. The rain and fine hail continued for another five minutes before wind took the black cloud off to the south! Billowing white clouds and blue sky brightened the rain swept city.

“There is peace even in the storm.”

~ Vincent van Gogh

Turning A Corner

Turning A Corner

Was it simply luck that had caused her to turn down this street? It wasn’t really a street, more like a passageway. She’d only stepped onto the neat cobblestones when she saw it. Just lying there. Glistening in the weak sunlight; waiting for her to come along and pick it up. So different from the cobblestones, the little white card seemed to glow. Did Annabelle hear a choir of angels from the puffy white clouds or was she just imagining things? Who dropped it? Or did someone throw it away? Did that matter? She picked it up. Scouring newspapers, the internet at the library, posters on cork boards, anywhere she could find them and even telephone pole, Annabelle had found many jobs. She dressed carefully each morning in her only dress and her only shoes; both showing age and wear. Mailing out many resumés, she had a few unsuccessful interviews and rent day was coming soon with no way to pay her landlord. 

Annabelle’s face fell when she read the card. It was her last failed interviewer’s card. She almost flung it back on the ground, but turned it over. A phone number, a name and a scribbled note. Deciphering the note, she read: need nanny, talk with Joe Farley at Agency. Should she call whoever wrote this note? What did she have to lose? She had wanted a nanny placement. She tried everything else.  She’d be brave and call just incase these people were still looking. 

~~~~~

Years later, her two charges were grown and had moved on with their lives. Sitting quietly with their father one evening, Annabelle pulled out the little card. A reminder for them both of the magic of the day she turned a corner.

~~~~~

“Ability is of little account without opportunity.”

~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Author’s note: Another writing exercise! 

                        Same website: writingexercises.co.uk 

The exercise: Random First Line: I chose: Was it simply luck that had caused her to turn down this street? From childhood, I was taught to always answer a question - and quickly. A story was not the best response then, but I am a bit older now. Still lots of questions and answers can be as long as I want them.

Melted

After shopping for groceries this afternoon, I could have gone right home. It was 35 degrees Centigrade! I decided to be brave - or maybe foolish. But there was ice cream involved ~ just a block away. 

So, I stopped by Elle’s Cafe again today - a different flavour this time: a salted caramel sundae.

In the minutes that it took from the ice cream window to sitting on the bench only steps away, the ice cream was already pooling in and around the salted caramel syrup. But I soldiered on and finally drank up the last drop. There was no time to take a still photo ~ and I knew I'd better eat before it was too late! 

On my way home I chanced upon these lovely *petunias braving the heat and the tepid breeze. They became the stand-in photo for the melted ice cream.

*Authors correction: flowers are ‘petunias’. Original text stated ‘pansies’

“You can pour melted ice cream on regular ice cream. It’s like a sauce!”

~ Chris Pratt

Chance and Choice ~ 2

Chances are, if the other shoe did drop,

it may be like Cinderella’s glass slipper ~

a perfect fit and filled with the magic of life.

To step into that shoe and then into the other

puts soul into each of life’s tasks

bringing joy, purpose and glitter to each day.

“Chances don’t approach you, it’s you who approach chances.”

~ Toba Beta

Murphy's law vs Yoda ~ UNCERTAINTY ~ Theme For September 2021

Murphy’s Law vs Yoda

Unless I can see what I do not know…….

Nervous, I wait for the other shoe to drop....

Chances are, if the other shoe did drop…….

Every time uncertainty looms, I know the very worst.....

Really! And how do I know? Because.....

Theory:‘if anything can go wrong, it will’...

And ‘nothing is as easy as it looks’……

Interesting. ‘Everything takes longer than you think it will’…

‘Nature always sides with the hidden flaw’..

There are too many negatives to find a positive….

Yoda says: You must unlearn what you have learned.

“When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. 

For the dark side looks back.”

~ Yoda

A Young Gander's Tale

A Young Gander's Tale 

Ivor had given up. 

He was young, strong and quite handsome. When he saw his reflection in the water - and as often as possible - he stretched his beautiful long neck, puffed out his chest, fluffed out his stylishly folded wings and stood tall! He just knew a goose as beautiful as he was handsome would cluck to him in no time at all. He had flown beside several lovely geese on their way to their nesting grounds.

Born on this wide, blue lake, he had only been a fluffy yellow gosling then. He had become strong and handsome. The flight back from the south was long, but he loved every minute flying up in the clouds, through rain or in the sun. He had even been asked to fly close to the head of the V and knew it was because he was soared so expertly. He didn’t veer off course like some of his friends did. He kept to the formation set by the stern old gander. But now he was on the ground watching everyone pair off. Ganders and geese. Old couples and newly mated couples. He had been paying so much attention to his own handsome self that he had missed many a flirtation from the charming geese his own age. Finally, his eye fell on an older goose - not that much older - swimming by herself. She was elegant! Exactly suited to his reflection in still waters. They would have many, many beautiful chicks. All equally handsome and smart!! He swam past the graceful goose slowly, making sure he was noticed. Just a gentle little gander hello ~ wait a minute and swim back the other way. Soon she was calling him to come over. They stretched their necks to each other in a courtship dance. Suddenly, in a crashing splash, a magnificent gander broke up the couple. His wings beat the water, he hissed viciously and chased him away. Poor Ivor! Alone again. Chased away again. After so many unsuccessful attempts to find the perfect mate, he just gave up. There would be no more second, third or fourth chances for him. He might as well just go to shore, stick his head under his wing and go to sleep. 

He had barely settled when he heard another call his name. "Ivor?" He raised his head cautiously, looked all around. No other ganders in sight. "Lucy?" She had been his most frequent flying companion. Nice enough looking in the air, but here on the ground! Wow!

And they lived happily ever after with many, many goslings in tow.

“Sometimes when we least expect it, love gives us a second chance.”

~ Jacqueline Simon Gunn, The Cat Who Ate His Tail

Forget Me Not

Long shadows at the beach

sea weed swirls and tickles.

Soft warm sand ……….

I forgot my plastic pail and shovel!

“Beware of missing chances; otherwise 

it may be altogether too late some day.

~ Franz Liszt

Risk

Nodding ‘hello’ to opportunity

while offering an open hand

accepts both choice and chance.

“To find yourself, think for yourself.”

~ Socrates

Chance or Choice ~ 1

I’m in the midst of cleaning my oven. Actually I just wiped it out a bit, set the racks aside, closed the door and pressed a couple of sensors on the control panel. The door locked and the three hour cleaning cycle began. Sounds like I’m in the cockpit of some kind of flying machine, not in my own kitchen.  

Friday afternoon, I was in a large chain grocery store to purchase my bus pass for January, 2019. I was standing behind a man who was very disheveled, seriously needed clean clothes and proper shoes rather than dirty bedroom slippers. I had seen this gentleman several times over the last many months of taking the bus. His purchases were small, but he didn’t have the extra forty cents to complete the transaction.

This is the disparity of my world and the worlds of many others. There are many layers of society between, above and below. There are just as many reasons for the places we each find ourselves. We can be judgmental - as my private mind was - as I tried not to breathe as I stood behind him. Or as I saw that his purchase was the cheapest, smallest package of cigarettes that was available. We can be patient with those who are in obviously unfortunate circumstances. We can be charitable in sharing our own good fortune. Or we can stay judgemental and angry, impatient with the store for letting ‘such people’ in the doors. 

Compassion, not pity, but genuine compassion seems one wise choice for a response. Compassion may only be in our silent, private minds because many of us don’t know what to do about deprivation. Gratitude is another response. Gratitude for our own level of privilege is another wise choice that provides a good accompaniment to compassion. That response may encourage us to spend what little we may have, whether in time volunteering or in donations as simple as some change in a cup or a hat. 

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Treats

Tiny Tim Tomatoes

Plucked, eaten and savoured ~

they never had a chance.

“Even though you’re growing up, 

you should never stop having fun.”

~ Nina Dobrev

Just a Door

Opportunity is not 

a door flung wide open

with a beacon that beckons

an alert to all passersby.

Opportunity is 

just a door; 

hinges may be rusty or well-oiled

door knob may be shiny new or tarnished old

Opportunity is a chance ~

a chance to discover something new

to remake something grown old

but only if the opportunity is taken.

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”

~ Francis Bacon,  The Essays

Simply Grateful

Herb Farm, Fredricksburg, Texas April, 2005

Gratitude

For the chances we take

The risks we face in the midst of our paths

The strength we find to keep standing tall

The winds that buffet and blow our hearts and souls

The sunshine upon our faces when the wind dies down

The felt sense deep in our hearts that will ever be

Gratitude is simple when we remember all these things

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Fresh Air

Fear gnaws at my belly

like a tiny mouse

trapped in a maze

sniffing stagnant oppressive air

for even a whiff of freshness

Faintly, the air cools and stirs

~ a tiny chance for escape ~

stills the little mouse

to watch and to wait

ready to dart forward.

Confidence alongside fear

glows in the tiny mouse’s soul

easing the gnawing at my belly

breathing in the cool fresh air

gentling the urge to escape.

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

There is A Moment

From my walk this evening to Poetry group.

I’ve joined a poetry group recently.  It’s a small group - just five of us tonight. We met for two hours reading our own works, critiquing and in general enjoying our evening.  Towards the end of the evening we had a timed writing.  The topic was chosen from one of Leonard Cohen’s works: There is A Moment. We each did rather well…definitely not Leonard Cohen….but not bad! Here is my offering.

There is A Moment

There is a moment when

the alarm rings

jarring me awake from pleasant slumber

There is a moment when

my eyelids lift languidly

letting in grey morning light

There is a moment when

the aroma of coffee is missing

giving me energy to push from under the covers.

There is a moment when

I sit, then stand sleepily

pawing the dresser for my glasses

There is a moment when

I breathe deeply and shuffle into the kitchen

to fill the kettle, take my pill, pour orange juice

There is a moment when

I savour the chance to create gentle calmness

welcoming birdsong from my kitchen window.

There is a moment when

I sit quietly in my comfy living room chair 

to read my latest book and contemplate my day.

There is a moment

in each day to be noticed and shaped

to make meaning in life.

“Build your home in small moments of joy, and you will always feel at home.”

~ Charlotte Ericksson