Connection

It is good that the body knows 

to go from room to room, 

task to task, 

whether that be 

reading a book or 

sweeping the floor 

for sometimes, 

just sometimes, 

the mind is not on 

the task of living. 

Seldom any reason, 

like a wayward child,

the mind seems to decide 

it will remain quiet, 

or worried and busy thinking 

all manner of thoughts about 

what ifs and should haves. 

In the meantime the body goes about 

making salad or doing the laundry or 

going for a walk always checking 

the calendar to make sure the mind 

does not lead the body astray.

“The mind and body are not separate. 

They are like two sides of the same coin.”

~ Eckhart Tolle

Paired

Simplicity has 

no twists and turns

mind games or 

thinking too much. 

Momentum seems

long and tiring, 

with no stops 

along the way. 

But together, 

they show me 

that they are 

on the same road. 

One step at a time, 

one word at a time, 

’til simplicity is

paired with momentum.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.”

~ Albert Einstein

Hidden in Nature

I couldn’t tell whether the berries

were too young to form thick cluster, 

but they were perfectly positioned 

under a multitude of leafy umbrellas; 

hidden from any birds that may be 

looking for an early dinner.

In this green shadowed shelter these berries should be safe to grow and then turn shades of purple and are probably more tasty, or do birds recognize taste the way humans do? Having not studied ornithology, I don’t know if their tiny tongues come equipped with taste buds.

It is nature’s way to have all living things join with one another. Connections hidden in the 

ingenious ways of unknown taste buds, ears that are 

hidden by feathers, mobility of wings or four legs 

instead of two. It is only the curiosity of children and scientists to

wonder and postulate about details lost to the work-a-day adult.

“Nature is the source of all true knowledge.”

~ Leonardo da Vinci

Chapter Two, Episode 153 - Joining Forces - Situationally Theirs

Dez and Matt had hired pickers this year for both apple crops. Matt hired the transient pickers every year, most of the time the same family came through. A husband and wife team were the first to the orchard to get organized and started. Then there was two men from the mainland, who came to the Island for their working holiday every summer. After that there were different people that drifted from orchard to orchard on their way to somewhere. Dez and Em had talked about the finances that were stretched on the Estate. Most of the reason were the increase in taxes that were draining the funds available to Emelina. Dez and Matt had put their heads together and decided to join forces for the apple crops. He delivered to B.C. Fruits every year and had asked Dez if her sister was aware of that avenue. Anything he could, he donated to the Food Bank or a shelter; whoever was in need. 

For now, the pickers were to be housed in the trailers and bunkhouses that Matt had on his property. They had just finished work for the day at the Estate and had returned to their home base on Matt’s farm. Dez and Matt were leaving the orchard when they saw Samuel come from the kitchen looking downcast. Matt called out to him “Skies finally cleared, Samuel! You going home?” Samuel, lost in thought, almost didn’t hear his friend. “Nope. Thought I just stay out here in the cool. Just met with Miss Em and James. They were talking about money things. I needed to come out where I can breathe. You and Miss Dez? Finished for the day?” He wasn’t really wanting any company, but couldn’t refuse this couple. “Yeah, we finished up. Did you see our pickers today? It was their first day here. I think they did a pretty fair job.” When the two men started talking, Dez just backed off. “I’m going up to the house and ask Em what she knows about B.C.Fruits. You two talk what you like to talk about.” She chuckled. “The land and growing things.”

~~~~~

“Hi Cook, isn’t it time for you to be finished up?” Elizabeth was getting her kitchen tidied up. “I’m a little late tonight. James and your sister just finished up a meeting, Martha’s around here some place. Probably still in her office. It’s felt pretty busy this evening. Have you had supper?”

Emelina and James came out of his office, still talking quietly. “Don’t you worry Miss Emelina. We’ll figure something out to keep this old place going and keep the tax man happy.” He locked his office door, turned and saw Dez. “Here’s your sister Miss Em. You talk to her about your worries.” Emelina looked at him, a question on her face. “You know. Sister talk…not that I know much about that.” He laughed and almost patted her on the shoulder. It was not something that James Digby, the butler, would do, no matter how much affection he felt for his employer. 

Martha appeared from her office, sweater on, ready to leave for the day; Elizabeth turned off the light over the stove, also ready for home and quiet. “James, good. You’re ready to go. We can walk home together. It’s still light enough for Elizabeth to get to her place. Too bad Samuel has already left, he could have seen her home.” Dez interrupted. “Oh, he’s still out there and with Matt. They’re talking farming and orchards, probably in the same place I left them.” Dez walked to the back door with them. “I’ll turn off the lights when I go. I’m going to stay here for a bit and talk with my sister.” 

~~~~~

All the while, Emelina had been quiet. She sat at the table looking quite lost and almost sad. “What is it, Em? Talk to me.” Emelina just looked up at her sister, her eyes a bit too moist. Dez wouldn’t have believed her if she said nothing was wrong. “I have failed Michael, Dez. I’ve failed James and Martha and Cook. I’ve failed you.” Now her cheeks were streaked with wet. Dez grabbed her a tissue from the counter. “What are you talking about!? Failing? You? What on earth did you and James talk about that’s got you so upset?” She waited while her sister sobbed quietly into her tissue. Taking a deep breath, she said “I haven’t managed the money for the Estate and now we’re in trouble.” Dez let out a short sigh, not sure what to say but knew she needed to say something. “Has James talked with the accountant - I don’t remember his name - Gerald something - and the financial advisor. His name is……Green….Ron Green. Has James talked with them?” Emelina looked annoyed. “Of course he has. That what we talked about. We’ve just been going along like the money Michael left me was never ending. But interest rates and the market - all things I don’t know a thing about. I have to trust them to steer me in the right direction. But with things as erratic as they’ve been…….and I'm sorry Dez that I snapped at you.” She stopped and hung her head. “It's ok, Em. I don’t know how much this will help but Matt and I have been talking about selling our fruit. I know it’s not the greatest yet but we’re working with the trees now. They had been left alone for a long time. What do you know about B.C.Fruit? That’s where Matt sells his apples. I’m going there tomorrow to see how we can work with them for selling our apples. Right now, we’ll just sell our apples at the Farmer’s Market. If we make enough to support the orchard, that will take some burden off the Estate.” She wanted to talk more about another idea she had. Selling apples at a sort of Fruit stand on the property, and their honey and any produce from the garden. She thought it best to leave that for later. For now, she just needed to take care of her big sister. “Come on, I’ll get you upstairs where it’s your own space and you can rest. I’ll call Matt and tell him where I’ll be for a while.”

“We don’t even know how strong we are until we 

are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.”

~ Isabel Allende

A Key Connection

A Key Connection

“Serious or spontaneous, Mrs. Bodwin. Which do you want me to be?” Joseph P. Sanderton, 16 years old, was frustrated with his favourite teacher. She had read all the papers handed in about what her English student's passions were. There had been quite a pleasing array ~ from dog training to some great social issues of the day. When it came to Joseph’s paper, she frowned. “Well, Joseph, I’m really not certain. You’ve written about being serious about a stage career in concert piano, which is admirable. Then you go on to talk about ‘jazz joints’ and busking on street corners.” She looked up at him, set his paper down and said sternly “You’ll have to rewrite this and tell me how those two things come together. If they come together.” Joseph took the paper from her. He really hadn’t thought about how strange the two concepts looked together. She had asked him to stay after class to discuss this with him. A talented young man, she had heard him play many times, both classical and jazz piano. When she read his paper, it was patently obvious that he had not seen the connecting theme. There was a desire for concert piano and a similar desire for jazz piano. His adolescent musician’s mind had yet to connect the two. Any good jazz musician, or concert pianist, was always both serious and spontaneous. The passion was music. Maybe with a rewrite he would see the connection. Her face relaxed, her voice softened “Just try again, Joseph and look for a connection between the two ~ you may find you don’t need to be serious or spontaneous.”

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The Art of Anger

Reason and anger

There seems no connection

If anger simmers deep and long

The reason lost in time.

The shape molded each day

Expression sculpted with wisdom.

Explosions of anger

In wisdom's frame

Reveals purpose.

“Anger is a valid emotion. It’s only bad when it takes control 

and makes you do things you don’t want to do.”

~ Ellen Hopkins, Fallout

And Yet

bubbles and masks and social distance, 

fear that we will be forever separate 

choices imposed by outsiders

from something unseen, deadly ~

spread with a breath, with a touch ~

and yet 

heart to heart connections spread as easily

with smiles, with cards, with technology

despite masks, social distance or bubbles.

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Linked

Traditions are for awhile….

reconnecting each other. Setting aside our differences, we smile and share hugs with those we love and care about. 

Traditions are golden remnants of the past, shaped through years and generations, to become intricate tapestries in the present. 

Traditions bring deliciousness to 

the table from our growing up homes, 

aromas and laughter that 

mingle together in the air. 

Traditions are for each of us 

to practice as we see fit in our lives,

to create new ones with changing times.

Traditions, ever evolving, become

links in the delicate chains we forge ~ 

connections from misty pasts ~ into today  

and planned for whatever tomorrow may bring.

“So strong is tradition that later generations 

will dream of what they have never seen.”

~ G.K.Chesterton

Reel or Real

No bank of 'real reels' available 

Connection to the past ~

a journey in and of itself

‘memorybank movies’ ~ described by Margaret Laurence in the Diviners ~

Reels that may or may not be real are 

coloured by emotions, sensations or even ages of 2 feet tall when short and tall giants are all around always remaining real until edges fray and images fade with time and exposure to the elements. 

Real photographs, white rippled edges surrounding black and white images of years before colour and clarity, pick up some thready reminder ~ the cold damp feel of grass, the soft touch of grandfather’s roughened hand, the pungent smell of newly turned soil………..like beads of water clinging to windows after a rain ~

these connections, tenuous at best, threaten to fade when 

wiped away by someone else’s ‘memorybank movies’,

vanish into black holes from illness or fear ~ ‘Access Denied’

yet most remain real with the colour and clarity of heart and soul.

“There is one thing that the photograph must contain, 

the humanity of the moment.”

~ Robert Frank

Nothing in Particular

When I travel, in my short jaunts, I see so many things. Hear so many voices chatting about so many life events and plans, large or small. Participate in so many conversations. Family yes. Sometimes friends. But the most interesting, because of it’s newness, is my seat mate on the bus or a child on the ferry. Conversations that would never occur until that bus ride, or ferry crossing, we may never have met and may never again. On the bus, passengers are all in orderly rows. Always a book or my iPad with me to keep me entertained until I feel a nap coming on, I keep myself occupied until, and if, there is a moment of connection. On a bus ride, it begins with some experience that all the passengers share. Like a sudden slowing in traffic, or a traffic jam. A shared moment in time that can be just seconds, or can evolve into polite chatting. Delving into whether our destination is the same. An off hand comment about what ‘vintage’ we share. This last trip, the topic of retirement came up. She retired several years ago while I’m still trying to figure it out.  

On the ferry, all the bus, car and truck passengers become one large milling throng headed to the upper decks for fast food or a sit down meal with the wake of the ferry trailing along behind. As the line ups shrink, we each find our place. Families at tables for four, couples and singles at smaller tables. In the fast food cafeteria, I think it is first come first served and grab the nearest available table. After all are sated, some of us meander to the gift shop. Others sit in the rows of chairs along the sides and in a large waiting room. Books are read, naps are taken, children - as children are - busy finding hallways to run in, games to play and windows to watch out of. Parents needing a sharp eye to keep sight of some of them. This last ferry ride, I was playing one of many games on my iPad. I had found a seat at the side of the ferry. Then I hear a little voice: ‘That looks like my favourite game.’ About 7 years old, skinny with a shock of blond hair, he remained by my side for the next ten minutes giving me tips and pointing out where the next move should be. I shared my own thoughts about the logistics. He replied in an offhand manner “You say things nicely” and then the purser announced it was time to ‘Return to your vehicles’. 

Two memorable conversations about nothing in particular. Just sharing space and time for the moment when our paths crossed.

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; 

but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

~ Ursula K.Le Guin, 

The Left Hand of Darkness

To be a Nurse

Integrity for nursing is

a deep commitment to care.

Care for those unable 

to care for themselves

Care for individuals

between tasks and schedules.

Integrity for nursing offers 

wisdom, compassion and connection.

“Don’t substitute pills for the patience, care, and skill it takes to nurse,”

~ Venetta Masson, Ninth Street Notebook, Voice of a Nurse in the City

Knowing

Wascana Lake, Regina, Saskatchewan Sept 2017

Intuitive thoughts ~

Gut feelings without data

Drifts of inner wisdom

challenged by cold realism

Valuable messages from deep inside to be heard and learned from

Internal forces creating our connections 

   to desire to know more

     to each other

       to the world around us.

“When you reach the end of what you should know, 

you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.”

~ Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam