It's All In The Making

Health and happiness

Green grass and sunshine

Cool breezes and birdsong

Bare feet in warm sand

Kicking through autumn leaves

Crisp air and hot soup

Snow angels and skating 

Frosted trees and blue sky

Bare branches wave softly

Spring gauze of green leaves

Ice cream and sprinkles

Walking in the park

Laughing and talking

Movies and books.

Writing and painting

Designing and shaping

Moments of goodness

Health and happiness

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

~ Confucious

“To Choose” ~ Choices Theme for May 2026

September 2020, Wascana Park

Conscious or not…..

Health and happiness…

Out on a limb…

Invisible responses…

Coming to terms….

Epilepsy walks…

Schedules are not…

“We don’t get to choose what is true. 

We only get to choose what we do about it.”

~ Kami Garci,  Beautiful Darkness

Today I Knew

 

I hadn’t noticed it until today.

The automatic way 

that my inner gears shift. 

In the moment when

I feel hard done by, 

suddenly I am grateful 

for my health, 

a hot cup of tea, 

the shoes on my feet 

my families, scattered as they are.

Gratitude has always there 

but only today I knew 

that it has become a reflex.

“For the things we have to learn before 

we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

~ Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

*Inspired by Essential Gratitude by Andrea Potos

Beside Me

It seems a long time 

that my body sat still. 

To let my soul rest within

while my body healed. 

A soul does not need 

to take time for it is 

the centre of time. 

Always present, ready to 

resume our trip through 

winter’s ice and snow or 

spring green, summer’s 

fullness or autumn’s gold.

“Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.”

~ Walt Whitman

Troubled

Out of order troubles me. 

I’ve been troubled for 

the last three days. 

Trapped inside, not by

snow or cold but by 

some virus or germ 

that slipped into my system 

without knocking. A semblance 

of order survived, but much has 

slipped from my grasp until l 

am left staring at the flickering 

flames of my fireplace wondering 

if I’ll ever be healthy again. 

Poor me. 

This temporary setback, 

merely a setback, allows 

a regroup and recovery 

when others watch wildfires 

consume their homes and lives.

To restore order to my small space 

between rest and meals is a privilege.

“Self-pity is never useful. It tends to distort like a fun-house mirror.”

~ Anne Roiphe, journalist

A Cold Day

 

What ideas do I have tonight? If I have any they have been tossed in the trash with crumpled tissues, or settled into cosy blankets, or brewed with tea ’til it cooled. Napping and binge watching old N.C.I.S. TV shows has been the order of the day. I did rouse myself when hunger told me to. My best idea today: scrambled eggs with fried potatoes, onion, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and a good amount of grated parmesan satisfied my cravings for food.

“My dear doctor, I’m surprised to hear you say that I am coughing

 very badly, because I have been practising all night.”

~ John Philpot Curran

An Easter Poem

We bow our heads

‘midst growth and health

grateful for our lives

blessed with young lives,

& new lives to come ~

grateful for our families

to share the joy of life 

in daytime brilliance or cloud,

or under a jewelled night sky.

“Reflect upon your present blessing, of which every man has plenty;

not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

~ Charles Dickens

 

On Immunity and Compassion

Creating something interesting

~ maybe wise or silly ~ is not easy when mind and body have been busy with the body’s normal immune response to vaccination. 

Nothing fanciful about it ~

reading, couch, blanket, sleep

eat, drink lots of fluids

stay out of the heat.

I have known that 

      ~ just for today ~

my mind needed relaxation, 

to let go of all of the ordinary to-do's and shoulds, allowing my body to work, strengthen and add polish to my health.

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

~ Jack Kornfield

Sight Lines - A Theme for May

Spring draws my eyes……..

I don’t know who dreamed this theme up….

Goslings followed………

Hester and Fredrick………

Tender new……..

 

Lengthening shadows

Ivor had given up……

‘Nosh time!…..’

Earth shattering screams……..

‘Silence is golden…..’

“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. 

We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

**Post for May 1, 2021

Which One?

Elastic bands, if stretched too far, will thin and finally let go. Sometimes with a stinging snap, sometimes with intent. Watching the U.S. election results tonight on CTV, the elastic that is political discourse has been stretched back and forth, in and out for too long and in too many ways. As a Canadian citizen, the outcome should be a slam dunk for my choice. Accessible health care and respect for the common man truly that drives any economy seems a no brainer choice. But then that’s just my opinion. I can only keep my fingers, toes and maybe even my eyes crossed for the elastic just to be set down, quieted down and with respect.

“You have very little morally persuasive power with 

people who can feel your underlying contempt.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Chapter One, Episode 112 - Checklist - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

Although the flow of this Episode 112 was fairly consistent, I did find it necessary to do some revising. The first thing I noticed was a confusing timeline. The story in this Episode pre-dated The Wedding (Episode 111 - reviewed yesterday) without any explanation, thus the addition of the very first couple of sentences.

Most paragraphs have had additions to them, to add clarity to dialogue or add detail to a setting - or it could be that I like playing with words.

Checklist

Jeremy had plans that pre-dated the magical wedding. Or had it been wishful thinking? 

Late in the day that Emelina had called him, waking him from his sleep drugged state, he found and opened his invitation to Martha and Digby’s wedding. He was ready to cry, having just clicked off from a phone conversation with Emelina. She wondered if he would be able to take some time off from the hospital and wouldn’t say why. “Only for a couple of weeks, Jeremy.” She said she wouldn’t give him any details until he could get the time off. Just like her in the old days. Ask for something without giving a reason. The only thing she would say is that “it will almost be like old times, Jeremy. When I still had Michael and you still had Elaine.”  Not much to go on but Jeremy really needed - and seriously wanted - some time off from the craziness of the hospital. The fact that it would be with Emelina made it all the more attractive. He was nervous though. Were either of them over their spouses? Michael had died five years ago, Elaine four years ago. Both had been ill and their deaths were expected but there had been a lot of love in both marriages.

~~~~~

Jeremy set all of that aside when he went to work. In his typical doctor fashion, he looked at this like any difficult condition that may require surgery. He would investigate what had to be done, do what was needed and the results would be what they would be. Once the emotional baggage was out of the way, he took a stroll to ICU and to the Covid floors, ticking off his own mental check list. ICU - no Covid cases. The last had been three days previously. Then it was on to the two Covid floors: three recovering cases on one, last discharge from the other the day before his little stroll. Then he checked the Emergency Department and with the Admissions clerk. Both areas were still busy, but there was only one suspected Covid19 case in ER with no apparent co-morbid conditions.

He took his numbers to the little garden on the roof of the hospital, where only two people were allowed at any one time. So it was just him and one other person that stepped up to be allowed into this leafy sanctum. His second mental check list was a short one; a brief outline of his own plan to present to the Hospital Administrator and the Chief Surgeon. His goal: be granted three weeks off. Two weeks to self-isolate after working so closely with patients diagnosed with active Covid19. Then he would have one week to spend with Emelina for whatever she had planned.

Down in the locker room, he checked his scrubs and his white lab coat. Any unpleasant splashes, stains or missing buttons? No. He checked the mirror - yes he looked tired, but then so did everyone else that worked in the hospital. Jeremy’s hair was slightly dishevelled. He was tempted to give it a comb to get it neat, but decided it may help his case. At the last minute, he pulled his comb out and tidied himself up.

Looking in the bathroom shaving mirror at his tired eyes and drawn face, he straightened his shoulders, and said aloud “Ok, Dr. Crawford. You can do this. You’ve known the Administrator, Sherman Smart a long time, and the Chief Surgeon - you’ve worked with her for the last eight years. Tanya McCormick is tough, but fair.” Jeremy kept talking quietly to himself all the way into the elevator, back up to first floor and along the hallway. 

His one sided conversation came to an abrupt halt when Dr. McCormick strode up beside him from another hallway “Tanya! I didn’t expect to see you! I'm on my way to Sherm’s office. Do you have a minute?” Jeremy’s stomach tightened as though he were about to enter the principle's office with the truant officer. 

Tanya had always liked Jeremy, pleased when their schedules coincided. Their shifts always went smoothly, no matter how busy. She could always depend on him, and if Jeremy were asked, he could always depend on her. “For you, Jeremy, any time. I'm going Sherm's office, too! What’s up?” They walked side by side up to the Administrator’s office. 

Jeremy held the big glass door to the Administrators office open for his colleague. He greeted the receptionist. “Hi Bonnie. How are you? Is Sherman in or is he busy?” Jeremy hoped that no one could see the perspiration that he was sure had soaked his scrubs and coat. 

Bonnie glanced at her phone for red lights. “He’s just finished a telephone conference. Let me check if he'll be able to see you now?…………Mr. Smart, Dr. Crawford and Dr. McCormick are out here and would like to speak with you. Send them in? Thank you.” Bonnie hung up the phone and with a big beautiful smile told them to go on in.

Jeremy had barely stuttered his request out of his very dry mouth when Sherman said. “You want time off? How much and when do you want to start?” The administrator looked up at Tanya: “Is that all right with you?” She nodded without hesitation. Jeremy was about to protest, certain that he would have to go over all his research, sure that Tanya would already have him lined up for an important surgery. Then it sunk in. “Could you repeat that Sherman?”

A jovial man, Sherman laughed out loud. “You didn’t hear me the first time, Jeremy? Maybe you’d better get your hearing checked on your time off.”

~~~~~

Jeremy went home that very day and called Emelina to tell her the good news. 

“Emmie, I have time off! Three weeks! But don’t get too excited. I’m going to self isolate for two weeks and then we can do or go wherever you want. Before I left work today, I was tested again for the virus - symptoms and a nasal swab.” Jeremy was excited and relieved. He could eat and sleep as much as he wanted. He could talk to Emelina every day. And the relief he felt. He felt like he had just taken a very, very heavy coat off and could finally breath.

“I won’t call you until tomorrow afternoon to give you time to get rested. After that, will it be Facetime or just the phone, Jeremy? We have plans to make.” If there was an equivalency measure for excitement, Emelina’s would have bested Jeremy’s but only by a hair.

“We are besieged by simple problems…Checklists can provide protection.”

~ Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right