Chapter Two, Episode 102 - Sister Talk - Situationally Theirs

Sister Talk

Keeping the secret about the supper for Miss Dez and Matt had really been Martha’s business. Cook’s mind had been elsewhere. Their conversations were often very one-sided, Cook fingering Lily’s last letter in her apron pocket. She agreed with everything, just keeping her teacup filled. After the third ‘mmmm’ the fourth ‘of course’, and the interminable cups of tea, Martha noticed her friend’s distraction. “Elizabeth, dear, are you all right?” The teapot in mid air, “Of course, Martha. Her Majesty’s passing has me all mixed up. Oh, your cup is still full.” Putting the pot on the table, she sat down across from Martha. Taking Lily’s letter from her pocket, she smoothed it out on the table. “My goodness, I didn’t know you were so attached to the royalty, dear.”

Elizabeth had put aside any ideas of travel to England because of the health risks. Yes, many said the pandemic seemed to be over, but she didn’t wish to take any chances. In the last week she had been missing her sister, Lily ~ not just the letters but missing the children that they once were. The little sheep farm they had been raised on not far from London and even farther from where she had landed in Canada. All of those memories had come flooding back at the passing of the queen. Elizabeth had never given much thought to the Monarchy. It was just a part of their lives. “It’s not so much the Royalty, Martha. Lily and I were children when Queen Elizabeth was still a young Queen.” She smiled. “The china teacups Mother cherished. The little rack of silver spoons for each Royal event.” Looking at her friend over her cup “Do you have any idea how much Lily and I hated those spoons. It seemed like every Saturday we had to take them down, wash them, polish them to little mirrors, put them all back in the right order before we could go out to play.” She chuckled at the memory. “I suppose that’s why I want the kitchen kept in such a right order. Pots all shining.” Martha was intrigued by these revelations. She thought she knew her friend, who was seldom talkative. Today she seemed to need an ear. Martha was more than glad to listen. She certainly had listened to her babble on all the time. “Sundays. That was the day. In summer, when mom and dad would come home from church; dad went out to check on the sheep and mom got out her china cup, the placemat with the Queen and Prince Phillip on it, made a good strong pot of Earl Grey tea. All on a tray, also with pictures of the Royals, she went to the front porch. There she’d sit. For exactly 30 minutes. When she came in she washed it all up, even the tray and put it all back in the top cupboard. Oh, my, Lily and I would giggle.” Martha enjoyed hearing this part of her friends life. “What did she do in the winter?  It must have been too cold to take tea outside? Cook continued with her story. “In winter, when those skies were iron grey and the rain was colder, she got out everything as usual but sat at the kitchen table.” She paused “Here I am going on and on. I’ve said enough. Dinner to cook.” Her stories stopped as quickly as they started. 

While getting the roast ready for the oven, peeling potatoes, making the salad Cook just kept remembering. Remembering the young and beautiful Queen. She and Lily wanted to be just like the Queen and her sister, Princess Margaret. They practiced their waves and how they walked, believing they really could do them perfectly. Made little speeches on their porch. As they grew, their mother let them have tea in the gold rimmed china cups ~ lots of milk and sugar with a little bit of tea. Cook smiled as she put the potatoes on to cook. She reached up to her special top cupboard. Smiling Queen Elizabeth II on a glinting gold rimmed china cup sat beside a little box of Earl Grey tea. 

“We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. 

With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock.”

~ Queen Elizabeth II, 

On the importance of reflection

townandcountrymag.com

At the Bus Stop ~ Castle in the Air?

It was an ordinary day. Not too hot but hot enough. I hadn’t worn a hat against the brilliant sun so I stepped into the bus shelter to wait. Turned out, it was a longer wait than I planned. So I looked around at the ordinary street scene. Traffic, walkers, nothing special. Glancing up to the clouds ~ I love clouds ~ I was transported into fantasy land. I blinked, cleaned my glasses and looked all around me. It really was only a reflection, but where……..what? I’ve been in many bus shelters on hot days but this effect was absolute magic. I stepped out of the bus shelter - the ‘castle’ had vanished from the clouds. Back in ~ the castle reappeared. 

My bus was coming so I had no time to see which building it was……..but the sense of magic has stayed with me. 

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you 

because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. 

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

~ Roald Dahl

Not Really that Old!

Birthday - 2020

When I am at my table writing, I am

a child, a teenager, a young woman

Except when I am reflected in the mirror

~ I am really not that old!

When I clean my glasses 

I can see the world clearly.

Except when I look through their panes

 ~ I am really not that old!

“One day you will look back and see that 

all along you were blooming.”

~ Morgan Harper Nichols

Solitude ~ 2

Standing alone in

reflection and shadow ~

eased by bright light and

cool, flowing water.

“Without great solitude no serious work is possible.”

~ Pablo Picasso

On a Morning Walk - The Three R’s

Rest

Reflection

Ready to go

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

~ Leonardo da Vinci

Cross Purpose

Only a photograph,

beautifully developed,

~ a reflection ~

at cross purposes

on the glossy lake.

“The poorest experience is rich enough 

for all the purposes of expressing thought.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Philosophy of Trees

This next writing is from Friday, February 1st, and was the writing group assignment for this month. The topic was simply ‘trees’. Each of us wrote very different pieces about trees. From fantasy to real life, we were, as always creatively different. From laughter to poignancy we read and listened to each other with interest. Always interested in the philosophical episodes of Star Trek and watching the violent destruction of trees in the movie Lord of the Rings, I mused about the Philosophy of Trees in my short essay below.

The Philosophy of Trees

One may think that trees are not sentient beings that can even formulate something as grand as a philosophy. And maybe they are not. After all, they have no language of their own that humanity can hear. Like a musical instrument they do translate the music of the environment. Birds of all sizes nest leafy or needled branches. Squirrels scramble up gnarled or smooth trunks, race in and out of branches, raising their young in cosy hollows. Bugs and insects range all along the surfaces of trunks and branches, homes found especially in fallen tree trunks. From the still living roots, new shoots spring up beginning the life of a new tree. In a deep forest where humanity’s noise cannot be heard, the orchestra of forest life plays without stop, only the players varying as they go about their life. The trees of our forests have given us our homes whether we are grateful or not to them for their lives. They have provided fuel for the earliest fires in our existence. When the trees of the forest, or of our city streets breath in and out, they breathe out oxygen and absorb the carbon dioxide that the rest of the world exhales. Make no mistake, trees are not benign martyrs that only give. They will strike back, or die, when they are taken for granted. Roots will wrap themselves around underground wires and sewers. Trees will grow up through cement blocks and pull eaves-troughs from homes. Trees will survive from their seed and from their roots. When I reflect on all of these things, I believe that the philosophy of trees, where trees are sentient or not, is service and survival. Service to all of life from the tiniest insect to the grandest mansion, to inventors and makers of paper and the shade we love on a hot summers day. Survival to continue the cycle of life that we all enjoy. The greatest service just may be that trees make us smile, the loss of their beauty and grace felt when they reach the end of their life span.

“To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots.”

~ Richard Mabey, Beechcombings: The Narratives of Trees

Assumptions

Assumptions

in the heat of the moment

shifts focus from goodness

to a struggle for solid ground.

Assumptions

made reflectively

compare nuances of could be,

should be or uncertainties.

Assumptions

come from deep inside

history shadowing experience

built through the years.

“Assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off 

every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”

~ Isaac Asimov

Today's Chances

early morning clouds

hovered

over today’s chances

late morning breezes

carried

chances on the wind

afternoon sunshine

warmed

conversation’s chances

Late evening stillness

settled

into chances for quiet reflection.

“There are plenty of chances in life, 

what’s important is what you make of them.”

~ Katja Michael, author

Reflections on What If?

Reflecting on The Women's March yesterday, I’ve asked a couple of questions. Of course, when I awoke this morning, my biggest question before I put my feet on the floor was - will my legs work? And my feet? Quickly I learned that all was well in that department.

But all is still not well in the world of political change. The Women’s March yesterday was peaceful, welcoming and safe. A gentleman next to me commented that he had not seen any police presence. When I asked some of the others around me, I was told that they had seen ‘one’ or ‘two’ walking casually through the crowd. When the March began, and as it proceeded, I did see police. They were quiet and respectful with their job to ensure there were no traffic difficulties. An aside - the motorists were as respectful, many waving to us, honking in solidarity.

Back to the police and my questions. I thought of the scenes from evening news reports showing riots and violence. People being dragged away, fires set and property destroyed. People being handcuffed and violently arrested. And I wondered ‘what if’? What if the March yesterday had turned from peaceful to ugly? How would I have reacted?

Standing up for a belief is relatively easy in a large peaceful crowd. Cheering each other on, singing and chanting. Would I run away? Would I sit down and hold my space in the knowledge that my principles were important? Would I freeze and not know what to do? Hopefully, I will never have to find out. 

What I was grateful for was the peaceful nature of everyone involved. Marchers and police, spectators and those unable to join us. Yes, there were hand lettered signs with which I disagreed. I have never agreed with ridicule of any other. It seems ineffective, cruel, and very counter productive. But that’s just me. So, what would I do? I really don’t know, however it has made me think about what I would be willing to do or say for my principles. What I do know is that, to the best of my ability, today I live my beliefs.

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth 

or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

~ C.S.Lewis