Follow Your Star

North of the North Star ~ a

direction onward over the top 

of the world to the stars of the 

south where the east and west 

remain constant companions 

while the journey goes. 

In these four directions 

treasures and lean times grow, 

there are joys and there are sorrows. 

And yet they each remain true ~ 

those Stars of all directions. Each 

our choice to follow one or all.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, 

but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

~ Vincent van Gogh, artist

(1853 ~ 1890)

Into View

Suspending time, 

memories slid into view, 

softened treasures cherished, 

blackened edges honoured

 ~ yesterday’s blossoms of

learning, knowing and feeling.

Suspending time, 

memories slid into view….

“As long as there are memories, yesterday remains.”

~ Billy Joel, pianist

Treasures

Cool evening

Sky still aglow

Children playing 

in the school yard

Teenagers tossing a 

frisbee in a parking lot

Two women walking 

their tiny dogs a block away

A small evergreen showing off 

little brown cones that will be seed.

Cool evening

Sky still aglow

“Treasure comes in many forms.”

~ S.A.Rodriguez,  Treasure Tracks

Naughty and Nice - Another Tiny Story

Naughty and Nice were twins that lived across the road from Cheer and Charm. They were giggly girls with long blond curls. Naughty really liked Charm, and Nice really liked Cheer. The four children got into mischief on the playground, as long as there were no parents around. But if they were caught, Charm and Nice managed the situation - ‘we were just trying to help the poor little boy (or girl) with the toy and she (or he) wanted to share his ice cream with us.’  They didn’t always get away with it, especially if the child in question was crying. Naughty and Cheer loved the excitement of their ‘adventures’. Nice and Charm loved it too, but when the excitement got too scary they convinced the other two to behave themselves. They would be the ones who were always looking for the lost kitten, or baby bird that had fallen from a nest. It was easy to convince the two trouble makers to help them save the foundlings. Nice and Naughty knew that their mom knew all the same stuff about telephone numbers that the other mom knew for lost animals. The five year olds all went home with skinned knees, muddy feet, sunburned faces and any treasures they had found. 

“I believe in kindness and also mischief.”

~ Mary Oliver

Chapter Two, Episode 151 - Hidden Treasure - Situationally Theirs

“Look, Em.” Dez had been pawing through her toolkit. What she really wanted was a certain screwdriver but she found an old roll of green tape. She almost pushed it aside, but smiled and held it out to her sister. Abandoning their project of repairing Dez’s cupboard doors, Em took it from her. She laughed and pulled the last piece of tape from it. “Where do I put this Dez? I guess nowhere….those days are long gone.” When the sisters had been isolated together at the beginning of the pandemic, they watched videos about pandemic protocols. Dez had set safe zones keeping them as separate as possible. Finding rolls of green masking tape in Martha’s office had helped to solve the problem. Em sat crosslegged on the floor in front of the cupboard she was working on. “I stayed in Digby’s office and you stayed in Martha’s office. For two weeks we decided we had to keep our distance from each other. That video about what to do with groceries was a bit of overkill, but none of us knew anything about the virus.” Dez found the screwdriver with the Phillips head and started work on the upper cupboards. “These haven’t been worked on for years! Martha must not have noticed that they were loose.” She stopped midway and, almost lost in thought, she said “Do you remember us sitting on the floor colouring? Like we were a couple of kids. That was fun.” Emelina, on her knees, was back at work on her part of the project. “You know, Dez, we should have painted these doors first. They look like they could use some freshening up.” She sat back on her folded legs. “We really did get to know each other again didn’t we? Do you think we ever would have found each other again if we hadn’t be thrown into that situation. I know that so many - too many - lost their lives, lost loved ones - that I almost feel guilty for our good fortune.”

“Funny about life, isn’t it? I don’t know that we would have even looked for each other. My life was tough, going one job to the next, always scraping to pay the bills. If I had thought about it, I just assumed that you didn’t really care where I was. Maybe we just hoped we’d run into each other some day. But I don’t think so. We didn’t part of the best of terms.” Dez got down from her step ladder and was going to put water on for coffee. “Want tea or coffee, Em? And we need some lunch. We’ve been at this all morning.” After rummaging in her refrigerator, she closed the door. “Not much in there Em. “Would Cook be mad if we descended on her for lunch?” Em stood, took her work gloves off and put her jacket on. “When has Cook ever been angry about feeding anyone? Come on. I think today was a soup making day, and if we’re lucky she’s been making sandwiches for Samuel.” Tools away, Dez put her jacket on, dug in her pocket for her keys and went to the door. 

~~~~~

Martha’s half of the duplex had become Dez’s home over the last couple of years. Em had hired her to take care of the orchard so that she would have employment. When Martha and Digby married, Martha’s half of the duplex was empty. Brigitte had lived in it for a while before she went off to university. Brigitte, Emelina’s care giver for many years, was separated in the pandemic, forcing out of her doldrums. After lockdowns had ended, there was an attempt for a time to give Brigitte a different job description, but university called the young woman away. Not long after, Dez decided that driving back and forth from Hartley wasn’t to her liking. She moved out to the Estate where her life settled into the Estate living. 

Neither of the sisters in a hurry, they wandered over to the orchard. “Our trees look so much better since you’ve been taking care of them. I really wondering if we needed them. Didn’t really know what to do about it.” Dez reached up and plucked a stray apple from the nearest tree. “The pickers missed this one, or it wasn’t ripe when they were through.” Crunching down on the striped apple, juice squirting into her hand, she had to stop talking. But not long. “It’s been a gift that I would never had expected, Em. I did tree planting years ago, but having a whole orchard to myself! I would never thought it possible. And an apiary - I knew nothing about bees except that they made honey. That was an interesting project - and still is. Samuel and Matt have taught me so much in such a short time.” Em had found another apple, almost too high up to reach, but standing on her tiptoes, she managed to get it. “Digby is the one that has taught me about orchard management from the financial end.” She stopped and looked up at the manor house and back at the garden where she could see Samuel harvesting the vegetables they’d soon see in the house. “We’re pretty fortunate aren’t we, Dez? Never knowing where each other was, not really thinking about it, here we are. Working together. Sharing some of the same space.” Em voice caught in her throat. With her free hand, she put her fingers under her eyelids to catch escaping tears. Dez put her arm around her sister. “You are so right, Em. The pandemic was an awful, terrible time for so many. Here we are, grateful, happy and together.” The afternoon sun shone across the Beaufort Estate. “Let’s get that lunch, Em.”

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments 

when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

~ Thornton Wilder

Treasure Hunting

'Mother and Child' by Samuel Lovi, Accra, Ghana
collage with paint on wood - Date unknown.
(Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers Art Sale)

I set myself up! Ordinarily, my wanderings involve an appointment of some kind: a hair appointment, some kind of health related appointment, the bank, groceries. All important but really very little fun involved. Unless you count a light word or two with professionals or service people. 

Starting at the Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers Art Sale this past Thursday, among all the many paintings and pictures on offer, I found ‘Mother and Child’ - a lovely little collage with paint on wood. On the back, the artist’s name and the price in Ghanian currency ~ I suspect considerably more than the $10.00 I paid for it. 

The Year of Magical Thinking by John Didion
(Cathedral Community Assoc. Rummage Sale)
Greta Garbo post card from 
(The Cat and the Fiddle Antiques)

At the Cathedral Area Rummage Sale - oh my goodness! Contents of closets, garages, closets, basements and attics filled the same space as the Art Sale two days before. I strolled past all the tables picking up and putting down interesting pieces. Books! Despite my previous culling of my books, they still attract me like iron filings to a magnet. When I saw the book by Joan Didion, I recalled the interview with her on CBC I listened to just last week about this very book. What could I do? Just walk away and let it go. $0.50 later I put it in my book bag and continued on my way. My next stop: the Connaught Branch of the Regina Public Library. A detour into The Cat and The Fiddle Antique Store just to look around. The Greta Garbo postcard ($2.00) was just one of a great stack of vintage postcards. I was careful just to choose one. 

Lunch out and a browse through a specialty clothing store completed my singular Treasure Hunting day. My sojourns into the world of treasures is fun. Getting to know this new community, after over thirty years away, is a joy.

“Treasure comes in many forms.”

~ S.A.Rodriguez, Treasure Tracks

It’s Only Change

Nickels, dimes and quarters 

sit at the bottom 

of purses, pockets and 

under couch cushions

~ forgotten treasure to be unearthed 

Intention is like that

in moments, hours or days

left to sit at the bottom of life

or on the edge of my desk

~ forgotten treasure to be rewritten.

“Time is the coin of our life. You spend it. 

Do not allow others to spend it for you.”

~ Carl Sandburg

Book Review: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

My first e-book!

Count Alexander Illych Rostov, born into Russian aristocracy was, if you were to ask him, a gentleman. But as a gentleman, he was confronted by the overthrow of the aristocracy in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Count Rostov was given a life sentence, not in Siberia but in Moscow’s Metropol hotel. Although not able to leave the hotel, he enjoyed all the conveniences. All but the spacious suite of rooms he had occupied previously where he had, much reduced in number, treasured family furnishings. He was moved, at the butt of a gun by two military officers and a further reduced number of family furnishings, to a garrett room on the sixth floor. The hotel staff, from the concierge to the bellhops to the restaurant staff treated him with the respect that was his due. Count Rostov was confident in his vast knowledge of  literature, philosophy and any other topic of conversation. That is until, one day at lunch, a nine year old girl dressed all in yellow, came to his table and changed his gentlemanly and well ordered world. Nina, curious and precocious, lived in the hotel with her governess. She had obtained, surreptitiously no doubt, a master key to all the rooms in the Metropol. From there she opened the Count’s world from his aristocratic confines to the intrigue of anytime forays into different parts of the hotel, from top to bottom. Not for pilfering or destruction, but to look out the windows, eavesdrop on meetings and in general explore a world he knew nothing about. Nina, who has left her indelible mark on the Count, leaves the story briefly, but returns several years later and leaves her young daughter with the Count, promising to return within a relatively short period of time. But she does not return and is never heard from again. So the Count was to raise this child, Sofia, to adult hood in this hotel, from his garrett room, and with the support and help of the hotel staff. The Count is friends with all ~ there is Emile, the chef and Vasily, the Concierge, Arkady, who manned the front desk, Marina the seamstress are but a few. A new waiter, that he names the Bishop because of his 'ecclesiastical' bearing, does not seem to know the appropriate wine for a meal. He rises to different positions in the Metropol, despite his apparent lack of knowledge and unsophistication. The Count and this 'bishop' have an immediate and continuing dislike and distrust of each other. 

Our book club met over Zoom yesterday afternoon for discussion of this wonderful novel. Originally canceled due to our present stay at home circumstance, our little group of 70 + ladies learned a thing or two about keeping in touch electronically. In Count Rostov’s time (1922) he was confined to a hotel at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. We are confined to our homes in this time of our own global crisis. Count Rostov provided us insight into the gracious acceptance needed when circumstances - or young children - change one's world. Discussion of this novel full of intrigue, Russian history, romance and just plain fun was a real bright spot for each of us.

“For standing at the edge of his table was the young girl 

with the penchant for yellow - studying him with 

that unapologetic interest peculiar to children and dogs.”

Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

Title: A Gentleman in Moscow

Author: Amor Towles

Copyright: 2016 by Cetology, Inc

Publisher: Penguin Books 2019

Type: Novel

Format: Fiction

ISBN: 9780670026197 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 9780399564048 (ebook)

ISBN: 9780735221673 (International edition)

LCCN: 2016030082

Get Ready....

Journeys often begin with some trepidation...dampened by the aroma of fresh brewed coffee, a delicious breakfast of fried eggs, fresh fruit, and the excitement of unknown terrain and treasures to be discovered while exploring side roads into open fields, forests and orchards, kitchen tables and communities ~ backpacks full with shared and personal wisdom and experience.....

but it really all begins with waking up, feet on the floor 

and enjoying a good breakfast each and every morning.

“One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast.”

~ Robert A. Heinlein, Friday

Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure

My little yellow plastic shovel

broke when I tried to dig deep

~ they told me it was only sand. I scraped away the sand

looking for dirt that would

let my big strong orange plastic shovel go deeper but it too broke when I tried to dig deep so I scraped away that layer to only find rock that made me cry ~ not the rock in the rocking chair where I felt held and warm but hard rock ~ not hard rock candy that tastes sweet and breaks your teeth but real hard earth rock that I had to break on my own 

to find the jewels that were my dreams ~

the jewels I pressed down and away

under the loose sand, soft dirt, and rocks

until they became diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

I cried my tears of frustration until a great *Gift of Desperation flooded my heart ~ desperation that stood me up and sent me to my dad’s tool kit for a hammer and chisel so that rock was rocked with the wisdom of my ancestors until bright edges of glitter and reds and greens glinted and grew bright before my eyes. My dreams may have been buried but they had been safely buried under life's sand and dirt and rock til I was strong enough to let them breathe the air of my spirit and my soul.

“Every adventure requires a compass, curiosity, a journey, 

a creative mind and someone willing to play.”

~ Shannon L. Alder

*Gift of Desperation - quotation from Anne Lamott, author

Treasuring the Hunt - or Not

Entering a book store there are often shelves, tables and maybe even stacks of puzzles. Puzzles in book form, in jigsaw form, in tactile Rubik's cube like form, Pick-Up-Sticks and Board games of strategy and word. I’ve played many of them but definitely not all of them. But there is one puzzle that I never anticipated that I would have to play - no playing, no pensions! So this is a Public Service announcement to anyone - which is most of us - applying at anytime of their life for a earned, paid for pension. Keep any document with dates all the way back to when you were born. I’m not kidding! Any kind of life change, including a change of province, country, marital or employment status.

When managing money, it is always wise to get clear identification from any person asking for a portion of that money. However, how many of us save every scrap of paper, and in an organized fashion, that has come into our hands over our life times. I had the good fortune to work in Texas for eleven years from 1988 to 1999. So, in the last several weeks I have been locating documentation that will prove that to said pension organizations. 

Beginning towards the end of May this year, I started on the trail of all the required details. In previous blog posts, I wrote about a Paper Life and Personal Archaeology. My files were strewn on every available service, except my sofa and my bed. As the weeks have gone on, these unorganized piles of folders and papers, while colourful, had become so much overwhelming clutter. This week, I have stacked up the folders. I’ve made three specific folders for each of the pensions I am applying for, including a separate folder for other information necessary to all three. My dining room table is clear - almost. Discovery of clarity out of chaos has rewarded me with a calm not felt for a long time.

When the puzzle pieces are all back in the box, or in this case documents in labelled folders, then this great, exhaustive puzzle becomes manageable. One document at a time, one phone call a day (or maybe three) and keep all the pieces in the box. When one critical piece is missing, and for any good puzzle, that will happen, find another one that fits - thus the phone calls. To Kelowna, to Lubbock, Tx, to Regina and within Victoria. So keep all your documents and file them away where you can find them: dates and places and status kept safely as part of one’s ID documentation. If you aren’t a fan of puzzles this is really important for you!

“Not every puzzle is intended to be solved. Some are in place 

to test your limits. Others are, in fact, not puzzles at all…..”

~ Vera Nazarian,  The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Found!!

Has anyone ever lost anything precious? 

   In your own home?

     Where there could not, 

       should not have been anyone

   To find it, 

     hide it or 

       accidentally throw it away?

I’m sure not……..

I realized such a loss about three weeks ago,

A precious gift given at Christmas time

It was devastating!

Unbeknownst to me, the treasure had actually ‘disappeared’ almost four weeks ago.

In the intervening time I had

   Panicked

     Certain I had thrown it out with any garbage or recycling.

       Put it in a very safe place without a memo

My mind spun like a child’s spinning top gone rogue

After the first few days I stopped actively searching

But whenever I’ve been 

    putting things away, 

       reorganizing things, 

          decluttering things

I’ve kept a sharp eye out for my lost treasure while

    considering a prayer to Saint Anthony - the saint of lost things.

     this morning using the magic Summoning Charm - Accio - from Harry Potter

I’ve learned that there comes a time 

   to let go of the panic of instant loss

    to let go of shame and embarrassment

     to keep up a search for any treasure

       to simplify and yet widen the search

         to realize that the world will not cave in

This morning, I found my treasure ~

hidden with some Christmas clutter 

waiting very patiently for me to tidy.

Why, at 6 a.m., was I decluttering?

Was the treasure's reappearance due to

    St. Anthony or 

     the Summoning Charm

       or just because?

“I have just three things to teach: 

simplicity, patience, compassion. 

These three are your greatest treasures.” 

~ Lao Tzu