A Wondering, Wandering Mind

At a bus stop, cars, trucks buses, and one bicycle pushed aside muggy afternoon air. My mind wandered to ~ 'tires'. 

A sentence fragment scrolled through my mind: “I spend a lot of time spinning my tires over the slippery ground of ‘what if’…

Barely had I made a note of it when my bus rolled up, my mind trying to stretch that fragment to ‘why me and why not me?’.

‘What if…..’ gives my imagination 

a boost into story and poetry

‘Why me or why not me’

only rates a parental ‘just because’.

For each time these questions are posed 

by my wondering, wandering mind I feel 

free to get on a bus and ride, 

or walk down a sidewalk, 

always to stay where my feet are.

“A mind not agitated by good questions cannot 

appreciate the significance if even the best answers.”

~ Mortimer Adler, philosopher, educator and author

(Dec1902 - Jun2001)

Technology - A Global Party Line

Fascinating and wondrous!

Seeing and visiting with family and friends miles away ~ something I could never imagined with only a telephone (on a party line) and a radio; pen, paper, crayons and board games.

But days would come when 

I would enjoy family and friends around the globe 

on this global party line and 

be ready to tear my hair out establishing 

a meeting Zooming through the air and

setting my nerves on the edge of madness;

Fascinating and wondrous!

“Science and technology revolutionize our lives, 

but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.”

~ Arthur Schlesinger (Historian)

Strangers in a Moment

Horses led the way with jingling bells 

clop, clopping past parked cars and trucks 

puffs of steam from soft noses 

bearers of families and friends 

warmth brushing agains each other, 

strangers in a moment of fun and wonder.

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”

~ Cesare Pavese

Iron Horse Wedding Carriage and Wagon Rides

McLean, Saskatchewan

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Chapter Two, Episode 110 - Just Being - Situationally Theirs

Just Being

They had had a long day. With only one day in Vancouver, the Crawfords had taken advantage of as much as possible. Skiing would be refreshing after pounding the pavement all day. But lest you think they didn’t have a wonderful day, let me update you on all their stops. After a leisurely coffee and croissants in the restaurant dining room, they ventured out into Vancouver. “So, my darling wife. Where should we go?” Jeremy, tall and handsome, looked more relaxed than Emelina had seen him in a long time. Despite the Vancouver chill of threatened rain or snow, he was ready for a long stroll. “Why Jeremy, I thought you had this all planned! This surprise winter holiday. But if you’re stuck for ideas……” Emelina teased and hesitated, but she had pored over the Vancouver Information pamphlets in their room the night before. Jeremy just hugged her and smiled back at her teasing. “I saw you looking over the pamphlets last night. Your face gave you away every time you saw something interesting. So what’s it to be? Anything you want we’ll do.”

“I don’t know if we can do it in just one day. First I want to go to every art gallery in the city…..” When she saw the twitch in Jeremy’s jaw……. “but I know that’s impossible so I just picked one..the Vancouver Art Gallery. One of their exhibits is Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment. Then, and I really don’t know which one should be first, to Granville Island ~ there are smaller art galleries there. Maybe we could do that one at lunch time - they have wonderful food there. Lots of small artisan shops to look through as well. Then just a nice restaurant for supper. So not that much.” Jeremy’s slow smile broadened as he saw his wife’s excitement. “I guess we’ll sleep well tonight, Em. We’d best get going. What time does the museum open?” So long away at work all the time he seldom had opportunity to give her what he had wanted. 

“Hmm”. Emelina referred to the notes she had taken the night before. “10am.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s 9:30 now, by the time we get there - I think it’s about six blocks from here.” Often troubled by how much time they spent apart because of his odd hours at the hospital, she knew how much this trip meant for both of them. She really did get quite lonely sometimes. 

~~~~~

For the next eight hours, they lost themselves in the artworks at the Gallery and then through all the shops, workshops, and restaurants at Granville Island. They both wandered the gallery with great interest. Then, they left their adult selves behind and dove into just being together. A workshop where brooms were hand made, another where leather clothing was made, pottery, art galleries and food……..oh the food. They wanted to sample everything but also wanted to sit down and eat lunch. Emelina did talk Jeremy into getting a cotton candy to share. A slushy rain/snow had begun while they were inside at the big food market. Eating some of it inside, Emelina held the cotton candy while he held their umbrella as they walked to the next artisan’s shop. Both  had sore feet and were ready to get back to their hotel, but bravely kept on til they had seen every bit of Granville Island. 

They had laughed and been curious, been in awe of the creativity of so many others, been amazed at the deliciousness of the foods they had eaten, and been warmed by being together. Anything else was in their other world that seemed to have been a yesterday far away. But in the moment, the beauty of it all had been tempered when Emelina said “I just have to sit down, Jeremy. I’m exhausted!” Emelina’s sore feet had finally bested her. “Is it time to get back to the hotel? It’s only 5, Em. Are you sure?” Hesitating for only a second, he joined with her. “I think I agree with you. If we’ve missed anything, it will have to stay missed. I’m done.”  The thought of walking all the way back to the hotel was too much for either of them so a taxi was summoned. All either of them could think of was staying warm and cosy in their bed, a down filled duvet and soft pillows making everything all right. The perfect ending to a perfect day. 

“The day you stop racing is the day you win the race.”

~ Bob Marley

Authors note:

Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment

June 11, 2022 to January 8, 2023

Vancouver Art Gallery

Child Likes

In the presence of a child

the ordinary becomes wonderous

to maintain such wonder 

before it becomes ordinary

allows life to sparkle and shine

whether gray skies or blue.

“I am youth. I am joy. I am freedom!” said Peter Pan.”

~ J.M.Barrie

In Awe ~ 1

 Maybe just one.

New photos of rain-washed clouds today?

drifting and bringing more rain

when coming night falls quietly 

~ no desire to snap and click. 

New photos of fluffy goslings today?

little gaggles of three or six ~ 

mom and dad watching suspiciously, 

~ no desire to snap and click.

Over days, months and years, 

photos of clouds and goslings 

lose their sense of place and time ~

yet awe and wonder still inflates my soul.

“…we must never lose sight of that gaze with which we look at things.”

~ Lázló Krasznahorkani, Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming

Sky Drift and Magic

There are too many negatives to find a positive in Murphy's Laws unless I pull my head out of any confusing clouds, 

turning my eyes to the sky where horsetail clouds drift. 

~horsetails my father told me~

so much more enchanting than Cirrus Uncinus to find the magic and wonder of childhood 

in this morning’s skies  ~ 

a vast and beautiful positive 

sweeping the too many negatives away in the wind.

“Revelations are found 

in the clouds.”

~ Serge Kahili King

Tiny Art From Victoria

Artist: Ruth Van Egmund

The Junction is a little shop. Outside, in business hours, you may see a refurbished wooden chair or possibly a small side table, an updated bookshelf, or a whimsical little piece of art. If you stop long enough to peer through the large windows, a store full of repainted furniture, lamps and lovely pieces of china. High up on the walls are large paintings ~ cityscapes and landscapes. Lightly scattered over dressers and tables are more of the whimsical small art pieces from found objects. While all of this is a wonder to me, I always navigate carefully to the back of the shop where, on a low shelf are wonderful tiny paintings by local artist and store owner, Ruth Van Egmund. Paintings of our natural world and the tiny things we don't always notice as we brush past them.

Artist: Ruth Van Egmund

Yesterday, when I had a few minutes to browse one of my favourite stores, I purchased two of her tiny paintings, about the size of a coaster. Displayed on my bathroom wall, their colours and ‘fishy’ content are a perfect match for my decor. 

When Christmas shopping, traffic and general busyness needs a bit of a pause visit The Junction at 1543 Fort St. here in Victoria, B.C. Or if not in Victoria, Ruth Van Egmund is on Facebook and Google for an internet browse of her extensive artworks.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”

~ Pablo Picasso

Slips, Slumps and Standing Up

Slipping into Month #5 of Retirement:

Wondering ~

were all those years a dream?

where did my passion go?

was it all for naught?

Until 

I see memorabilia

spend few moments with colleagues

opine about addictions issues

listen to interviews about health care ~

every day securing my place between then and now.

Until 

A slump slides in wearing slippers

shifting the ground beneath my feet.

‘I don’t know how to engage with people out here!’

Gathering 

my strength of will and my pen

with determination and alacrity,

my sense of purpose, 

hopeful vision and wonder, 

begins to blossom once more.

“It’s exciting not knowing what tomorrow, 

or the next month, or the next year holds.”

~ Lucy Boynton, actress

Wonderment ~ 2

No longer a kitten, but still curious!

Like a new born kitten

curious about a new world

climbing tentatively 

tumbling softly onto the earth

I peer about with wonderment

eyes seeing possibility all around

choices spilling over each other

tangled with questions of 

where and when

how much and how often

what earthly good can I do

when taking baby steps toward 

new horizons that beckon.

“There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten.”

~ Jules Champfleury

Personal Challenge: A New Pace

Autonomy. What has it meant to me this last month? I’ve tried to keep it very simple. Autonomy is a pretty big word. It’s meaning: very weighty and suggesting things greater than myself. But there is such a thing as personal autonomy. I’m certain most people know this but I have had to separate the definitions to be able to wrap my head around it all. The Cambridge online dictionary definition is two fold:  ‘the right of an organization, country, or region to be independent and govern itself’ and ‘the ability to make your own decisions without being controlled by anyone else.’

That brings me to my retirement, still in it’s infancy, I’m taking baby steps and enjoying every ~ well most ~ of the steps I’ve taken. It has been those times of limbo when caught in the space of time previously given to my health care employer that it became almost like holding my breath. Realizing I’ve been standing stock still wondering…..just wondering. Wondering has become a very active time of creativity for these pools of time that were growing quite stagnant, and in my case, very boring.

On a recent visit to Vancouver to spend time with my family, I had an unforeseen opportunity to walk every morning. Weather cooperated, my lodgings were only ten minutes from my son’s very full household and the street that I walked was wide and popping into spring time. Using my personal autonomy, I have since walked every morning. Today I realized that I have, in the past, not really explored Beacon Hill Park. Today, I climbed the rocks high up in the park in to the wilds of this amazing place in the city. Church bells ringing and birds singing. The sun lighting up massive rocks lined with stubby green grass, faintly green trees, and the whole park and city. Spring daffodils, purple camas and snow drops lit up tiny spaces in budding trees. I have felt my pace, my abilities and found a place in those rocks that fill me with joy, gratitude and a solid sense of personal autonomy.

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.

You must travel it by yourself.

It is not far. It is within reach.”

~ Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Wonderment ~ 1

I wonder

about the stars in the sky

the turn of the earth

the steady rise of the sun

the seasons of the moon

the shift in the seasons

like a best kept secret on the calendar

felt by the birds of the sky

the trees and deer of the land

a barely felt sense that something has 

shifted sideways, 

   changed downwards, 

        drifted away

only to swing back like a pendulum

   rising up again in the spring

       returning with the sun

I wonder

about how our insides respond to

the pull of the stars and moon and wind

all that revolves within us 

the energies that ebb and flow

from morning til night

through all of our experiences

perspective about our next steps

lost in a barely felt sense that something has

shifted sideways, 

   dipped downwards, 

       drifted away

only to swing back like a pendulum

   rising up again with rest

       returning with new energy for a new day.

“The world is full of magic things, 

patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

~ W.B.Yeats