A lovely day, weatherwise!

Sun shone, sky was a beautiful clear blue, -

with a touch of sun-lit clouds to complement 

and all sorts of little stubs poking their way through the black earth. -

scarlet, green  and white -

all promising to reach up and blossom into

daffodils,tulips,  anemones, iris

and the gorgeous shades of white, pink and wine

that the peony buds are hiding.

Callie, Bruce and I went out into the garden

for a while this afternoon.

(Unfortunately we missed the family of deer

that have taken up residence in the creek bed across the meadow,

but my daughter told me about them,)

five beautiful and elegant creatures enjoying the bits of new grass

I will watch more carefully tomorrow.

Bruce was his usual inquisitive self

but Callie found a spot in the sun where she could stretch out.

She is not well these days, and I fear

that she might be the first to succumb to old age,

here in the Old Folks Home.

Two sixteen year olds among the animals,

(which is getting elderly for dogs and cats - not ancient, but elderly)

And then there is the ninety five year old

who keeps things in order, more or less!!

We all keep busy and active, -

Bruce spends his time guarding the window and the front garden

from stray cats who come to investigate

the bird feeders - best barker in the neighborhood!

Callie is busy searching for well hidden spots

to hide in, where I can't find her without a half hour search, -

or when she deigns to come out of hiding in answer to my call.

Somehow she appears!!!

Mysteriously!!!

I have yet to find her hiding place....

but she spends a lot

of time in the weaving room.

keeping me company

The lady who regards herself as The Boss

is often at the loom, -

sometimes when she should be

sweeping and dusting!!

But we are all happy with what we choose to do,

and look forward to April,

when the little scarlet buds of the peonies send up green shoots

and the lilac tree bursts forth in bloom.

In the meantime we stay close to home to avoid COVID-19

and content ourselves with telephone chats.

March 17th, 2020

The days march along

(unintended pun) 

And we have now reached St. Patrick's Day

which was always acknowledged in our family

in honour of my mother-in-law's "O'Callahan"relationship.

The smidgin of Irish always added

a little bit of spice to our life,

Charles having inherited much of the

Irish charm and wit.

And that Irish diplomacy that makes it possible

to tell a man to go to hell in such as way that

he looks forward to the trip......

I have great fondness for such Irish authors

as John O'Donahue, Chris Arthur and

Seamus Heaney.

I find many pencil marks in my copy of

Chris Arthur's "Irish Nocturnes" -

a wonderful book of essays...

"thought provoking and immensely readable"

it says on the back cover.

I have given away my copy of his "Irish Willow"

thinking that I would immediately replace it...

(and I shall)

 Kennedy in the Literary Review says of his writing

"sheer pleasure, a swim through the waters of
consciousness of a man clearly fluent and knowledgeable in the
essay form, full of information and opinion,
fact and personal observation, a book that rewards
in many ways, virtually in every sentence."

In an essay on memory Arthur makes this observation...

"one of the most hurtful aspects of growing old is the
recognition that one's memory is failing, and it can no longer be
relied upon to cup and transport its precious cargo as securely
as it once did.......... Forgetting a face, a name, an occasion
and knowing that it has slipped invisibly from memory
into nothingness, is to feel the breath of finitude close upon us,
offering a foretaste of our certain future........"

Well, if we are going to be just history then it does behoove us

to make the story comforting and just a little inspiring.

🔻

Time to go to bed now, but I will hopefully awaken

in the morning and be diligent about this task

of making good and meaningful memories for other people, ---

to those who come after us