The end of a month….

But not the end of the problem.

In these trying times we find ourselves reaching out, reaching out first of all to family and friends, then also to all those former friends, colleagues, acquaintances.

We often say “how would we have managed without modern tech and the ability to connect”. I say we have always connected, perhaps less knowingly and less consistently, but connect we do.

We find ourselves mulling over days gone by, learning about former pandemics and in general going back, as if we were afraid to project into the future.

I won’t address that problem, but these past days have had one poem running through my head with great insistence so I went and re-read Rudyard Kipling’s….

By Rudyard Kipling

(‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

So here’s to hoping that there will be many men and women “made” during this

Apocalypse or Coronalypse.

No diamonds please….

No, the way to my heart currently: a lovely fresh red or orange pepper, purple onions, a mix of fresh spring greens.

We all have enough dried beans, rice, pasta and the like probably to do us for several periods of confinement. We also have canned goods and probably freezers way too full.

But what is not always in the refrigerator after lunch is fresh produce, especially for those of us who are really not supposed to go out. And no, one week hasn’t been sufficiently long for me at least to want to “bother” some younger person to get me those items. Should this continue, of course, I will have to face reality, but until then the way to my heart is that gift of a red pepper to accompany the last tin of refried beans.

Flowers are not essential…

In the cruel world of today’s lockdowns, flowers are not deemed essential. What???

For me they have always been very essential. Even in the deepest winter, I have always had fresh flowers on the entry table, or occasionally a flowering plant, for example, December’s poinsettia. But no flowers?!

Not possible.

My tulips were dropping and I had been intending to replace them for several days, but again what with the circumstances both I and the young adult who does my shopping neglected to put them on the list.

With the result that today when she went specifically just for flowers, the flower department was shut, deemed non-essential.

I was later able to get a bunch up at the service station whilst getting gas. Thank goodness that a local grower knows that, indeed, for many of us, FLOWERS ARE ESSENTIAL.

Getting through the days, weeks and potentially months of current world circumstances make small bits of color even more important.

It is interesting to note that our civilization in the Northern Hemisphere is facing much illness and death at a time when nature is exploding: a riot of color to help us keep our sanity. Again, for me, flowers are just as essential as the water I drink, the air I breathe and the food I eat.

No longer saveable - my two-week-old tulips

More expensive, but lovely - my service station boquet

“7 Deaths due to the Covid-19”…

The title doesn’t nearly tell the story.

One of those is a former neighbour and dear friend.

RIP Sonia

You were a fascinating, intelligent, interested and interesting person.

You will be missed!

The hand around her back? Her husband of 55 & a half years

Blocked Blogs

As in writer’s block, not as in blocked by any computer system.

I have so many thoughts runny through my head in relationship to our current world situation that it’s overwhelming. The urge to write is present, the thoughts there, if not well ordered, but time seems more precious and in general in between cancelling events or having them cancelled on me, I find myself wanting to be more social – at a distance – so emphasis is on people.

Walks, phone calls, e-mails, skype sessions all take time and energy so my thoughts although tumbling around in my head continually don’t make it onto paper.

However, today’s Thought for Today from Worsmith.org had to be shared and is a reminder that in spite of it all, life continues and we need to remember that voting will be even more important in future elections everywhere is we wish to maintain any kind of society.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism. -Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (19 Mar 1891-1974)

shades of mountains