Monday Moanings - June 20, 2016

Those were the days





You know it's going to be a hot one, when the A/C kicks in at 5:30am. By 10:30 this morning it was already 29°C (84°F). Unlike her prior siblings, Summer has rushed her entrance onto my doorstep, arriving a tad early and overheated.

Her usual entourage of bugs - black flies, mosquitoes, deer flies, and ants - are all present and accounted for. Even the "Bobbsey Twins", high humidity and poor air quality have shown up.

No doubt about it - Summer is HERE!




I would have preferred a kinder, gentler approach, a gradual ramp up to the eighties and nineties. Actually I'd really love a summer of 22 - 25°C with only occasional forays into the mid-eighties and above; intrusions that are brought to a swift end by a ring tailed snorter of a thunderstorm. Great flashes of lightning followed by ear splitting, room shaking, gut vibrating booms that rumble on for minutes it seems and rain, torrents of rain that wash, quell and replenish the earth - there is nothing like a good summer thunderstorm.

 

As a kid I loved the summer... 

Hot! Hot! Hot! So hot the tar bubbles up between the pebbles on the road; round, shiny black globs. I can smell the tar - acrid gasoline fumes rise up from the road surface. My flip flops stick haphazardly as I walk; sometimes a step is unhindered, other times the foam sole sticks then releases raising fine black strands of gooeyness. Round flat, black globs decorate the bottom of my favourite summer footwear. I scuff over to the lawn hoping the grass will wipe away the sticky tar. It's futile. Now I have flipflops with green grass clippings stuck to them...

Mom July 1971 - backyard party

Happy days indeed! Wind in my face bike riding, 5¢ popsicles, 10¢ ice cream cones, Coppertone® sun tan lotion (no sunscreen), big circulating fans swirling in the windows (A/C back in the day), family bbq's and a backyard pool made summer an absolute delight.



We didn't have a heater so a pool freshly filled in June began at 16C (or less!) and crawled its way to a blistering 23 by mid August. Those were the days of Fahrenheit, so "Arthur" our pool thermometer actually registered 74. One banner year I recall ''Arthur' made it all the way to 78F. In the early part of the season, while Dad was at work, Mom and I added buckets of hot water to the pool. Dad came home, splashed his hand in the pool and announced, "It's warming up nicely!" Mom and I just smiled.

Those were the days...




©2016 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - June 16, 2016

 A Garden of Delight

There is nothing quite like down-on-your-hands-and-knees gardening. My un-gloved hands break up clumps of  dark, cool loam, pull out the weeds and smooth out the surface. I revel in the rich feel of all that dirt, magical dirt. Just add flowers and water!

Planting flowers can turn any frown upside down and turn any lament into pure delight. Works for me, every time. And did you know that talking to the precious blooms, especially the pansies, sets the stage for laughter and enduring memories?

One day a long time ago, my Dad was out planting the annuals in the back garden. He loved gardening, when he had the time to do it, and if he could amuse his three daughters at the same time, well that really was a red letter day. So on this one morning my sisters and I, noses pressed tight up against the window screen, watched Dad plant pansies.

For our entertainment, he talked to his little plants in a voice not unlike that of the late Jonathan Winter's character, Maude Frickert. An old reedy, wheezy voice with a bit of a southern drawl wafted up to the window, "Well aren't you just a little cutie. Let's just get you set up right in here. Oh, such a sweetie. Now what about your other little friends here? They want a special place just like you. Oops, don't you worry about those little wormies. They're your friends too."

We hung on every word, suppressing giggles and jostling each other. What neither we nor Dad knew was that our neighbour, hidden by the fence, was also crouched down in her garden not two metres away from Dad. At some point she went to the fence to investigate the chatter.

Dad kept right on talking to the flowers, "Oh look at you, such a pretty yellow dress."  At some point I guess he must have felt her eyes burning into his back. We watched him ooze his head around to look over the fence. We saw the colour go out of his face. Then we heard a woman's voice say as sweetly and slowly as possible, "Well they are pretty aren't they?"

We slid from our places at the window, hands clutching our mouths, giggles bubbling up inside us. I don't think Dad ever talked to the flowers again, at least while anyone was within earshot.

Do I talk to my pansies? You betcha! And not just the pansies, but the begonias, gazanias, geraniums. and more!

Together we enjoy many a lovely chat come sun or cloud. There are no little faces pressed up against a window screen watching me and no neighbours listening in, but I'm never alone. My Dad is always right there beside me chatting away. It's a family tradition!

Mom & Dad, August 1971

©2016 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - June 13, 2016

Sighs too deep for words...

It has happened again.
Hatred teamed up with guns and went on a rampage, again.
First responders saw the worst and did their best, again.
World leaders offered the solemn words of shock, sorrow and support, again.
The news media spewed out a torrent of opinion, information and raw images, again.
Social media exploded with tweets, status updates and hashtags, again.

I have no solutions to offer, only sighs too deep for words,
          and perhaps a respite from the chaos and cacophony....

Come stroll with me beside the still waters along the Philosopher's Path in Kyoto, Japan.

It is Autumn along the path. The sun is shining.

Let's step into a few of the temples along the way.
Breathe in the soothing incense.
Hear the call of temple bell and singing bowl.

Be still.
Be patient.
Be kind.

©2016 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - June 9, 2016

It's a Beautiful Day in my Neighbourhood!




Bright, breezy, and cool-ish at 19C; a day good for whatever ails ya!

A great day for a brisk walk in the sunshine, a little putter in the garden and some light yardwork (translation: replenish the birdfeeders and note things that need doing, to be presented to the man as 'suggestions' for his ToDo list).

A great day to open wide the windows and let the fresh breezes blow away the dust and cobwebs. Dusting made easy, at least inside the confines of my being. The house, well that's another story, but as long as the sun doesn't shine a tractor beam across the living room, those irksome, omnipresent particles will remain out of sight. Good enough for me!

Back outside, the grass is thick with green thanks to a good rainfall and the gardens are looking good too.

It's been just over four weeks since my surgery. I'm coping with the fatigue, yielding to the afternoon nap more often than not. My protests against the restrictions and slow pace are easing, sort of, sometimes...maybe even most of the time. And this post has taken 4 hours because I keep getting up to go outside!

















    Life

           IS

               Beautiful!




















©2016 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - June 6. 2016

Overload!

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo

Waking up was a bit slow at the top of this week. Moving my legs to walk felt more like pushing tree stumps. Twenty minutes and a cappuccino later and my world swirled into a maelstrom of things I ought to do, want to do, and could do along with a few neon flashing deadlines.

Back streets of Shibuya, Tokyo

Even this blog fell victim to the fray. I'd sit down to write a few words, then stop while a trainload of useless imperatives chugged through my brain. I'd regain my focus enough to produce a few more words, or even a complete sentence only to be interrupted by an 18-wheeler hauling a load of mixed aggregate - choices, essentials, wishes and due dates, decisions and realities.
Forward motion mired in cement.















Though this all may sound terribly depressing, I assure it is not; frustrating yes.
But life's like that - some days are just exasperating from start to finish.

So be it.
Tomorrow is another day.

©2016 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - June 3, 2016

Or Thereabouts

Yesterday was one of those days hijacked by a migraine. I hadn't had one in six months and quite frankly was really enjoying the respite, even allowing myself to consider that finally at 63 years of age, I'd outgrown them. No such luck! Perhaps just another one of the "speed bumps" along the road to healing and recovery, a command to take a time out, rest and be still. And so I did just that.

But of course now it's Friday AFTERNOON and I'm battling against decades of cultural embeddedness which implore me to pick up the pace in order to make up for lost time; to have some visible, tangible accomplishments to hold up alongside the yardstick of a good day. Modern life is not a still life, not even for us who have crossed the 60 yard line.

Okay, so here's what I've got so far today:

I got up! (Always an important first step)
I drove myself (first time since surgery) to my massage appointment (first one in 6 weeks).
I went shopping all by myself (another first time since surgery); limited to total weight less than 2kg.
We went to the farm to pick up the first of the season weekly organic veggies. My love picked up, I drove.
I washed and put away the organic bounty.
And I wrote this blog!

So that's SIX notches up on the yardstick, including no less than FOUR Firsts!

I gotta go lie down.
And for the record, that will be another notch on my yardstick - because when going over 60, everything counts!

Have a great weekend.
Catch me if you can!

©2016 April Hoeller