Cat update

He’s had his op. A bad tooth has been removed. He came home this afternoon and has been very quiet but loving. I think he must have been in pain because when I used to stroke his face he sometimes flinched away. Now he’s pushing his cheek onto my hand. He’s better but sleepy. Lying on the stairs (as I type he’s just come to see me). The only thing is he’s got to stay in for two days, he’s already tried a couple of escape attempts! The vets say he’s well cares for (and fat!). No hard food anymore, the life as an abandoned cat was not good to his teeth. He must have fed on scraps before we took him in all those years ago. He’s twice the size now. Bless hom

Pain

Pain attacks from different directions

Trundles like an army on alternative fronts

I need to relax

Let my body un-tense

Then the pain flows away

Fear and stress exacerbate

Anxiety cramps me up

But starting to understand

I can calm my impulses

Like a frozen bag of peas

Soothes the army of pain

Descalating aches

Deflating anguish.

Honesty and kindness

What principles define how you live?

Why not live by these principals?

By sticking to them you can try and do good.

Honesty and kindness means not being cruelly honest, to balance the truth and it’s outcomes. Kindness is probably the most important of the two. Honesty can be used to hurt.

So the two can cause moral dilemmas, but perhaps the best use of them is to combine them with the doctors’ oath “first do no harm”, at least that can help point you in the right direction.

I remember also, the two wrongs don’t make a right, even if in mathematics two negatives can make a positive (I think I remember?). Revenge and hate don’t make the world better even if it can make people feel better. It can only worsen the situation. Given that, I’m not talking about appeasement. What I mean is that more truth and reconciliation commissions should be created. It may take many years before they can try and work, but it seems like a better idea than violence and war cascading down the centuries.

But what can I do? Try and keep to my principals, avoid anger if I can.

River River where do you flow….?

Words and music by John Warner.

One of the loveliest and unusual songs we sing at choir practice is River River.

These are words from memory but I think they are pretty accurate. I had to look up the writers name as we didn’t have it. I hope I’m not breaching copyright by writing out the lyrics? I will delete ths post if here is a problem?

River River where do you flow
With your water the colour of tea
Gold and red in your sandy bed
Do you flow to the wide green sea?
No said the river I flow inland
Sink down deep beneath the rock and the sand.
Under the Geeji  and the Mugar tree
Where the desert people can find me
Earth belongs to all, she belongs to no one, she belongs to herself
Earth belongs to all, she belongs to no one, she belongs to herself…..

I was answering someone’s question about how it goes because they recently joined the choir, and I see an image a bit like my drawing in my mind when I sing it.

Completing a college course

What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?

I realise that sharing information about what course I did isn’t good on the Internet, too much info gets stolen or misappropriated.

I’m giving a rather obvious clue without, stating dates and times. It was a big leap up from what I did before. But it gave me confidence to do other things. My goal was to get a good qualification and I did. I have done other courses since and sometimes I’ve done well and other times not so good. But you have to do the best you can and try and work out where you went wrong so you can rectify your mistakes.

All I can suggest is try and gain the best qualifications you can. Don’t let people tell you off or try and talk you out of it. The world is a big place and having qualifications can hopefully make it a little bit easier to live in.

Gardening woe

Someone banged on my front window this morning, insisting my garden is overgrown (it is) and saying the council wants him to cut our trees down! I asked his authority and he said he was doing a local survey for the council and they would take action unless I got work done? He had no id and was really bullying and pushy. He had tree surgeon and land survey written on his vehicles. I said I was already going to get the work done (I have someone who can help). He said neighbours had complained. (the neighbours houses are empty!). He then glanced at the hedge and said he would charge £550. By then I was shaking and my anxiety was high. But I held my ground and asked him where he thought I would get the money from? He replied he has four daughters and needs to work 6 days a week! I told him to come back in a few weeks and it would be done (why?). It was only after speaking to my councillor that I realised he had not shown me his id, he mentioned no laws or legal information, and he did not mention where his authority for coming round and making demands came from. I put in a written complaint to the council. I think it was a scam, and if in fact he did represent the council he was not professional. He was a bully and demanding. I cannot imagine him being employed by them. Beware, Cold Callers can be very persuasive.

The French Impressionists

Who are your favorite artists?

Renoir, Pissaro, Degas, Monet, Manet…. And many more artists. The beginning of a modern French movement, that started to move away from classical art towards a more emotional, abstracted style of art.

The French Impressionists held a ‘salon des refuses’ in 1863 of paintings that had been refused by the official Salon. It was organised because so many paintings had been refused and the Emperor Napoleon III arranged it.

Many of the upcoming French Impressionists were part of this exhibition.

My favourite artist is Monet, from his repetitive paintings of haystacks, to his paintings of the facade of Rouen Cathedral in the 1890s in different light conditions and colours fascinated me. Then his later huge paintings of waterlilies when he lived at Giverny. This was as he got older and his sight was affected by cataracts. I think I remember reading that he was one of the first people to have a cataract operation?

Of course the Impressionists were only the start of changing artistic styles. Post Impressionists, fauvists, expressionism, pointellism, then cubists and so many other schools of art.

Basically there are too many things to talk about. I have books about the Impressionists somewhere? I don’t know where.