Ruminations . Feb 2010

I'm still sick and trying not to feel sorry for myself. Forty years ago, I would have been content to stay in bed. I've noticed elderly folk are not inclined to spend time that way. It's too precious.

I could watch television. But what does that have to do with anything.Nothing is as good as it used to be and it should be better.

Reading isn't an option. There's a headache lurking behind my eyes and I don't want to encourage it.

There are plenty of issues to elucidate but some are harder work than others.

There's a window above my computer. The middle third of my maple tree fills it. Behind the maple. there's a silver birch in Frank Martin's back yard that still has it's leaves. I remember when he planted it. Across the lane, there's another maple that's in better shape than mine. I think it grew from a seedling off my tree..

If we didn't pull them up or cut them down, there would be a forest of maples around us .All of them from my tree. My oldest boys planted it years ago. We didn't even know what it was. All the gardening books said trees should be the first things planted because they take longest to mature.

There's nothing much going on in my tree right now. Usually there's a pair of squirrels chasing
up and down and swinging out and biting each others tails for fun. It must be for fun, why else would they hang out together .

My tree is nearly fifty years old. Some branches have lost bark. It means a feast for the birds. Chickadees dart in and run up and down the vertical branches pecking busily. Wood-
peckers stick around summer and winter. Where I was growing up, wood-peckers were the stuff of story-books.

With all the branches and all the space you'd think the squirrels would give each other some. But no, they're always touching each other, as if they need the warmth.Chipmunks,when you see them, are forever streaking across the wires as fast as they can . Which is fast

If I go into my inbox, there will probably be another really nasty anonymous comment,a third to-day. I shall obliterate it with a mighty swat. They neither surprise nor disturb me. But I have trouble understanding .

I believe the Mayor and Councillor Mac Eachern believe what they do is right. They certainly put a lot of thought , energy and planning into accomplishing their objectives. Without fail, they have council majority support and often everyone but myself voting in favour.

I am undeniably elderly. Some argue, no longer relevant. They say other uncomplimentary things about me as well.

If it's all true and the majority view, why does it upset them so. If I take a different position on any given issue, why do they feel the need to provide an explanation, and not a nice one, for what I think and how I cast my vote?

Oops! for minute there, it looked like the sun was coming out but it's gone again and snow is laconically drifting down.

I'm glad I'm in the warm.


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