A celebration and consolation

The inscrutable computer, mysterious in all its ways. What else can I say? Emails bouncing, but times when I can access everything without being able to post. And my email inbox is crowded with strangers offering prescription drugs from China.

Fear in a handful of dust. I always joke about living with cobras, but a smallish dark green-brown snake slid out in front of me when I was coming in from hanging out washing and I had a moment of heart-stopping terror. Then I looked more closely and realised it was a harmless grass snake, probably looking for water or a cool place to sleep.  Strange that the redwing starlings did not make any noise, bird cries are often the warning alert for snakes in the vicinity and if I hear the birds sounding agitated, I watch my step.

Several friends have family members struggling with active alcoholism  or drug addiction. Living with helplessness is hard.

Teaching extra French classes for a pittance and facilitating literacy workshops, whatever keeps the household afloat. When the going gets tough, the tough do whatever it takes and stay away from the old solution. Stick close to sober friends and reach out to newcomers. Deal with the feelings as they come up like turbulent minnows. Keep going and pause from time to time to count the abundant blessings. Meditate and  drink pots of green tea. Read poetry.

Anna Akhamatova

Sunbeam

I pray to the sunbeam from the window -
It is pale, thin, straight.
Since morning I have been silent,
And my heart – is split.
The copper on my washstand
Has turned green,
But the sunbeam plays on it
So charmingly.
How innocent it is, and simple,
In the evening calm,
But to me in this deserted temple
It’s like a golden celebration,
And a consolation.

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