Changes.

What is it about the seasonal changes that makes me go on the rampage?
Spring cleaning but in Autumn?
Does that make sense, or is it something to do with the Autumn Equinox
(or Spring in the Northern hemisphere) and a time of cleansing?

Do the changes in the moon/sun/earth relationship affect our moods
in the most primal and life changing way?
It is quite radical this year, I have a mountain of bagged and boxed bits,
crafty, arty, linen and kitchen contents, that are bound
for a charitable institution not yet decided upon, and the pile gets bigger daily.

Not surprisingly I feel lighter and more breezy the more I let things go.

Funny isn’t it… we spend half our live acquiring “stuff”
and then the other half parcelling it up to move it on.

We really are almost as strange as the Bowerbird, making nests
and then letting them go.

Any idea why?

I am not sure I know.

Blooming wonderful.

Today, I had the most wonderful walking companion
and I realized how many similarities there are between gardens
and friendship.
Both take years to cultivate, from a tiny seed grows a huge friendship
but there will always be a need to look after and cherish both.
Compost and water to a plant is equivalent to thoughtfulness and love
for a friend, not to mention sunshine, I think both need a solid dose of that.
In the garden there are plants that have been there for years and just remain
solid and unmoving, even if you neglect them for a day, a week or a month.
Some plants sadly never flourish, some succumb,
but we tend and love them nonetheless.

There are the annuals,
they come and go and we love them for what they bring
to life for that period. They grow quickly, bloom and then die back,
leaving us with happy and colour-filled memories but never a sense of loss,
we knew they were only passing through.
The perennials live on a bit, sometimes surprising us with their hardy ways
and eventually we just love that they are still growing, even if they
are becoming woody.
Some plants send out ‘runners’ in all directions,
in the same way as some friends
create links to other like minded people.
Invariably the ‘runners’ grow close to the original plant,
so we always know where to find them.
There are wonderful surprises that grow from difficult times,
like the blooms that swiftly appear after fire or flood.
So too do people miraculously enter your life
at times when all seems to be lost.
Sadly from time to time there are weeds that come through, leaving
only a short lived hole where it had been.
Then there are those that flower and blossom abundantly and often,
they fill everyone with warm and fuzzy feelings always,
never seeming to have been anything other than spectacular.

But the ever memorable inhabitants of the garden for me are the trees.
The old, regal and ever growing trees that each year get more substantial,
offer more shade in summer and protection from the rains in winter.
Those same trees that you have loved since first you came to know them
and become the reason you love that garden.
Likewise, those friendships,
the ones that have endured the hard times and flourished
in the good times are what makes life so beautiful,
to be able leave the garden and return 15 years later,
to find that the same tree is still flourishing
even though it’s boughs have been pruned
and the storms have battered and reshaped it.
It is still standing, as majestic as ever.
I walked with one of those strong and dependably ‘trees’ today.
It was perfect. Thank you.

Following in the shoes of the fisherman?

We are facing a world filled with much pain and suffering,
In this country alone, one in three women
will be raped in her lifetime.
Every 4 minutes a woman is raped in South Africa.
Sexual, physical and emotional abuse is rife.
Children are not safe,
women are restricted in their movement both day and night
and there is no sign of any change at all,
in fact the statistics are getting worse.
We are no better as a human race than mediaeval man was,
we seem to have learned nothing at all
when it comes down to respect for other,
least of all respect for the female person
who’s uterus is the vessel for the next generation.
Women are still victimized
by a vehemently patriarchal society,
a society that says one thing but does another.
Realistically, there is little respect for the matriarchy,
women seldom have their voices heard and reacted upon.
It is time for a big change, a very big change,
another moment as big if not bigger than
the suffragette movement, this time though,
maybe women should be allowed to elect a representative,
someone who could fill the shoes of the fisherwoman,
someone who can be a respected spokesperson
for the global rights of women.
These thoughts clearly arise from
the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI,
the ultimate Patriarch.
Father to the Catholic community worldwide.
Why does that world not have a mother?
Is her truth not allowed to be heard?

Apologies to all Catholics.
I was brought up in that church, I have just lost faith.

Apologies also for my no photo day.
I feel a quiet rage and encourage conversation
around true emancipation of women throughout this globe.
I would like to leave our boy and girl
children and grandchildren safe children, wouldn’t you?