10 Things Inspired by Renee Magnusson & Effy Wild Book of Days 2022 1. I took Spook, aka Little Cat in haiku, to the vets yesterday morning after work. Her fur had become very matted. She had had one big matt for far too long but I couldn’t get it off her then simply became ashamed, guilty and worried that she seemed neglected because of it or that they wouldn’t give her back to me or something. It never seemed to bother her…she rolled happily on it but she is overweight and could no longer groom her back. When other smaller matts also began to appear, I knew I couldn’t ignore it any more. The vet was non-judgemental, at least to my face, and fortunately they were able to shave it off without sedation. 2. Guilt and shame are useless paralysing emotions. So is feeling guilt and shame about feeling guilt and shame. Moving forward and absorbing lessons is much more productive once guilt and shame have been faced. 3. My cuticles are ragged; my nails rough and chewed. Mam picked her cuticles too but she had nice nails. I envy nice nails. I love painted nails but I’m busy creating with my hands these days and the nail polish ends up being paint-speckled. For me, elegance is manicured hands. 4. Almost the end of January and this is my 2nd year of daily haiku and a photo posted on instagram #365daysofsybwriting & #365daysofsybwriting22 I love this daily practice and feel pleased that I have this tent peg in my day. A way of saying I was here. I noticed this day. This is my world. A habit that helps keep me grounded. 5. I love having long hot baths, especially in winter, and have been having a relaxing bath before bed at least once a week lately. I keep a selection of bath products to choose from because I love choices. Last week I used a rose-scented bath bomb called Tisty Tosty from Lush. Shaped like a heart, it has a written message around its edge: I choose to love and accept myself as I am in this moment. 6. After my bath, I scooped up 5 pink bedraggled rosebuds from the water and, as their scent still lingered, kept them on the bath mat on the side of the tub for days so I could just pick them up and smell them as the wind whistled around the house on days with highs of minus 18 Celsius. One night Rob noticed them and admitted that he thought they were stray cat treats and had almost given them to the cats. 7. The rosebuds also reminded me of the movie Dead Poets Society, specifically of the poem which begins ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may’, and made me want to rewatch the movie. It’s one of my favourites. All about being true to yourself and following your own dreams, forging your own path and making the most of every day. 8. Last week I reconnected with someone I had gone to junior school (ages 7 to 11) with. Philip Meadows had been a terrific artist throughout school, his work was usually displayed on ‘the wall’ and I was delighted to learn that he has a very successful career as an artist, often depicting the era and area, the industrial northeast of England, we grew up in. His portrayals of back alleys and yards with their outside toilets and sheep and Dales paintings made me teary and nostalgic. My biggest memory involving him in school was one where I had drawn a conch shell, maybe in 2nd year. I was thrilled to have it displayed on ‘the wall’ but no one believed I had drawn it! They all thought Phil had. I didn’t dare remove the drawing to show everyone my name on the back. I remember feeling really frustrated. Even when I dragged Phil into the classroom to say that he hadn’t drawn it, he was no use because he couldn’t really remember nor did he care as his work was always being displayed and it wasn’t a big thing to him. 9. Being in touch with Phil through messenger, we discovered a mutual love of bagpipes. He plays them and mentioned Simon Fraser University, where I went, as having a good pipe band. I never knew! But he stirred another memory. One misty morning, I was getting out of Buggy (my 72 blue VW bug) in the SFU parking lot and I swore I could hear bagpipes. But I couldn’t see anyone playing them and their notes just seemed to swirl around carried on the mist. I had only been in Canada a few years and put it down to my imagination and missing ‘home’ particularly badly that day. Lol. 10. The other day, despite the cold, I noticed an industrious chickadee plucking dried grass from our hanging baskets. I believe in embracing the season we’re in as much as possible (unless it’s an unbearably hot summer which has a more withering effect on me than a frigid winter) but my heart swelled with hope that if a chickadee was looking to build a nest, spring must be somewhere on the horizon. 1. Hanging baskets
topped with cones of snow winter foliage #20 2. Inside, moth snoozes while trees tap a lullaby winter afternoon #22 5. Coldest night this year sink deep into bath water rosebuds smell of spring #25 6. Deep peach sunset bare branches reach to capture home before dark #26 7. Against next door’s bbq an army of snow shovels waiting #27 8. Old pendulum clock always the wrong time lately these covid days #29 9. Little cat at vets prodded, poked, shaved quickly forgives #30
1 Comment
Linda
1/31/2022 12:58:37 am
SFU and bagpipes is like bacon and eggs. The pipe band would have piped us in at convocation. The Vancouver Sun had a picture that year of the convocation before us. It was foggy but you could see the pipers coming out of the mist and the graduates following
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AuthorWelcome! I'm Sue Blott: a writer of all things, a poet at heart, mom, wife, daughter, step-mom, grandma, tea drinker, tai chi-er, mystic, artist, dreamer...and now a blogger! This is my world. Categories |