Category: Ageing
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Succession joys and worries
But what about generational succession? Google is full of references to the HBO television series Succession, which is certainly rife with intrigue. I’m musing this morning on generational succession because of a particularly proud moment for my brother’s family in Philadelphia, as our niece graduates with top honours from her journalism/political science degree course. As…
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Well hello there!
We’re just casual observers of things, as we amble along. I’m not sophisticated enough in the natural history side of things to even begin to attempt a Guardian Country Diary piece. As we walked beside the River Ken in the direction of the Ken Bridge, and the Ken Bridge Hotel where we started our reconnoitring…
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A walk in the sunshine
We finally made a circuit of the dyke walk that extends through marshland in the Upper Ken, on the border of the Galloway Forest. There we watched a crow/jackdaw/raven dive-bombing a red kite, over and over again. Eventually, it seemed that the red kite agreed to divert its soaring flight away from the black bird’s…
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But tasks make a joyful punctuation . . .
I have delved deep into the first of the four novels I mean to read over the next few days and weeks. I have begun. It’s lovely, and I’m away with the faeries into another land and another time, but the present also makes a welcome intrusion. Today we’re expecting a delivery of two big…
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The joy of reading
Too often, in the grand scale of things, I’m obsessed with doing, creating, achieving, finishing. So much so that when otherwise idle, as I’ve felt over the past day or so, and when challenged to ‘read a book,’ I find myself explaining, ‘but that’s not really doing anything!” Err, apparently, wrong! There are four books,…
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Family fun . . .
I’m beginning to think that families exist to keep us safely grounded. Besides the obvious, I mean. We stick with families because sometimes we need to be teased! Well, perhaps the teasing turns merciless, and that’s not good. But good-natured and with love, that sort of teasing, that feels healthy and perceptive. I was on…
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When the present accommodates the past, joyfully . . .
I’ve been revisiting parts of my past life, off and on quite consistently over these last few years. Many times it’s with a groan of recrimination, a ‘wish I could have done better’ feeling. This morning, thanks to an intriguing series of notes from my brothers, I’m learning that forgiveness is a two way street…
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Revelation from an old poem
The Top Hat, The Auctioneer, and The Lover It was there at the old village auction A decade ago, perhaps more. Infected I was with the vigour, Vivacity, vim and some ardour In the calm steady hands of the porter A gentleman’s felted top hat! The auctioneer eager for bids from the floor. He caught…
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Woodworking joys . . .
Actually, I’m not interested in selling anything I might make. As our dear friend opines about his amazing bird houses, which decorate several walls around our smallholding in Sparty Lea, ‘if I had to sell them, it would take all the fun out of the activity.’ Same for me. No, what I want is to…
Roads to Joy 