Category: Challenges
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In the face of death . . .
I was going to sit here, after our festive lights have come on in the dark late afternoon, and write about the joy of singing. Or the joy of participation — we’ve got tickets for the annual pantomime put on by the Youth Players at the CatStrand Arts Centre, just down the High Street from…
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Warmth . . . on the first rung of the hierarchy of human needs . . . still valid!
Cold outside, and getting colder! Awakening to -8ºC the other day, and pretty much freezing thereafter in the early mornings before the sunshine arrives, we’ve been struggling to enjoy the start of our days. I began to insist that my beloved snuggle under the warm covers for a final snooze, while I finessed the coffee…
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Being part of a community
I had a little epiphany yesterday late afternoon, as darkness fell. As you walk down the road towards New Galloway’s Town Hall, you can see two clock faces, and they’ve been lit since the clock was repaired. Before that happy event, I was up in the tower helping to clear countless years worth of jackdaw…
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The encompassing comfort of family and friends . . .
In normal times, I guess, family and friends are just ‘there,’ part of our lives but busy with their own circumstances too. It’s when crises arise that our support network coalesces and keeps us going. I have been the focus of a crisis or two, as it happens, when my beloved might have collapsed under…
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When joy is ‘on hold’
Yesterday I took a dear visiting friend on a brisk walk through the temperate woodland just a couple doors down from us, and after we’d looked at the vast vista out over Loch Ken, we proceeded further to the Raider’s Trail and Kirsten’s Bridge over the babbling brook, through the field of blooming thistle, and…
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Growth, more abundant
The huge poppies lining our front path have in a few cases grown taller than me! Apparently, were we to be assiduous gardeners, we should be culling rather a few of these rampant plants, but on the whole I love a wild and woolly approach. Okay, I may have to tackle that over-growing Mahonia plant,…
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But if it is broke . . .
I’ve often had cause to remember the adage, If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! But sometimes, as with our beloved Harry Hymer’s side front bumper, it is most definitely broke! It was a disagreement with the gate as we tried to squeeze through the narrow passage beside our new-to-us house. That altercation didn’t slow…
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The joy of surprise . . .
I’m not a great fan of surprises. I feel confused by them, not sure how to react. But when I’m somehow complicit in the surprise, the dénouement can bring great joy. So it was yesterday. We thought we’d see what all the work has been about, down at the Ken Bridge, where we’d seen diggers…
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A sense of accomplishment
I’ve often realised, as the creative writing sessions have accumulated, and I’m apprised of the errors littering my newest submission, that I have been too easily pleased. The creative writing community has a term for that: the bons mots are the writer’s ‘darlings’, and in order for the work to properly progress, they must be…
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Off the hook . . .
There are so many meanings, phrases and idioms associated with the word hook. This morning I’m exulting, just a little, in being off that hook, which is another way of saying that one particular task, or exercise, is no longer immediately necessary. I’ve had my head down, this past month, working towards a reasonable number…
Roads to Joy 