You can go hunting with the knife and fork
When you are looking for green peas to stalk
But if you want to catch a polar bear
You must go hunting with a knife and care.
If you can’t see the wood for the trees
Cut them all right down to your knees
But then you have destroyed the lovely wood
We would put them all back if we could.
And if the money burns a hole in your pocket
Get a little padlock and please lock it.
If you want to take an iphone and a fork
Your father must have been all heart
*
Here again, the challenge is when our unconscious beliefs and assumptions speed right past being adaptive and helpful, careening into an unhelpful, even dangerous place of rigidity. We say to ourselves and others, “Listen, I already know how the world works!”
And from this perspective
I cannot mend the lamp that we both chose
The top and bottom split when he fell down
But I can make it look as if it glows
The candle burns, has fragrance of a rose
That takes away my sadness and my frown
I cannot mend the lamp that we both chose
I find it hard to bear the pain of loss
The concept is more verbal than it’s noun
But in my home the candle brightly glows
In Blythburgh church, a lighted candle bless
See the painted angels and their crowns!
I will bear this breakage and its cost
I will get the strength to bear my cross
Oh,haul me, holy one, if I fall down.
Beyond these lights we sense the Light of God
Bless the hand that points us past the known
Where each of us must travel, perhaps alone
I cannot mend our lamp that we both chose
I wander in my grief amongst the low
I’m swimming in a sea of words
Some may find this concept absurd
Is it metaphorical at best?
How is reality expressed?
The poets and the novelists must play
In the sea of words everyday.
But some of us have made our own small pools
Where we control the words by rigid rules.
I like floating idly by
Lost in my own sweet reverie.
Laziness is really hard to learn
Willpower has to take its turn
I’m smiling in a sea of words
Causing consternation in the birds.
I’m floating in the warmth of Shakespeare’s spell
Why don’t you come in with me as well?
Mary was just running out of the front door when she realised she had not combed her hair.His hair stood out like fuse wire in a rage
His eyes gleamed like the sun trapped in a cage
As he read his poem I was impressed
By the gift of words he has been blessed.
The women were enraptured as they gazed
His poetry was as complex as a maze.
His voice played on my heart I was well used.
Music is the food of love,I mused.
And poetry is our music,our music and our guide
If we cannot listen,out hearts will shrink and die
An act of war when no war is declared
Makes war a problem of the entire world
Now we see a plane burn in the air
Was this just an accident bizarre?
No land is safe, all meadows killing fields
We all are soldiers, none of us have shields
We must pretend for how else can we live
To make the children safe, what must we give?
Once we had imperatives,now gone
There is no order, ethics are undone
War is undeclared , we now shall share
The fate so many suffer unprepared
Global markets lead to global war
The essence of the incident lies bare
Temple Grandin: Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All https://nyti.ms/3GQyReA
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/well/family/nature-autism-children.html
D
Nature isn’t only relaxing for young people with autism, it is also an exciting place for them be, Ms. Brans said. The same ability to focus in on one thing that can get them hooked on video games allows them to zero in on minute details — the sound of a single insect, the texture of a blade of grass. Of course, the autism spectrum is broad, and each child’s needs and strengths vary.
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Don’t go yet, I need your loving gaze
I need your arms to hold me in my place
I do not want to fall into the pit .
The dark night of the soul, the black abyss.
Without you here my heart falls down in grief.
There is no God in heaven there is no thief.
What is salvation worth when we’re alone?
When the heart of flesh turns into stone?
Jesus on the cross abandoned gone
With agony in the mind his work was done .
Was he happy underneath his pain?
We are not on earth for personal gain.
In the spring the bulbs push through the soil.
Like the worms and beetles we must toil in
Annie ran into Mary’s kitchen wearing a pale green coat and matching suede s oes
Oh,let me tell you my happy news,I am gettng married again
Is that why you are all dressed up?Why green?
Don’t be ridiculous,marriage needs organising
You mean the Ceremony?
Yes, and the meal
I think marriage itself needs organising.Who will pay the bills and bring in the coal?
Which side of the bed will you sleep on?
Oh, I must get larger bed,Annie realised thoughtfully
And who is to be your husband?
I’ve not decided yet,Annie admitted quietly
How many candidates are there for the position,Mary asked quizzically?
Well, the main one is Denis, the psychoanalyst across the road
I expect he already has a big bed..Mary joked knowingly
Yes,I spent a night or so with him and he has a memory foam mattress here.
I hope it doesn’t remember all the women he has slept with
Well, only if they slept there.They might have gone to an hotel or been in a caravan
at Southwold Harbour,Annie rambled on
They might have slept in a wood by a log fire or in a tent on the West Bank
So will he be faithful to you?
He’s already told me he adores me more than he knew possible
That will soon wear off when you live together
How cruel you are,Annie sighed ,like martyr waiting to be executed
Shall I make some tea for us both?
Yes and boil my hankies as well,Mary joked.
I shall boil your tongue if you keep teasing me!
They sat down near the window while the sun was setting in a wine coloured sky
I do like your outlook,Annie said
I thought it was Microsoft’s,Mary told her innocently
You silly idiot,I mean your view
I’ve never heard of YourView.Is it a new thing like Zoom? Mary asked nervously
I mean, this view here from your window at dusk
Wow,I am frightened how I assume everything I learn of is related to Modern Technology
Yeah, said Annie,I’ve done it too
You are both stupid,said Emile the resident cat
How rude.Why do you say that,Mary enquired boldly?
It’s the whole human race.All hooked on Skype or a Twatter
What’s a Twattter?
It’s someone who lives on Twitter
You won’t find a bird on Twitter.
So a bird can’t be a Twatter
That is correct.Aristotle would be pleased if he were here
Where is he?
In a book.
That is end of “Logic made simple” on BBC education
When Mary awoke, she felt the pain in her ear was worse.
I think must have an ear infection, she said to Annie while she was beating the doormat
on the wall to get the dust out.
Maybe you should stop cleaning and housework.You are releasing lots of dirt into the air
You are right,Mary replied.It’s just what Mother used to do
But did she have a hoover?
No, we had a Ewbank.
Get a cordless cleaner and it will suck the dust out for you
Thanks,Annie.I think I will go to the Urgent Care Centre.I don’t want an abscess in my ear to explode,as it were.
I’m sorry I can’t come but they have restrictions about how many visitors go in
Mary called a cab.Soon she was in the almost empty hospital.How much she would have liked a companion.Still, there is always God, wherever he has moved to.
A young woman with thick frizzy fair hair called her in and said that she was a GP
Mary was thinking how much better her pale lips would look with some lipstick
As for her clothes, it is best to remain silent.I suppose doctors can’t afford to go to M & S nowadays
Mary thought.
There is some wax in your ear, the doctor told Mary in a cruel manner
That’s good.I need a candle,Mary said inventively
Then the maskless doctor stood in front of Mary and peered into her mouth.
Sheaaaàa pushed Mary’s crutch away and announced, there is nothing wrong with you
You must go out and make new connections, do things, go to Dances, play Bingo
Get up and walk, she advised , Jesus remarked in the Gospel l,though he also asked the cripple to take up his bed yet there were no beds left in the hospital
Oh,dear Mary said I am not wired myself as yet.My body is running on sunshine.
Do you think I should offer my supine body to the lonely old men living in the big houses near here?
I’m afraid I shall have to charge them.Do you have any free room with an elecric socket that I might use? And we’ll need a bed
The beds are all full, the doctor replied
Good grief, how many people are in these beds? Do they share?
Don’t ask me.It’s my coffee break, the young lady cried
Mary struggled up and went outside to call a cab
At least it’s been a change of scene yet as the cab drove her home, the pain began to get worse.
Is Mary going to make it?
To be concluded shortly
Funeral arrangements by the Coop. if needed
Stan was very worried that the police had caught him.He didn’t realize that ,with the low sun, the mirror in his pocket was flashing out coded messages to aircraft.He got out of the car and walked over to the police on the grassy verge of the road
I’m so sorry,it’s just my wife’s solid gold powder compact.See?
Have you got your marriage certificate with you?
Well,no.I didn’t know we in the UK needed to show them to the police. demurred Stan
It may belong to your wife but you are a man.Men don’t carry them.We never saw one before.Young women never use then,
Certain men might of course..actors or politicians.I know Tony Blair wore make up.
That’s irrelevant.Give me that compact.
Stan pulled the golden compact out of his pocket,still open.
The police man stared into the mirror.His face turned pale.He handed the compact to Stan and ran back to his car asking the driver to take him to the nearest boiling Tea Shop.
Stan looked at Satan and grinned…
What did you do?
I just held up a photo I have of him in bed with a sheep….need I say more?
Did you enjoy seeing that? Stan asked thoughtlessly.
Not much.~I prefer your flame haired mistress with her perfume of Araby.She’s something else again.
So you can smell then? Stan enquired.
Oh,yes,said the devil.Sure I can.I just can’t touch or be touched.
So Stan started the car and off they went;all the lights were green and not a single police car was on duty.
Soon they reached Upper Sheringham.The people here are very long lived.I know it’s the best place to live in the UK;then they turned down the old High Street and parked by a gambolling shop full of lambs.
Now what?
Will the sea cheer up a sad old devil or make him suicidal?The cliffs are not very high.We must await the next piece of the story with interest and patience.
Email me with ideas at
merrymaryminds@h
Everyday we walk upon our path
Where did it start, who told us to do this
Thinking life’s forever, blind to death.
We must keep moving whilst we have our breath.
Somewhere on the way we learn to kiss
Everyday we walk on the same path
We all travel to the same address.
Imagined heaven, who can can bear the bliss?
Thinking life’s forever,blind to death
Who made demons, full of ancient wrath?
We know the target, we never think we’ll miss.
Everyday we walk on the same path
Forgetting that in Eden snakes did hiss
The wanderers of the world cannot desist.
All we do not want, we must resist
Everyday we follow our own paths
We think this life’s forever blind to death
Mary sat brooding in her armchair, while Emile slumbered by the redhot fire
How can I be sure to waken up tomorrow in time for my Podiatry visit? she pondered
I am used to waking early, but you never know,she told herself
When she went to bed, carryin a flask of English Breakfast Tea she picked up her alarm
clock but the battery was missing yet again
Never mind, she thought.I shall use my phone instead as she put on her long nightdress and
a wool jumper full of holes
How fortunate that I can wear old clothes in bed rather than seductive satin lingerie, she thought
They are usually polyester and that’s not warm.Though no doubt if it is very seductive you will soon get hot unless your mate works nights down a coal mine.Then, why would a woman wear it?
Does it mean she has a lover living near by, perhaps next door?
We can only wonder why women must suffer not only this but stiletto heels and blow dries
She put the flask of tea down and got into her cosy bed.
Alas, Mary was still anxious about the alarm
I’ll go downstairs and get the kitchen clock, she decided.She struggled out of bed and fetched the blue clock upstairs where it was agreeable to being used
I really do need Stan to come back so he could resume waking me when he brought me some tea at 8 am each morning
Shall I put an advert online<
Very thoughtful, anxious kind & gentle lady mathematician, good at cooking and boiling hankies needs a kind well read man as a partner.Must get up early to make tea and filter the News
Preferably a man from Tyneside or similar area
Please phone 0207 ccctheo or email iamme78@ymail,com
She set her spare phone and the clock then fell asleep.
She dreamed she was in a rowing boat on Lake Windermere with her first boyfriend who looked as attractive as ever
Come and give me a kiss, he ordered her
But surely it is dangerous to make love in a rowing boat, she remarked wonderingly
Yes, we might fall out but I can swim
But I can’t, she said.Are you hoping I will drown?
Don’t be so anxious.The Mountain Rescue Team will come and help
We’re not on a mountain, she retorded.Anyway I don’t love you anymore
Why not, he asked angrily?
I went off you because you never read a book and always chose the films we saw.
Did that matter?
There you are,you didn’t even ask me if I liked James Bond.You must be an egoist
His eyes glared angrily.Why did you not tell me, he asked
Should a man need to be told to please a potential girl friend?
I suppose not, he answered,Please forgive me.He leaned over to kiss her
but just then all the alarms went off,It was morning,,
How nice to have a cup of tea while trying to remember one’s name and date of birth
And to forget the worst boyfriend ever
At least he never hit me, she exclaimed
And so say all of us
Although Stan was 102, he still rode his bike locally in the summer time.He was out in the garden pumping up the tires before going off to the Library.Suddenly his neighbour Annie appeared at the gate, without him hearing her feet tapping on the path of red brick;she was bedecked in finest Scottish tweed with a long pendant on a solid 22 carat gold chain swinging nonchalantly from her neck, with a matching ring attached mysteriously to her upper lip.
“Who’re you, the Lady Mayoress” he joked.
Where’s Mary?” she pointedly whispered.
”She’s with her widowed sister Joan up in Scotland ” Stan admitted nervously, unsure of her reactions.
”Joan, that’s not a very Scottish name!” Annie joked.” Anyway how about we sit down here on this bench for a moment”.She pulled him vigorously towards her.
Stan responded regretfully
“I’m afraid I can’t stop.I have all these books overdue and the library shuts in 15 minutes
.”Don’t worry, sweetheart”, she cried un-contemptuously.”I’ll pay all your fines.I’ve just come into loads and loads of money.”
“Oh, how’s that.my angel” Stan murmured. “I shot Bert.If you help me to get rid of the evidence, I’ll share the loot with you.”
At the funeral, Annie was dressed in a beautiful dark brown suit with a black trim from Jaeger.She went around the room making sure everyone had enough food and drink.As she leaned over towards Stan her heavy gold locket, inside which was hidden the bullet that killed Bert, swung over and hit Stan a glancing blow on the temple.
Stan fell to the ground
.”Do you think we should ring 999?” someone asked sarcastically.Within minutes, paramedics arrived.
“So, is it that chair again?” they clamoured.
”Yes, this foolish old man fell over and the leg came off my brand new antique chair.I’ve only had it a few days and it’s not insured.”
“Did anyone ever tell you, your eyes are like deep pools in the Saragossa Sea?” Dave, the paramedic whispered into her right ear.
“Have you still not finished that Creative Writing Course?” Annie shouted.””I’m getting tired of you admiring my eyes.What about my nose?””
“Has anyone ever told you, your nose is the shortest they’ve ever seen?”
“That’s a bit boring” Annie retorted.
”Yeah, maybe I should change to Art,” he ruefully moaned.”I love the way your deep blue and turquoise eye shadow is melting around your eyes and running down the sides of your nose.”
“Hurry up and fix my chair, and while you’re about it, you may as well take Stan down to A and E for a head X-ray.”
Glancing furtively at Annie in her Jaeger suit with carefully contrasting deep coral blouse and opaque teal blue 80 denier tights with 6 inch stiletto heels to complete the outfit, not to mention her raspberry coloured bra which clashed violently with the coral blouse [which alas was more transparent than she realised], he picked up a hammer and began,excitedly,to mend the broken chair.
”This is what life is all about, my boy” he thought.One day I will be just where I should be.Right here.With her,alone!
Little did he know the true tale, that Annie had murdered her husband merely because she felt very bored.
Boredom is dangerous.If you are affected why not go out and look at some hats? Why not take up drawing. is now online
Microsoft Paint
Stan was feeling somewhat glum,nay even despairing,on Monday morning.
Mary had gone to work on her new folding 6 gear bicycle with own basket and an extra basket from Wells-next -the- Sea 1995
[the wicker basket now somewhat grey in hue.]
He was left at home sorting out all his art work and materials as well as doing the baking,cooking and bathing Emile,the delightful yet trying male cat.
Sunk in dark misery,Stan sat in an old uncomfortable chair in the darkest part of the room, while Emile snored on the rug by the bright French windows
.Stan went through all the possible reasons for his state of mind.Was he guiltyabout his flings with his alluring next door neighbour Annie?
Could it be his failure to toilet train Emile? Or his omitting to carry out the penance given by Father Brown after Stan confessed to stealing sweets on the way to Confession in 1956?
The longer Stan brooded the more reasons he found for his depression.
He could hardly get up to make a cup of coffee ..even instant seemed too much trouble.Would he even clean his teeth which somehow he’d failed to do?
The doorbell rang… it was a new cord for his laptop as Emile had been chewing the current one ,and 29 books in a sack from Amazon which his wife must have ordered,as he had no recollection of any such foolish spending.
How would they pay the bill on the credit card? he ruminated.
Later in the day.Annie peered through the window.She tapped on the glass with her well manicured blue finger nails.
Let me in she cried.
I’m too tired for any hanky panky he murmured lovingly as he ran his fingers through her thick red tresses.What is this delightful perfume,beloved,he questioned her.
It’s Poison! she replied.Oh no,sorry it’s Iris and Jasmine Eau de toilette from the Bodyshop.
Despite his lowly sunken state Stan loved this perfume.He sniffed rabidly at her well rounded form
.Well,shall we have some tea,she enquired.
Stan sat there hand on chest.I’ve been feeling a little gloomy,he muttered.She peered at him.
You look terribly pale,Stan.Where’s your angina spray?
I can’t recall,he said.Oh,here it is in my vest.
What a strange place to keep it,she responded.
Mary made pockets for all my vests.at one time you could buy vests with pockets
She’s good at sewing despite being so clever.In fact she loves doing things with her hands.
Annie got the GNT spray out and handed it to him.
Have you got a pain?
Well,yes,now you mention it,I do,he replied verbosely.
Well,in the name of God, use the bloody thing,she whispered endearingly into his left ear.
He opened his mouth,raised his tongue and with his hand resting lightly on his chin he pressed the button with his forefinger.
His head began to throb.
Annie appeared with a cup of Earl Grey tea and a biscuit.
Why,you look a little better.Do you need another dose?
No,I feel much better now.I’ve had it before.
He drank the tea but didn’t eat the biscuit which he threw out later in crumbs for the field mice in the shed.
His spirits began to rise.Why did he always forget that physical ailments can worsen a mood?He still felt a trifle glum but nothing a meringue wouldn’t put right.
OK,what shall I make for Mary’s supper? he enquired.
You sit there in the window and I’ll just make my special spaghetti,Annie replied gaily,as long as I can stay too.
Yes,I’ll open some red wine he said youthfully,and we can have fried apples and bananas for pudding with non fat Greek yoghurt.
What a wise choice she murmured gently into his ear………that will use up some of the newly picked apples,the bananas were from Lidl’s as usual.
Well,Stan you look better.said Mary happily,You’ve been pale all weekend.Was it Annie who cheered you up,not to put too fine a point on it?
Actually it was nitroglycerine,he said roguishly,but Annie made me use it.
But for us women you’d be dead,she replied equably.
But for you delightful creatures I wouldn’t be here at all,he moaned ecstatically.
Now then Stan,control yourself she urged,After all we have a visitor,Annie!
What a hoot,he thought as he twisted spaghetti round his fork in a careless manner splashing tomato sauce all over his new green acrylicjumper.
Thank the Lord for washing machines,Mary said.
I didn’t know Jesus invented them,Annie said with a tone of mild sarcasm but no-one bothered to reply.
As told by Emile to the local paper.
And believed by all of us
I brought home a kitten from a friend
So tiny yet so fierce he bit my hands
We could not find him when we came back home
He was tucked in with the sheet under the foam
We had no garden so we took him out
Wrapped in a wool cardigan,I think
He lay contented on my knee all day
Looking at the trees and coloured sky
When mature he roamed the night away
Sleeping in a rocking chair most days
Benjamin, we called him, was run down
In the rush hour by a speeding clown,
The amber eyes of Benjamin would glow
He gave us happiness,we loved him so
Do we choose what we perceive each hour?
Or are we automata clothed in skin,
Wh see the thorns and then ignore the flower?
Can we, like grass, be grateful for a shower.
Or is our store of gratitude too thin?
Can we choose what we perceive each hour?
Can we choose to smile instead of cower?
Can we love the game played not to win?
Who sees sharp thorns but then ignores the flower?
Do we choose to love or to use power?
Can we choose the virtue, not the sin?
Do we choose what we perceive each hour?
As we struggle inside Babel’s tower
Ambivalence may torture some within
Most see the thorns and then ignore the flowers
With softened eyes ,we see the whole sweet bower
If we draw near, we see what is now dim
Can we choose what we perceive each hour?
Some see the thorns but then ignore the flowers.
As Mary ate her topside with green peas,she gazed out of the front window where a police car was parked.They had gone to speak to her neighbours.Her neighbours had 23
dogs and a dead cat .all in the back garden for recreation and making holes in fences or other places
When Mary had come home from the delightful dentist she had been attacked by five of the dogs on her own patio
who were bored with their own garden so has made a hole in the fence as was their wont.
She sat silentky her mind brooding about animals,and their force, as she ate the last roast potato and wondered if she had a pudding
Suddenly a cold wind seemed to blow across the room as Annie her delightful neighbour
had run in without closing the back door firmly
Hello dear.Put the kettle on for me, Mary ordered Annie
I am sorry,Annie said,I have lost weight but even so the kettle won’t fit me
Why do you take things so literally,Mary asked?
I am trying to be funny, Annie muttered indecisively, her blood red lipstick melting down her chin and dripping onto the floor
Good grief, what a mess,Mary said.Hang on, your lips are bleeding
I keep biting them,Annie revealed.
Why?
To stop myself screaming at those people with the dogs.What will you do?
Her mascara from Mix Vector in dark brown began to melt and created streaks across her rose beige moisturising foundation from Bess of Ardent
Are you crying,Mary asked curiously
I must be.I have tears in my eyes.I am over-identifing with your feelings.
Empathy has its limits,Mary said sweetly>I phoned the police and they came here
They were amazed he has 23 dogs.They have gone to see him.
How can they afford to feed so many dogs?
Oh,I feel faint,ring 999
In ran Dave the bisexual, transvestment paramedic all dressed in tartan
Why are the police here, he asked anxiously
It’s about the dogs attacking Mary.
Shall I make some nice strong tea,Dave asked wisely
Good idea, said Annie
How is Emile taking this?
I’ve sent him to my sister’s for a break,But I miss him
Goodness me, what a terrible time we needyou are having
They all went into the lounge and sat down on the grey high backed armchairs
Here is the tea,Dave cried as he put the tray down on a low table.Don’t let it go cold~
Shall I give them some cake, he asked Mary?
Why not, she answered.See what you can find
It is very hard if neighbours attack you,Why, I’ve even read about murders at times like this,Dave cried.
Let’s see how it goes,Mary said quietly.They are not fools
I hope you are right,Dave said wisely
Rolling Stones never get mopped
Evert cloud has a silver lining~
When glum ,keep mum
Amen
Armageddon comes and we don’t find
The time to stop and think and wonder at
The wrath of God, the thunder of his mind
Is he the ground of being undefined?
The earth where seeds are nurtured by his hands
Armageddon comes and we are blind
He is not a sweet and compliant friend
Nor the lord of rich and fertile lands
His the wrath and his the thunderous mind
As the storms washed men off Kentish sands
So God hurls the energy he sends
Armageddon comes and we are blind
In these trials, whose hearts are refined?
Are we open, can we each attend,
His the sun and his the mighty mind
As on the rocky path we wary stand
Below despair, we find the deep commands
Armageddon, love and care are drained
The grief of God, the pity of his mind
