The Gift of the Present.

The bananas are real a real present.

Alive in the now.

He is looking at you.

In bed now is good, I want to get things done today, wanting spoils my lay-in. Wanting often detracts from what we are doing now. I roll out of bed, I am mindful the Grim Reaper is there with his friend Father Time. The Grim Reaper gives me a nudge in the lumbar region with the handle of his scythe, he uses the sharp end when I forget and don’t act my age.

Blues dog. Green disabled, frog busking

Last time that happened I got out of bed, feeling my age, put on a C D featuring various blues guitarists to motivate me to get going. I started doing my morning yoga-type exercises to the acoustic sound of Robert Johnson. The music was doing its job; it started off laid-back and gradually built up, Brownie McGhee, B.B. King, Johnny Winters playing Jumpin Jack Flash. I started to move in time with the beat. I was feeling great, I started doing jazz-a-size and no problem; I was bouncing like a rubber ball.

Garden watering tap or dog watering tap.

Reaching down with my right hand to my left foot, then left hand to right foot, I was pumping, the endorphin had kicked in. George Thorogood started playing “Bad to the bone.” I was having fun. The Grim Reaper was not amused and took a swipe at me missed my neck and cut a tendon or muscle in the back of my thigh, bbbbbad to the bone. I hit the canvas down for the count it was about a month before I gingerly tried to touch my toes again.

Not the best to get a head.

This time mindful of my limitations I gently exercised to Oscar Sher playing the classical Spanish guitar. No chance of strain when La Feast then Que C’est Triste,Venise is playing.Still I keep thinking, today I want to go around the garden and take some photos of the pottery I have made before it all gets broken.

Pottey potter,

Most of the pottery I made in New Zealand, before returning home to Australia. Pauline and I sold everything in a garage sale. Then had the fun of replacing it, at garage sales, here in Australia. What did not sell we gave away, the pottery that did not sell my son wanted. When my son decided to come to Aussie he shipped his things in a container. The pottery he gave back to me. I decorated our garden with it.

Some fo the Village People are at rest above.

Over time there have been some casualties. The small figures I called the ‘village people’ I glued them to a shelf in what we call the Bali Corner. In time the glue gave up and there were breakages. That is why we take photos; it is good to keep our memories. It is only a problem if we do not understand we cannot cling to anything. The pottery in the garden can be seen and enjoyed, missing bits and all. No one is desperately clinging to it.

Excitement of now.

We have no fence around the front garden children can come in to play hide and seek, they usually get excited and run through the planted area. I was sitting in what I call my hideaway, built out of materials from the tip, the next time they came in to play hide and seek, I was ready. I gave them all some chocolate dollar coins covered in gold paper. Then I explained”This is your reward, it is pay, for being careful of the plants. Pauline gets upset when you trample them.” “She blew us up.” A little boy said, an older girl said, “It wasn’t me but she told us all off.” I explained we all get upset when what we love is damaged by thoughtless people.

Two hard men.  Long John Silverclaws.

Now I always have a bag of chocolate money ready it is a pleasure for me as well as the kids. They all know me and children grow up so quickly. I get a real buzz when some teenager I don’t remember, greets me with a “G’day jack, remember me, are you still handing out the chocolate money?”

This is a ‘pot-head’.

There is so much to see and do in this wonderful world I have to remind myself not to be greedy. We can never experience it all; wanting to fit too much into the day diminishes our joy. Stay mindful of the now, impatient for the next experience reduces the pleasure of the now. I am in bed not hurrying to my exercise routine. I am enjoying the now; I think I will give exercise a miss. No! A sleep in is ok for weary hardworking young people. All sorts of things can exhaust them that does not bother me anymore. I need to get my blood circulating, I am stiff in all the wrong places, my joints are freezing up.

I have always been green.

Next temptation is to hurry to my breakfast of fruit with cereal, yogurt and soy milk. First I meditate and then I will savor my breakfast, like another meditation session. Life is a balancing act and mindfulness and moderation are big factors in getting it right. Find pleasure in the now, hurrying you miss living in the now. Take pride in what you are doing now or life will pass you by.

Green Man.

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