A Bit of Me…..A poem by Bartholomew Barker…. A lot about Whales & Dolphins…..Plus……..
by Bernie Bell - 16:28 on 30 July 2022
On Being Not Right in the Heid…..
I freely admit to not being right in the heid. I’ve not been right in the heid for as long as I can remember and have lived with that way of being - more or less - up and down - over the years.
Recently I was wondering if I’m getting nearer to losing my grip. Since March 2020 I haven’t mixed with people. Just Mike at home, our neighbours, and a few careful visitors. Mike and I go out for walks, as written of in The Orkney News……. https://theorkneynews.scot/?s=Bernie+Bell+Walks
I have Mike to talk with - thank goodness - a person of intelligence, insight and humour, right here, with me, in the house. Without that person to have exchanges with I would definitely have gone well and truly nuts.
Still, it’s not natural for me not to be among people, jibber-jabbering, and I feel that the lack of real human contact - as well as what's happening in and to the world around me - is beginning to tell on my state of mind.
I asked Mike seriously, genuinely, does he think I’m going nuts, and he said ….”Look around you at the world today – look at how people are behaving – that’s nuts – you’re not.” And I thought yes indeed - I don’t scurry around clutching a Smart-phone like it’s some kind of life-line – constantly checking it in case I’m ‘missing something.’ I don’t go to crowded indoor events as though Covid doesn‘t still stalk the land. All in all a lot of the behaviour of people in general is a lot more nuts than I am.
So now, having decided that I’m not too wrong in the heid, I think I need to develop a less fret-full approach to my physical deterioration. I fret about how it limits my life. I fret about how it limits our life, and Mike’s life - which does no good at all – makes the situation and our lives no better and, in fact, makes it worse.
Less fretting about my physical deterioration might help with the emotional trials of relative social isolation. Adopting a genuinely more accepting approach – each day as it comes. Each part of a day as it comes. Steadily - living.
I have a cartoon by Gary Larsen stuck on the wall next to where I sleep which is a picture of a person sitting on the side of a bed first thing in the morning, looking at a sign on their wall which says….’First pants THEN your shoes.’
That strikes me as a good approach to have. Nice & Steady.
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We went for a walk along the tracks near our house, looked across the Willow-herb and the ripening crop to Egilsay and sent a thought to Magnus and his Way… https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/31/forgiveness/
Seeing seasonal wildflowers …Heart’s-ease and Willowherb.....right by the crop……
And a mix of Willow-herb and Meadowsweet by the track – two of my favourite summer flowers together…
The air was sweet after the rain. No’ a bad life.
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Bartholomew Barker https://bartbarkerpoet.com/ has written a loving Fraiku…..
“Night arrives after a long day
I just want to be covered by your breath
But the rain will have to do.”
And again, my response to one of Bartholomew’s poems was simply – ‘Oh, my lord……’
Puts me in mind of a line from one of my favourited songs by Paulo Nutini…’I turn to you and inhale you where you lay….’
Ahhhh …Paulo….sigh….
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News from the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society….not always cheer-full……but needing to be known…….. https://uk.whales.org/news-blogs/news/
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Aaaaannndddd…news from the Orkney Museum….…. https://orkneymuseum.wordpress.com/category/medieval-norse/
…with another bit of/by me, too…………
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/01/24/newark-bay-life-on-the-edge-of-the-ocean/
A few years ago Mike and I were walking at Newark Bay and as we walked along the top of the beach I picked up a plastic baby doll’s arm from the tide-line, and put it in my pocket. After we’d been to see the work in progress we met a couple of young archaeologists in the car park. I said to the lass – “We found a baby’s arm on the beach” and reached into my pocket. Her face!
I then got out the plastic baby’s arm - which I’ve now incorporated into something in our garden…..
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More summer grub…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/05/16/spicy-lentils-with-potato-wedges/
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