All posts by Bridgesburning Chris

The older I get the more amazed I am at the simplicity of life and at the same time the complexity of it. I think sometimes we make the simplicity complicated by our own ingenuity and the insistence that something so wonderful cannot be simple. Perhaps our greatest failure is to make complex that which is not.
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Sunny Sunday Sensing

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ah the joys of a lovely Sunday!

A World Apart

“Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
I close my eyes and drift away-a”
Small Faces 1960s - an English rock band from East London

Sunday afternoon and it’s here before anywhere else in the world. Well, this Sunday was great.

The day started with a late rising, followed by a chat with my daughter and then another chat this timeon Facetime with my alter ego/good friend Chris. You know thatwe regularly chat and although we’ve never met in person, we are firm friends. Maybe if one of us wins the lottery we might get to meet. Waterloo, Ontario is far from Wellington, New Zealand. Aren’t we lucky we live in a time when the internet makes connecting with friends so easy?

After being picked up by another friend and lunch in the coffee shop at my favourite garden shop, we took a ‘short’ run to the supermarket…

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Friday the 13th — A World Apart

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All the things I did not know! Of course mine which came next had a bit of a different spin!!

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th in New Zealand. It will shortly be at your place too.  Friday the 13th is the most widespread superstition in the Western world.  Some people refuse to go to work on Friday the 13th; some won’t eat in restaurants and many would not consider setting this as a date for […]

Friday the 13th — A World Apart
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Don’t say goodbye…..

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There is wisdom to be found if you will it

A World Apart

I’ve read a few posts where a resounding goodbye is made to old 2022, then door firmly shut and an optimistic face put forward.

I was thinking about that this morning in the bumbling about way my mind works, and it occurred to me that slamming the door on the old year, as one might on an old relationship might not be wise.

There are things I treasured about this year; events, people, lessons learned, and lessons relearned.

I don’t want to even forget about the difficult things, from which we learn and grow.

I sort of just want to gently shut the door, and give thanks.

This bit below says far more clearly my own thoughts.

Vedanta Kesari means ‘Lion of Vedanta’ and is a cultural and spiritual English monthly magazine published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

No matter what you believe in, or do not believe in, (and…

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Word of the Day: Psithurism

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My Southern California friend has a new word that is perfection!!

Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud

I love words and this is a good one.

Psithurism: a rustling or whispering sound, such as leaves in the wind; susurration [ sith-yuh-riz-uhm ] 

Example: Standing in the glade I heard a quiet psithurism, just straddling the line between music and noise.

Photo by veeterzy on Pexels.com

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The best thing about being retired

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I don’t know if it really is the best thing, but is pretty darn nice!

Perhaps it is symptomatic of old age. Since I don’t perform according to anyones’s expectations I find I can wander hither, thither, and yon.

So I set goals and then I might or might not work on them. When an idea floats by, we’ll, I just may head in that direction!

Currently it is my beloved knitting and audio books. It doesn’t take much to make me happy! Yesterday I wrote about this on A World Apart as below.

Feeling a little craftey

There are lots of things I could have done today. I mean I actually have a list, though I am not sure where it is.

There seems to be a fair bit of clutter, and taking the few minutes to tidy, a thought that sort of wafted across my mind, then evaporated, was just not doable.

So what had my attention for the last fourteen hours?

Why knitting of course. And listening to audio books from my library. Actually, the needle and yarn urge started a few days ago, and in the last eight days I have listened to;

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (JKR)

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny 

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (can you tell I am getting prepped for her newest one that has just been released today I think called A WORLD OF CURIOSITIES.

I am happiest knitting and listening.

I just finished this one for a friend and started working on another when something else caught my eye. (You know me, waylaid by another flashy thing)

This:

So that is what I am working on for the moment. Shouldn’t take too long then its back to the hat I love.

So from North of 43 I bid you adieu as I hasten back to the drawing board, I mean the needles and yarn

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Instagram animal videos got me thinking

I mentioned a bit ago that I have found myself watching little videos of baby animals.

I surprised myself since I have always said that cutesy is not something I do but…

I must have been very bored one day to have taken a peek.

I watch these videos on my Instagram and what ended up interesting me was not the happy cutesy ones.

There are mothers that are nurturing. But what caught my eye were the ones that appeared not to be. Some drag their young brutally. Some beat them and push them away.

Of course some babies go to the wrong mother and are pushed or smacked away.

I have seen large males grab a baby and try to run away with it but usually the mother will grab the baby back.

I have seen mothers carry a baby’s corpse, some of which are very decomposed.

So I did what I always do. Research.

Mothers will kill their own baby if something is wrong with it or if they don’t want it.

Males will (rarely) kidnap a baby and kill it, because and get this – as long as a female is nursing it cannot get pregnant (and those males are out to copulate and reproduce). Females can nurse their young up to four years (I think).

I read that monkeys recognize death but will continue carrying their deceased babies for a long time.

I learned that like the life we know there is cute, and joy, and nourishing, and teaching. But there is also isolation, rejection, pain, and grief.

Actually watching them makes me realize how very like the monkeys we are. So from North of 43 I contemplate just how connected life on this planet is.