It was very humid today. The kind of weather that gets folk complaining. One minute..."Where's Summer?". The next minute "It's too hot".
This irritates me. Please don't complain that it's too hot, after moaning about the lack of warm summer days, in June.
It's like asking for food, and when it comes...you start to complain about it. I think that most of us in the Western hemisphere are just spoilt. We live like kings and queens, compared to individuals in countries who have real poverty issues.
Humility and gratitude are the two most singular attitudes that we struggle with the most, as a wealthy society/country.
Gratitude jar. Helps. Each day I place a small piece of paper with a small written 'note of gratitude' on it. I fold it twice and put it in a Kilner jar. I keep it by the kettle, so that it becomes a daily ritual. Over days and months, and when I finally read them back to myself (New Year's day - usually) and I feel extremely lucky for everything that I have written.
Today, for a few hours, I went into the village to follow through with more Raffle Prize 'blagging' and collecting. It appears that the majority of the small businesses (as well as Martlets, Autovets, Clearwell Mobility and Co-op) are all more than happy to donate generously. This is great. It shows that an active and cooperating community is a very good place to live.
We go to the businesses, in person, usually, and if the company is corporate or franchised it is necessary to call/email head-office. I made one call, to a head office, and an follow up email...I surprised myself in succeeding with achieving another donation by phone. I explained the event and the charity and why we raise funds.
Our local running group (of whom I am an official member) , 'Habakuk Harriers', raise money for a charity based in Molo, Kenya. It is for children who come from extreme poverty and require sanitation, medication, schooling and anything that is of optimum priority.
Part of the problem with modern society (homogenisation) is that we have lost many of our communities. When you lose community, you lose the richness of life, you lose trust in people, you lose the magical touch of people helping people, you lose faith in the human race. You lose the humanitarian and compassionate aspect of what it is to be human.
It is a lovely place, in life, to feel that you can give back. It means that you are wealthy, not necessarily excessively monetarily wealthy, because wealth comes in many forms.
On my H.H. Monday group run, three of our group (including me) took a shorter route and we ran through a path lined with Daisies and Poppies. It was so beautiful, that it nearly made me cry. As much as I adore Peonies, Roses, Lilies, Stocks, Camelias, Rhododendrons, Daffodils and other exotic, extravagant and dramatic flowers....I will always go back to the simple, sweet Daisy. Margaritas too. Give me a field full of daisies (or a cluster) any day of the week. There is something in the simplicity of yellow and white, the flat formation of the petals and the perfectly round centre that is unbeatable on a summer's day.
Poppies are lovely too. Dramatic red and black, delicate and beautiful in a field of wheat. Of course they are also symbolic of remembrance. Armistice day (11/11). I like to think of them in a Monet painting. In the wild, in the landscape. Beautiful from a distance. A sea of pink/red in the landscape.
I have an old school friend, who had a daughter (about 8 years after I had my daughter). She called her 'Daisy' and I had no idea what to send her (because she doesn't want for a single thing) I sent her lots of packets of different Daisy seeds.
When I went to see her, many years later for her birthday celebrations, she had put huge outsized garden Daisies-on-sticks with Poppies-on-sticks. They go very well together. It was a very good party - even though it was a bit of a rainy day.
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