Post 11 of 92

9:08pm.  Nearly forgot.  Easy to do.  Thunderstorms coming.  What a loaded sentence that is.  Thunderstorms.  And I hear a plane passing overhead.  Between storm cells.  What a view they must have, in the night with flashes of light before and behind.

But the greatest view would be of the ... is it sprites?  those flashes of light seen from space of electrical discharges above thunderstorms?  What a view that would be.

And just a note before I close (it's already 9:11).  Mikaela might just be the greatest dog that ever lived.  I am a cat person first and foremost.  A bird person second.  A horse person third and a dog person last of all.  Mikaela might change all that.  This morning, with some cheap dental tools I got from somewhere years ago, I chipped off some plaque from her teeth.  Her teeth are pretty good, especially for a greyhound, but there is a bit of plaque.  Mikaela stood like a statue while I chipped away.  I didn't do much.  Why make a problem where there isn't one?  Even so, her beautiful manners are breathtaking.

As is her love.  She is the most loving dog I have ever met.  Loving without slavishness, if that makes sense.  She doesn't throw herself upside down at your feet and whine.  She isn't needy in that way.  There's a quiet dignity in her affection; a laying of her head in my lap or against my chest.  Giving and receiving.  She affects me more than any dog I have ever known.  And that is in less than two weeks.  9:22pm

Post 10 of 92.

4:27pm.  Actually forgot to write yesterday.  Remembered then forgot.

Further to what I've been thinking/writing about:  This lack of excitement over ideas, the lack of desire to quest after truth.  I'm not sure it's a bad thing.  Another thing I notice with age is the growing appreciation of and being in the now.  Of course, I still spend hours other than in the moment that I'm in yet it is less so than before.  Rather than racing after answers that will forever elude me, I find it is the small things and being in and the noticing of the small things which somehow provide answers of their own.  If I walk, I walk and if I don't waste that walk thinking of things other than the walk, the time is beautifully and, surprisingly, satisfactorily spent.  There is a sort of peace which comes with the mere doing of what I am currently doing.

And maybe that is enough. 4:32pm

Post 9 of 92

5:45pm.  There seems to be a trade off that comes with aging.  Some good, some bad.  There are the familiar good things, like a bit of wisdom that comes with experience.   Not getting het up about the small things, more patience (although that is something I struggle with still), being less inclined to emotional upheaval. 

And the bad things, mostly to do with the mind being willing but the body unable or slow to respond.  Perhaps illness too. 

But one of the things I miss is the excitement I used to experience about ideas.  I don't mean being cynical (although I can be!) or world weary, more of a viewing the idea through a veil, it not having the stark revelatory spark of something perceived the first time. 

I'm rereading a book, The Spectrum of Consciousness by Ken Wilbur, that just had the WOW WOW WOW factor when I first read it.  The ideas put forth were ones I was familiar with through other works so it's not that they were new, but they way they were presented, condensed, explained which captured my imagination the first time.  Now it's as though I just can't get excited about The Meaning Of Life anymore.  It's as though I am so mired in the temporal, the physical, the Realtiy of the day to day, I can no longer remember that I once aspired to the Eternal and continually quested and questioned.  And got excited.

Now it's, bleh.  Like I've given up.  Rather than aspiring for the penthouse suite, I'm just glad to have a bed with clean sheets.

6:01pm

Post 8 of 92

4:42pm.  Don't complain, don't explain.  Or some such.  I am not having such a good day, despite my overwhelming good fortune in health, home and hearth.  Perhaps just being continually tired doesn't help.  The day started well; up before dawn to a sky full of sailing ships and a fresh breeze.  R got up so I suggested a quick walk with Mikaela to enjoy the beauty.  And one remark by R, one myopic petty remark and the day soured.

And that's my fault.  The weakness in allowing others to determine what kind of day I have.  I deserve to not have a good day.  For the day just deteriorated to where we actually argued, something we rarely do - not really argued, just made it apparent we didn't like each other much.  And he can't help what has happened to him and how it affects our relationship - that I get lonely for a relationship that extends beyond the banal.

But I'm complaining and explaining so I'll end it here. 

4:46pm

Post 7 of 92.

4:21.  Little sleep.  Too much caffeine.  High humidity and heat.  Got the shakes.  Got deep circles under my eyes.  Mikaela asked to go outside at 2am.  Not a problem.  I was up anyway.  Then had the flashes  through one's eyelids like xrays followed by rolling thunder.  Got up and unplugged the computer and phone.  Waited for the storm that never came.  It edged closer and closer and then retreated.  Thought my counting was off (counting the seconds between flashes and thunder). 

Never had that cool change which comes after the storm.  A hot and sticky night, what remained of it.  Have the air conditioning on now.  A/C in two of the three pods.  Feel somewhat guilty using it after toughing it out for so many years.  And what I suspected is true, with the A/C on I am reluctant to go out and do chores.  Still have to do the dog poop run. 

And on that s***** note....4:28pm

Day 6 of 92

9:15pm.  All it takes is one mosquito lurking under the desk.  I've been bitten about 3 times and the bites itch like hell.  Was going to let this go today as it was another hugely busy day but thought, Sloth is  which Circle of Dante's Hell?  So between scratching bites and inhaling the pong that is my unwashed body at this late hour, I am getting my 2 minutes in.

In short:  Took Mikaela to the Uki Farmer's Market where everybody made a huge fuss of her, did heaps of laundry and cleaned, took Mikaela to the dog beach at Pottsville - miles and miles of practically empty completely undeveloped white sand beach....only in Australia.  She so wanted to have a Really Big Zoomie on the beach.  She leapt straight up in the air, tried to run and hit the end of the lead.  But of course we can't let her off yet.  One day....  Came home washed the beautiful new used Skoda Yeti (Gus) and washed Mikaela oo.

9:21pm.

Day 5 of 92

2:43pm  Just got the computer back from the computer hospital where it has, happily, been fixed.  Also explains why I have missed blogging for a few days.

But the big news is we have adopted a rescue Greyhound, Mikaela (previously known as April).  In about 16 minutes she will have been with us for 24 hours.  She is a 4 year old white chested but mostly black girl who raced 6 times, came third once, and didn't like to chase.  Thankfully as she is going pretty well with the cats.  She has shown interest in playing with them but they aren't confident with her yet.

She is a dream girl;  affectionate, intelligent, housebroken, polite, walks well on the lead and for having had her entire life disrupted twice in 3 months, handling it quite well.  We took her to M'bah, did some errands...she wasn't quite sure about the trip.  Kept going to South Tweed and Pet Barn to buy her another bed.  By that time she was sad, thinking perhaps life was going to throw her another curve ball.

When we got home and opened the car door, her tail was whipping from side to side and she'd grown about half a foot. 

One of the most impressive things about her is how quickly she learns.  We have a large easy chair in the bedroom that I covered with a throw.  It was to be her bed.  She thought our bed could be her bed too.  I pushed her off once, took her around to the chair once, put her on it and told her to stay.  She didn't but when the lights went out she jumped into the chair and spent the night there.

Good Dog!

2:50pm