Month: September 2024

Three things give me energy….

What things give you energy?

Three things give me energy

And get me at my best

Good food, air in my lungs

And of course a good night’s rest.

I have to eat meals regularly

At least three times a day

If I don’t eat I run out of steam

And fade predictably.

I’m energised by getting outside

Breathing good fresh air

Working in the garden

Or taking exercise.

And then there is a good night’s sleep

I like a good eight hours

And pausing for a little break

If I am feeling tired.

As for mental energy

A slightly different thing.

Some perk up with people around

I need time alone.

Time to get my brain straight

To strengthen my resolve

Put my thoughts in order

And get me on the road.

Carole King’s Tapestry

What’s your all-time favorite album?

Carole King Tapestry

If you read an earlier post

You’ll know this prompt is cruel

I confessed just days ago

I’m not that musical.

Then again it’s easier

To choose some tracks

If you have owned so few.

The one that sticks in memory

Been heard so many times

Didn’t even belong to me

It was a housemate’s choice.

Two years in Nigeria

I took no tracks with me

My housemate only had a few

We’d often listen to his.

Unforgettably Tapestry

We’d hear it again and again.

The Earth moves under my feet

As I hear that opening track.

No one stays one place anymore

We were Far Away

It’s Too Late Baby, far too late

To know quite how that felt.

Way over Yonder

Young, far from home

When would we be Home Again?

Two years we’d be there.

It’s Too Late Baby

Far too late, Thankfully

You Have a Friend

And he has musical taste.

Where You Lead I Will Follow

Learning all these tracks

Will I still love them tomorrow

And listen when I get back?

Well Tapestry stays in the memory

And I’ve seen her play it live

Carole King is Beautiful

My desert island album

The one that I would choose.

I’d like to know how everything works and mend it when it’s broke

Which topics would you like to be more informed about?

These days if you want to know

You simply look things up

Use common sense to know what’s true

Ignore what’s just made up.

We’re inundated with bad news

Can know what’s going on.

So if you’re feeling ill informed

That’s mainly down to you.

And yet I have a knowledge gap

I have to share with you.

I barely know how anything works

Can’t fix it when it’s broke.

Men are s’posed to know these things

A gift they get from birth

But somehow I’m the one

that missed that gene

And can’t make anything work.

Some learn from their father

But I’m a soldier’s son

If something broke

We went to the store

And got another one.

We were always moving

So not much DIY

You don’t make alterations

If you’re not planning to stay.

I am really useless

If anything is broke

I have to leave it to my wife

Which makes her really cross.

I’m getting slightly better

YouTube really helps

But if you have no confidence

It’s scarey doing things.

I am always frightened

That I will make things worse.

Somehow I have two left hands

No fingers, only thumbs.

The worst thing with not knowing

Is not knowing you don’t know.

There’s such a lot that I don’t know

I live in ignorance.

I try to keep up with current affairs,

Culture, Science, the Arts

But sadly it’s domestic affairs

On which I’m least informed.

I’ll manage better than most.

What would your life be like without music?

In a world where there’s no music

I’ll manage better than most.

It’s incidental to my life

Not key I must confess.

If you find me listening

I’ll be with someone else.

I seldom listen on my own

I’ll have speech radio on.

Music might be background

While doing boring tasks

But I’ll switch it off to concentrate

Silence suits me best.

I don’t take music running

Or listen in the gym

Prefer the thoughts

That are in my head

And concentrate on them.

Music’s good for parties

Dancing I would miss

I’d need new opportunities

To throw myself around.

And then of course nostalgia

Reminders of my youth

But mostly that’s the lyrics

I misremember tunes.

I won’t miss background music

In shops and restaurants

If you’re hard of hearing

It really is a pain.

Incidental music

really gets my goat.

Suddenly an orchestra!

Where did they come from?

Sometimes I like singing

And belting out a song

But that can be unpopular

If you can’t hold a tune.

I’ve never played an instrument

Unless triangle counts?

Once or twice I tried to learn

But really! Not a chance.

So now you get the picture

I’m not that musical.

Please don’t hate me for it.

It’s just the way I am.

When you say a ‘holiday’ – not sure what you mean?

How do you celebrate holidays?

Oh gosh this one is difficult

I‘m not sure what you mean?

For us to take a ‘holiday’

Means to take a break

Most usually to get away.

‘Vacation’s what you’d say.

I’m guessing that your question

Is in American?

Two nations with one language

But don’t use it the same.

Most often when on ‘holiday’

We like to go abroad

The point is to do different things

To travel and explore.

So different kinds of holidays

Beach or cultural tours

A little bit of everything

Trying different food.

If you’re talking Christmas

That’s quite a different thing

That’s for family gatherings,

Parties, festive meals.

New Year’s more for adults

And fuelled by alcohol

We’ll stay up for the Midnight Chimes

And sing of Auld Lang Syne.

Easter it has changed a lot

Become a chocolate thing

The pious will still go to church

But mostly people don’t.

Easter’s a Bank Holiday

Of these we have a few

People get an extra day

To tag on their weekend.

Many try to get away

There’s chaos on the roads

Unless you love a traffic jam

It’s best to stay at home.

Then we have the seasonal things

Guy Fawkes, Halloween

We don’t get a holiday

But celebrate just the same.

We don’t do Thanksgiving

I hope that isn’t news?

Nor do we have 4th July

We’ll leave that up to you.

So I tried to do an answer

I hope you’ll understand

I don’t quite get your English

I’m from England.

A foolproof way of making bread?

Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.

We seldom ever buy bread

We mostly bake our own

If you use a breadmaker

Nothing should go wrong.

Just add the ingredients

Put them in a tin

Following the recipe

You’ll make a perfect loaf.

First you add a little yeast

Then weigh out the flour

Then measure out the sugar,

Salt and butter (or olive oil).

Just these few ingredients

And you’re almost done

But disaster will occur

If you miss the final one.

Don’t forget the water

As I occasionally do!

It‘s all fine for an hour or two

The dough‘s supposed to rest

But when the proper baking starts

You get that fateful smell.

I can’t describe the outcome

It is an awful powdery mess

And clearing out the outcome

Not an easy task.

I really recommend them

Means even I can bake

But catering for forgetfulness?

Well what do you expect?

How to be happy

You desperately want to be happy
But can only be happy when
You get that new job
Or a lottery win
You’ll surely be happy then?

There’s always another hurdle
One more barrier to cross
But you’ll only really be happy
When you know that you are the boss.

The truth is you’ll never be happy
Till you realise what happy is not
It’s not reaching out for the next thing
It’s to be happy with what you have got.

The Cat and the Kitten or How to find happiness

There’s a tale that’s told
Of a kitten
That liked to chase
After its tail.
It chased it and it
Chased it; but

Try as hard as he might
The poor kitten
Couldn’t catch it
Couldn’t catch it
At all.

Along came an older
Wiser cat
Who watched him for
Quite a while.
“Why are you chasing
Your tail?”, he said.
“You can’t seem to
Catch it at all.”

“I can’t seem to ever
Catch it
That’s true.”
The poor little kitten said,
“But I have to try
And try some more
For I’m convinced you see
That the secret
Of happiness
Must be there
At the very end
Of my tail.”

The older cat watched
For a little while more
Then this is what
He said:
“I used to chase
My own tail once
Convinced I’d
Find happiness there.

But one day I realised
There was no need
To chase my tail any more;
For the secret that I learned
Was this.

There’s happiness
In the tip of my tail
But the wonderful
Thing you see
Is I simply go
Wherever I will
And the tail
Seems to follow me!”

Then the older cat
Upped and walked away
A happy smile on his face
And what the kitten last saw
Was the swish of his tail
As it bobbed along
In his wake.

No such thing as failure

What ever it is
You want in life
You have to remember this.

You won’t always get
It right first time
Something will go amiss.

You have to try
And try again
And not lose sight of this.

There’s no such thing
As a failure till
The point when you give in.

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It’s harder to grin

It’s all very well to wear a big grin
When life is basically good
But it’s harder to grin
When life gets rough
And no good reason you should.

Sometimes the hurt is not just in your head
And things are genuinely bad
There are reasons for pain
So look for the root;
Find where you hurt,
If you want to get well again.

Sometimes what makes you angry
Or even just out of joint
Is not the real reason you’re hurting
Or what’s going wrong in your life.
If you do the same things
It will happen again
So what are you going to change?