I got a walk Sunday morning, before the day got too hot. The dewpoint was high but there was shade and a wind.
The people I met were largely absorbed in their thoughts and I wondered if their early morning walk is a meditation.
I did see a biplane type of dragonfly
We have many species of dragonflies, darners and demoiselles in this region. Sometimes in the early morning sun I see them everywhere lit up by sunrays, clouds of them. Since they tackle clouds of mosquitoes, I like them.
The other day while I was reading on the deck, a tiny green metallic one landed on my shirt and rested a while. Maybe half an inch long, wings buzzing continually, until he lifted off and was gone. We also get tiny green metallic sweat bees but usually on sedums, not on people.
Then, once home I did a yes2next exercise, this one ten minutes of mindfulness, a great change from doing things all the time.
About aging and friends and losing friends, as Barbara Rogers mentioned on her blog -- do you follow Boardwalk Barb? You should, it's full of thought and art and family, definitely worth the price of admission.
Anyway the subject of outliving people came up there. I've outlived all my sibs, and my agemate friends, including two (!) recorder playing quartets.
Since I've been active in various arts, I have friends in many age groups including twenty somethings. No hierarchy of age in art. And I'm often the oldest person in any group these days. Some of my friends are helping care for parents, younger than I, but whose health is poor.
It does pay to be willing to find new friends, though lifelong ones are good, I wouldn't know. Emigration tends to make childhood friends fall away eventually, despite all your efforts.
Particularly when you've emigrated from the UK to the US rather than the colonies -- mostly the approved destinations are Canada, Australia and NZ. My own relatives never got over my going to the US.
But the world is full of nice people to meet. So there's that. And there's innocent merriment to be had in the obituaries, which I read to check I'm not in there.
One thing I love is the kind of doh expression such as William, known to his friends as Bill. Or Thomas, whose family called him Tom! Like, what the heck else, this isn't exactly groundbreaking. But then obits may be written by family without much writing experience so I will refrain from criticizing further. But I won't refrain from being amused.
Happy day everyone, meet nice, play nice, don't tease your friends!
