Where is Everyone?

[vannin]

I am fine, thanks, Vannin. I haven’t been out of the house now for around 4 weeks (except to check the mailbox) and after enjoying going out for lunch several times a week over the last few years I am really feeling the isolation. I have been talking on the phone and having FaceTime ‘meetings’ with the family and friends but I can’t hug the grandchildren.

Hi Hazel, good to see you! It has been five weeks for me as my last bus ride to town was on March 17th, St Patricks Day. Like you, I had been going out on weekdays, also Sundays. There was Movers and Shakers including two-course lunch on Tuesdays; coffee morning in the church hall on Weds, coffee at Costa with my friend on Fridays and choir practice on Thursday evenings. I think my voice has seized up from non-use except on phone calls! The day before I began my isolation, my daughter came to set me up on Skype, so it has been a joy to have visual calls, especially with my grandson. Like you, I miss the hugs a lot. Stay safe

[vannin]

Ciderman, thank you so much for sharing your photos. Yes, the almost traffic-free roads here and everywhere are such a change. Delivery vans are the one constant, thank goodness! There have been photos of deer, goats and sheep strolling around empty towns at their leisure. The garden birds are back. Cleaner air is a blessing for lung sufferers and little Elaine ("E") was saying on FB how she feels so much better.
In other countries, photos have shown penguins strolling in Cape Town, and in ? Adelaide, a kangaroo was having the run/jump/ of the deserted city. In Venice, the water is so clear without the gondolas, there are dolphins and assorted fish and jellyfish!

Your Anzac Day being so quiet, reminds me of how Easter passed by, hardly noticed. Our Mayday Bank Holiday will too, and I have usually been involved in an annual fete at that time.
Keep smiling and take care

[vannin]

Re the above post and the subject of wild animals feeling free to explore towns and cities, there was also a crocodile in South Carolina (not sure which town) lions on a South Africa golf course and a bear in San Francisco.

Plus warthogs in Paris, and many more freedom-seekers around the world.

[ciderman_nz]

Feijoas for anybody that walks past! Been through about 10 kilos so far!

[vannin]

Um, what are they?!

[ciderman_nz]

They are sometimes known as 'pineapple guava'. Originally from Sth America possobly brought here by Polynesians 500 years ago.

[vannin]

Thank you for the description Ciderman. I like Guava but not pineapple, so I'll pass this time, thank you!

[Lacemaker]

One of my friends who lives on the Sunshine Coast of South East Queensland has several large mango trees growing on her property and often puts out large amounts of fallen mangos for people to help themselves. She was working in the garden one day when a man stopped, looked at the mangos and asked her if they were free. She told him yes, so then he said they looked good but could he please have them straight off the tree.

Fresh mangos sell in the shops for anything from $2 up (1 pound) to around $5 each. She said yes and picked some for him - I know what I would have said !

[ciderman_nz]

When I was a kid in Bermuda we used to get PawPaws growing where we lived. I loved them!

[ciderman_nz]

Thank you for the description Ciderman. I like Guava but not pineapple, so I'll pass this time, thank you!

I don't know why (mostly Americans) call them that. They don't taste like either to me. They are very aromatic.

[vannin]

Hi Ciderman. On the thread headed 'Kids' , our Maisie has posted two a-maise-ing poems she wrote, relating to children.

I am wondering if you might feel like re-contributing a poem or two from your poetic past. I remember them, especially one about your dog which was very moving and another, the topic of which is escaping my memory but I think it was about your youth. (I didn't say mis-spent!)

Just a thought, now that we are getting lovely varied content, bringing valuable mutual support.

[ciderman_nz]

I think I did post this here but way back in 2011 and I still remember him fondly.
The Dog
You may not see me often as I ride around my sheep
The hills are hard and savage and the bloody things are steep.
I find a seep, a boggy patch and tell my horse to go
But he is being stubborn - in his minds eye he says ,”No!”
We struggle some, then I get off and lead him to the place
One step and I am knee deep , then flat upon my face.

I look up to his patient face as he stands up and dry,
While I gaze wet and miserable into a leaden sky.
Back aboard my saddle I let him show me where
The best place to approach and then to get us there.
My silent heading Dog looks up as if to ask the Lord
Where did he get this useless boss who cannot find a ford.

We reach the ridge and Dog has seen a ewe that’s having trouble
He looks at me and sighs and rounds her up quick double,
He eyes her still and I’m supposed to creep up to her with skill,
Assist the lamb to join the world and help him get his fill.
The Dog is thirteen years of age, I lack his expertise
To do the job as well as he, as I fumble on my knees.

For three years Dog encouraged me, and tried to help me learn
But he was aging fast, you see and I had years to burn.
At last his sight was giving in, but agile still and keen
He’d run into a tree or fence his dim eyes hadn’t seen.
I couldn’t leave him left behind when other dogs I ran
He loved the run, the company, the knowledge that he can.

I shot that Dog one evening. Under the kanuka tree
Gave him fillet steak , his favourite , set his spirit free.
I stroked his old grey head before he died under my hand,
Owed him that, I did , a friend , fellow worker on the land.
The tears rolled down my cheeks as I sighted between his eyes
The shot thundered, he twitched a bit, became silent bye and bye

I buried him with care and thought, beneath that tree so old
Wrapped in a blanket bright to keep him from the cold.
I made a token to mark the ground that was his place of rest
I knew without a doubt that he was one of nature’s best.
I sat for hours beside his grave , that starry moonlit night
And watched a meteor flash past and thought, “an omen!” right!

[vannin]

Yes, that was the one and I have never forgotten it. What a wonderful dog and a great horse too. Both were your fellow workers and knew you loved them.

[ciderman_nz]

The horse was "Nameless"

The Shepherd.

Zephyrs softly blowing,
Seeds of truth are sowing.
From the hilly ridges
Across the natural bridges,
On the back blocks, through the valleys,
Down the pastures, to the rivers.

I can see them down below me.
A white horse that cannot know me,
And I smile as I go floating, silent by.
But I see the nose that quivers,
Big brown eyes that make me shiver
And I let him settle, slowly on my mind.

As I look across the hills that I can see,
I feel a wet and coldness by my knee
And my dog is quietly walking,
We’ve no need for idle talking.
I’ll always feel his spirit close to me,
As we go down beside the rolling sea.

[vannin]

THis poem is lovely too. I get little reminders of the Ireland part of my childhood when I roamed the fields of my grandparents' farm. Nostalgia!