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Penny's Jottings

mindfulness

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My Friend

My friend Liz died today

such a popular woman, kind and warm

she died of breast cancer, insidious, ugly disease

she was in palliative care with her loved ones around her,

caring for her

loving her

till she took her last breath

we didnt meet often over the last few years

when we met it was as if we had never parted

my friend Liz

had many friends

when we spoke she told me she had been a good woman

she hoped that she would meet her son Aidan when she died

I hope so too

I am crying for my friend Liz

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Questions

I have a lot of questions roaming through my head

Lurking in the background until I go to bed

No sleeping as I contemplate and speculate instead

Like what’s at the end of the universe? and why is God a man?

Why do pronouns matter? and what’s my lifetime span?

Why do people hate and kill? and what’s the bigger plan?

I have questions about racism and how that came to be

What is freedom? why discriminate? What is wrong with being me?

How come some folk are really smart but lack practicality?

What’s happening to the weather? What’s the best that we can do?

Is global warming irreversible? I get in quite a stew!

Why do we cross our fingers and sometimes touch wood too?

Why am I so fascinated in watching stories on true crime

When people see a mountain why do they feel the urge to climb?

What happens when we die? And why the phrase ‘I’m killing time’?

What makes some people vulnerable and others tough as nails

Why ignore the plight of children but fight to save the whales?

Why do we bully and harass and ignore the justice scales?

The questions remorselessly pounding in my poor deluded brain

I have no clever answers, many more questions still remain

probing and surrounding, I may never sleep again

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Empathical Hat

I had a dream I was given a hat

not a Melbourne Cup hat

but a real fancy hat

a smart hat, a clever hat, but light as a feather

a hat that instinctively protects from the weather

a hat with a miniscule oven installed

with sausages and buns, now don’t be apalled

an empathic hat. it knew what I was thinking

played a little light music, encouraged my drinking

when it rained it closed up and a brolly emerged

in the sun it sprayed sunscreen without being urged

I woke up this morning and I felt for the hat

gone, not a trace of it, I was quite flat

I loved the feel of that hat on my head

the comfort, the fit, the thinking ahead

Tonight I might dream of a comical cat

or a robot that speaks or a sweet talking rat

but deep in my heart I hope its not that

I hope its my clever, empathical hat

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Uh Oh!

I am still in my sleepwear and its well after two!

My hair is unbrushed! Oh what a to do!

I’m unshowered, ungroomed, unshod and unclad

I’m a little ashamed and feeling quite bad

In my defence I may say that I was feeling quite weary

my life is quite full, and a book made me teary

Playing games till the wee hours made my eyesight quite bleary

Though an occasional win made the losing less dreary

so I crept out of bed, after a hot cup of tea

and sat in a chair with the dog on my knee

checked socials and emails and played one last Wordle

gazed at the clock and felt my blood curdle

I am still in my sleepwear and its very nearly three

Well…. I think I’ll have lunch and a nice cup of tea

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I have packed away Christmas

I have packed away Christmas, no more jingle bells

I have wrapped the nativity and the twirling carousels

I have re-read the cards and stored them away

I have neatly boxed baubles till next Christmas day

and as I am working my minds in a whirl

I recall Christmas times when I was a girl

with sugary mice and an orange and nuts

midnight mass to attend, with no ifs or buts

nightly big snow falls and slippery ice

Father Christmas deciding who is naughty or nice

Hot Christmas lunches and cash in the pud

Gifts round the tree, Christmas was good

and now as I pack one more Christmas away

with no snow or ice in a land far away

and cold Christmas lunches with a pud of ice cream

Loud Christmas lunches with excitement and screams

In years to come as my grandies recall

they’ll remember the times when they were small

different times, different country, but in essence the same

Tradition and family is the name of the game

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It wasn’t my intention

It wasn’t my intention to break with convention

Live with dissension and growing inner tension

I’d really like to mention I was full of apprehension

When love became pretension and happiness invention

I sought for intervention but with budding comprehension

I felt the inattention the icy cold abstention

There was no way of circumvention too late for prevention

No hope of insurrection all love was in suspension

Though with recollection there once was some affection

Love and a connection at the relationship’s inception

But love and adoration was replaced by rejection

though now upon reflection I can feel no dejection

I can enjoy my reinvention my little resurrection

I feel my break with convention has released my inner tension

No longer in oppression and I have a small confession

It wasn’t my intention but my life’s in its ascension

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read at the Riverland Harmony Chorus Show

Well, my job is to amuse you whilst the singers all get changed

To stop you running for the door whilst the scene is rearranged

You have seen us all at rehearsal a good six months ago

Creating and imagining what we will be doing at our show

I bet you are glad you came to hear our fabulous Riverland chorus

You can tell us how great we are, and I promise you wont bore us

We have tenors who sing high and basses who sing low

And leads who sing the tune, but Bari’s ? no one knows!

Together we are a chorus with a sound that is really charming

But if one of us goes wrong the sound is quite alarming

Singing is a gift, an honour, and if we know it we can sing it

Remembering words is harder and sometimes we just wing it

I’m a bass, so many of my words are thum and ba and bum

But often we have lyrics, and I remember some….

I can mutter and I can mumble and la la, hum and mime

And hope that no one notices, but the director does…. Every time!

But now you are in for a change of pace, a show so slick and smart

The story line will grip you and affect your loving heart

Keep your hankies close to dry your eyes, and prepare to laugh out loud

Don’t forget to clap and shout as we love a noisy crowd

Enjoy the show,

I have to go,

and have one last look at the words!

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Its not easy

How to lose weight when you’re 78?

Its not easy!

researching the way to lose weight each day?

its so boring!

counting your cals, resenting thin pals?

its exhausting!

walking the dog, writing a blog?

its just tiring!

avoiding the chips, reducing the hips?

its annoying!

hearing fat barbs, then cutting out carbs?

its frustrating!

joining a gym, to try to get slim?

not attending!

avoid lolly munch, then KFC lunch?

its self cancelling!

just be who I am and eat toast with jam?

its so comforting

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it’s my birthday and I’ll yell if I want to!

it’s my birthday again, oh what a to do!

Each year passes faster, ‘tween me and you

I no sooner manage the age that I be

then here comes the next one surprising me

I remember my birthdays when I was a child

Passing the parcel and kids running wild

it seemed like a lifetime ‘tween each celebration

but now each year passes with one inhalation

I’m not really moaning, the alternative’s rough

and I love the attention, can’t get enough!

so thanks everybody for the singing and gifts

for the kind thoughtful messages, gives me a lift

I am feeling quite happy, as I’m sure you can tell

But I’m gonna let out one primeval yell!
a scream to the universe, slow down and chill

I need time to catch up, to be calm, to be still

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