To make perfect!

Butterflies and Buddleia

Buddleia

My most recent painting of a bird on a buddleia flowerhead was by no means my first attempt at painting this flower as can be seen by this painting that I did some time ago using pastels. At the time I was fairly pleased with the final outcome of my work. But I think that when I look at the one above with the butterflies on a similar flower I can see that practice has gone a long way. 

The answer to doing anything is practice, practice and even more practice. Never give up either because you are happy with what you have done or disappointed with the final result. Practice!

When Polish pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski played before Queen Victoria, he won her enthusiastic approval. "Mr Paderewsky," she exclaimed, "you are a genius."

Paderewski shook his head. "Perhaps, Your Majesty, but before that, I was a drudge," he replied, alluding to the number of hours he spent practising every day.

Another famous musician, Rubenstein,  said, "If I omit practice one day, I notice it, if two days, my friends notice it, if three days, the public notices it."

Plato wrote the first sentence of his famous Republic nine different ways before he was satisfied.

Cicero practised speaking before friends every day for thirty years to perfect his elocution. 

Noah Webster laboured 36 years writing his dictionary, crossing the Atlantic twice to gather material.

Milton rose at 4:00 a.m. every day in order to have enough hours for his Paradise Lost. 

Gibbon spent 26 years on his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 

Bryant rewrote one of his poetic masterpieces 99 times before publication, and it became a classic. 

So I could go on giving example after example of the need to keep on trying and to keep on practising.

So for those who have taken up something new or have returned to try again something given up through a lack of success, practice. 

I am sure someone is hearing the words that are in my head this moment as my fingers move across the keys, "Practice makes perfect."  But believe me, it does not all happen at once.

Have a fun-filled day.

To Plan or not to plan?

A picture of this bird on a Buddleia was posted on my timeline as a possible painting, I love when this happens because when I have a source in front of me and somebody thinks I can do something with it I just begin and go ahead and paint it.

With some of my abstracts, I walk around with the image of a painting in my head for days, sometimes weeks thinking and planning how I will produce the final work. Even when I paint using acrylic and a canvas and it all seems to come simply my fingers moving the paint around I have been in the planning stage of this painting for ages.

I never used to be good at planning anything even when it came to building flatpack furniture. Just do it, as the saying goes. if all else fails read the instructions. 

On one such occasion, somebody said to me, " You have to plan Ralph, remember Noah started building long before the rain came."

There is a lovely story that illustrates this even better. 

British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein was once visited in his studio by the eminent author and fellow Briton, George Bernard Shaw. 

The visitor noticed a huge block of stone standing in one corner and asked what it was for. 
"I don't know yet. I'm still making plans."

Shaw was astounded. "You mean you plan your work. Why I change my mind several times a day!" 

"That's all very well with a four-ounce manuscript," replied the sculptor, "but not with a four-ton block." 

I suppose if you have done something before it comes easier. Maybe the need for planning becomes less important.

During WWII General McArthur asked an engineer how long it would take to build a bridge across a certain river. 

"About three days." The engineer was told to go ahead and draw up the plans. 

Three days later McArthur asked for the plans. The engineer seemed surprised. "Oh, the bridge is ready. You can cross it now. 

If you want plans, you'll have to wait a little longer, we haven't finished those yet."

I suppose this little blog seems to contradict itself. Plan or not to plan?  I suppose if somebody else has done the planning and provided the task it is a case of getting on with it. Thank you, Linda, for doing the planning I hope you think I have completed the task well? 

If it is an inspired work coming for the mind it seems to me that even inspiration takes a long time in the preparation. 

I have been challenging a friend to try drawing and painting. A little bit of advice for today. Take time and plan ahead. never face a sheet of blank paper without a thought in your head. 

I am sure life would be so much easier for us all if we all did some serious thinking before we dived into action.

Have a wonderful day.

A cat or a dog?

A cheeky little dog I think?  The picture of him was him lying in snow hence my reason for leaving the white background, I liked the snow but found it a bit of a distraction. I need to crop this painting a bit more now that I see it online.

Painting dogs have brought back my longing for a dog of my own but I know it is never going to happen. I had two dogs before I got married and two dogs since but I am sure there will be no more. My lifestyle has changed and I am aware that there are so many things I do where a dog just would not be able to join me and I am far too old to change my ways and become adaptable.

So in kindness to the dog, I will let somebody else have the pleasure.

I have a friend who has two dogs and I have made an approach to be able to walk them on some days when I go walking and he has other things to do. I look forward to that coming about. 

As I thought of this I became aware of the fact that many of my friends have dogs but equally as many have cats. It seems that we are either cat lovers or dog lovers. Seldom do you find people who have both though I am aware that it does happen?

Fortunately the owning of one or the other does not seem to change the quality of friendship of either group. In fact, it may have the exact opposite effect, if they can get along with a cat or a dog I might be just a little bit easier. On reflection, though I am not sure.

How do we decide which category we fall into a cat or dog lover?

I have given this some thought and here is my completely biased opinion.

If you want someone who will do anything to please you, get a dog.

Bring you the newspaper without tearing the main headlines, get a dog.

Make a total fool of himself just because he is pleased to see you, Get a dog.

Eat whatever you put in front of him, get a dog.

Always be eager and willing to go out walking no matter what the weather is like, get a dog.

If you want somebody to frighten burglars or unwanted visitors, get a dog.

Somebody who never touches the remote control because it makes no difference what he watches as long as he does it with you, get a dog.

Be content to snuggle up and keep you warm and who you can kick out of the way if he starts to snore, get a dog.

Somebody who never criticises what you do, does not care how good or bad you look, acts as though every word you say is a little gem worthy of hearing, never complains, and loves you unconditionally, get a dog.

On the other hand.

if you want somebody who never comes when you cal. Totally ignores you when you walk into the room. leave hair all over the furniture. Walks all over you and prowls around all night and comes home only to eat and sleep and often brings a little present of a mouse with him.

Somebody who acts as though you are there only to make sure HE is happy.  Get a cat. 

I did say I was totally biased so I am open to hearing some other sides of the tale because like everything in life there always is another side to everything. Bring it on. 

I hope you have a marvellous day. Heading off to day to have a little friendly game of golf with my son. None of us will be trying to win we will just be enjoying the game. if you believe that I wish you a very happy day. 

It comes along your way.

I am beginning to ask myself how many things have to start going wrong before I admit that I really am getting old. I pack my days with so many things and am frequently asked how I manage it and where do I get all the energy.

The secret is if I have plenty to do and just switch on the motor and get on with my day I do not have to spend much time thinking about getting old.

But the signs are there and they are getting a bit more obvious.  Somebody told me that as you get older you also begin to regress to your childhood. Now I really hope this is not true but it just might be. 

I find little things happening to me that gives me some cause for concern.  I suppose in the course of a week I do more writing than many people my age. I write this blog on a daily basis and I also make time each day to do some serious study, not sure why I do that but it keeps me functioning in the thinking cells.

One of the amusing things that are happening and causes me to be ultra careful when writing and do not trust or depend on spell checkers. I find myself using the wrong spelling for the correct word. let me explain. I might be intending to write, I will wait for that to happen. I read it again and I have written, I will weight for that to happen.

But I am not alone. I am sure such things come with age. 

Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play dominoes.

One day they were playing when one looked at the other and said, "Now don't get mad at me ... I know we've been friends for a long time ... but I just can't think of your name! I've thought and thought, but I can't remember it. 

Please tell me what your name is." 

Her friend glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her.

Finally, she said, "How soon do you need to know?"

But it is not at all negative.

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the park where a fete was taking place. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger colours and marks.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a girl in the line said to the little boy.

Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head. His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles, she said, while tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful!"

The boy looked up, "Really?"

"Of course," said the grandmother. "Why, just name me one thing that is prettier than freckles."

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered, "Wrinkles."

Bring on the wrinkles you never know somebody just might see some beauty in this old face of mine yet. 

Havs a marvellous day. 

I just want to know.

I must have been a bit of a nightmare as a young boy I was forever asking questions. I think this was partly to do with the difficulty I had with reading in those early years and most of my school days.

The simple and easy way for me to learn was to ask questions. I found remember things I was told vocally stuck in my head and I had little difficulty in recalling them.

My father was very patient with my questions I cannot remember him not making an attempt to answer all my questions. Of course, the answers I got from him only gave me one side of any story. If I asked him about religion I would get a very full answer but it would be an answer coming from an atheist point of view. To get the other side of the story I had to seek out those who believed in religion and a god.

My mother made an effort to answer my questions but her patience was not nearly as long-standing as my fathers. She would frequently tell me to go to the library to seek my answers. I never really worked out if that was because she did not know herself or it was something else.

Of course, libraries were not places I visited very often a swirl of words and letters never gave me the answers sought.

I always smile when I see young children walking with their parents and bombarding them with questions. How I would love to be part of such moments. 

There was a young boy who was similarly asking his mother all sorts of questions, some of them somewhat personal.

One day while talking with his mother he asked her. "Mum, how old are you? " "Oh that is a very personal question, it is not polite to ask a lady how old she is."

"Mum, can you tell me how much you weigh?" OH, I cannot tell you that either, it is never polite to ask a lady what she weighs."

"Well can you tell me, mum, why my father left home and went away to live somewhere else?"

"Someday I will explain that to you son. It is all very complicated and difficult to understand."

The boy wandered off feeling very unfulfilled he had not managed to get a single answer to any of his questions.

The next day on his way to school he was telling his best friend how he had tried to get answers to some questions with no success.

"That is easy to find out, " Said his friend All that information is on your mother driving license."

So the next morning he got up very early and sneaked into his mothers' purse and took out the license. 

Later that day he said to her. "I have found out the answer to all my questions." "You have," she said. 

The little lad told her. "You are 31.  You weigh 126." I even know why my father left. The mothers' curiosity was really stretched now.  "Why was that do you think."

"It was because you only got an F for sex."

When seeking answers and understanding it is always wise to seek out the very best source for such knowledge and know that it can be relied upon. 

Have a marvellous day. 

It is not that you cannot.

I keep hearing people telling me they are not artistic, that they could not draw to save themselves and such things. 

yet I see some amazing things come from those very people once they have been bitten by the bug and have with a little help began to try some artistic work.

it is true that nothing ever come easily. Anything of any worth takes time and practice. I often go back and look at some of the painting I was doing on my iPad just after I had purchased it. and compare with what I am doing now. I feel some sense of pleasure that day by day they are getting closer to where I would like them to be.

I am so looking forward to seeing if a friend of mine has taken up my little challenge to follow my step by step and draw a ball on paper with just a pencil and finger?

it takes time, and the other thing I have learned in whatever we do it takes focus. yesterday I played a fairly good round of golf, good enough to feel I had played well. 

But I remembered the tale of Arnold Palmer while I prepared on the first tee.

"It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, "Congratulations." 

I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. 

On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. 

You don't forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven't in the 30 years since."

So the secret lies in time and focus.

Another thing is to do only one thing at a time. My family say I become obsessive about things and it is to some extent true but I would rather say I become focused. 

A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once. 

That scatters effort and destroys direction. It makes for haste, and haste makes waste. So we do things all the wrong ways possible before we come to the right one. Then we think it is the best way because it works, and it was the only way left that we could see. 

Every now and then I wake up in the morning headed toward that finality, with a dozen things I want to do. I know I can't do them all at once. What do I do about that? 

I meditate and do some Tai Chi.  While doing this I burn off some of the excess energy that wants to do too much,  meditation clears my mind and I see what can be done and should be done first.

Then I get back to my obsessions. 

Have a wonderful day. Never say you cannot do something until you have tried. 

Little treasure moments.

One of the big lessons the last two weeks has given me is a sense of awareness of what it is like to feel the demands of others. it is a long time since I left the workplace and the pressures of it had slipped far into my memory.

I can remember the days when I lay in bed and my thoughts were only of those in my parish who were looking to me for help. Then it changed and I lay in bed wondering how I could better help particular students. The responsibilities lay heavy on my mind.

There were times when I actually ached because I could not find the solution for the many responsibilities I was faced with. My own happiness was in danger of going.  Sleep, not something I have ever worried about, would have been impossible if I had been striving to do so. 

In the past few days, I have seen people living under such pressures and trying to pass them on to others. On one or two occasions this led to an argument. 

In the midst of this, I remembered the words of the sages. All of this is the folly of humanity.

They are correct, but the words seem too lofty when you are scrounging about seeking for ways out of the pressures of everyday life. I rejoice that I have found since retiral a way of finding daily peace. But many I can see face the pressures and it weighs heavily upon them.

When we live under stress, awareness of being at one with yourself and with nature is impossible.

it becomes like living on the battlefield of life. I am aware it leads to fighting in the workplace, fighting in the home, fighting in your very mind. sadly for many, there is no sense of the peace of being.

If this is how you are feeling, then in my humble opinion the words of sages and wise are of little help until we learn to find personal contentment by renouncing bravely that which is pulling us down.

Every minute that we hold on to problems we cannot be at peace. 

The starting point is to remember, "This too will pass." The first step is letting go. There is a great truth in the simple little homily that a problem shared is a problem halved.

Today I lay down the tools, they will be there when needed, I grasp the handle of my golf trolly and seek to be at one with myself and nature. I am fortunate I can do this and I rejoice it is so.

But for those, I have watched it seems important that they too make a little space to just be calm.

Have a good and peaceful day.

The painting above is some of my little finds from beaches in three countries making one simple little painting. 

Judging Day.

So today is judgement day. of course I do not mean that final day when we shall all stand in judgement that is held important for so many religions. I am simply talking about the day the judges come to our village to judge the work of the Freuchie in Flower.

The village is looking beautiful and almost pristine clean except for one or two little corners that it is beyond us to do anything about. 

I feel pleased to have made a contribution to this final push and clean up. My hands and limbs may be painful and looking forward to a break from the daily grind but it is a good feeling to walk through the village and seeing it looking so well.

So today's painting is nothing exotic it is one of the many common little house sparrows that we seem not to pay much attention to.

Judgement is a bit like that. if we stand in judgement of another we are looking at all of the details that may not have been taken into account by others. When I sat on the bench in court as a magistrate and sat in judgement I tried to hear the full story from all sides and then in an unbiased way decide who was guilty or not and hand out appropriate punishment or seek some form of payback.

Sadly we now live in a liturgical way of thinking, people jump to judgement often far too easily. We are all seeking justice and sadly that often means the very opposite of justice.

There is never an account that does not have two sides and before we jump to fast conclusions it is always wise to hear carefully the full account.

It is never an easy thing to sit in judgement of our fellow beings but sadly it is something that often has to be done.

So today I am glad that we have reached this stage but I am glad that my participation today is merely to go ahead of the judges to make sure that everything is as it was intended to be, a nice little background task.

I wish the judges well and am glad it is them and not I who is sitting in judgement. They will not read this but I wish them all well.

maybe my blistered and sore hands will rejoice in today also and begin the healing process. because all judgement should, in the end, lead to a healing process.

Have a marvellous day and have a little thought for us all in Freuchie. 

Not all things are possible.

I spent the last two months being awakened by the plaintive call of this little bird, the bee-eater. It can be heard over most of France and for such a very little bird its call is very loud and distinctive.

How I would love to see one for real. I have followed the call binoculars in hand but as yet have not seen one. It is similar to the kingfisher, elusive. I fear that I am not going to have the pleasure of seeing the beautiful little bird in the flesh.

Then not all things in life are possible. Somethings we have to learn to live with and make the very best of what we have.

I was given a leaflet the other day from a group of people going around the streets. The leaflet was asking me to pray three times a day to end all wars.

This is very similar to the group of people who are out and about asking people to say a word for world peace even though they do not know the meaning of the word. I find this a bit underhand. 

There is another group who plead for us to put into practice certain austerities to help to liberate the poor from the terrible life they have to lead. I  have throughout the larger part of my life followed a vow that gives a certain amount of my total earnings to charity to try and achieve something similar.

I will die and they will also and there will still be poverty. There will still be war and the sellers of the weapons of war. World peace will be as big a dream as it has always been for me. In fact, I think it is more dangers now than it has been during my lifetime. I do not criticise those groups with their honest desire to solve some of the world problems

But I cannot agree with the claims that spiritual devotion will ever effect wars, disease, the economy, and the ever increasing problem of overpopulation. 

Spirituality is very much a personal endeavour. What we do in our daily devotions, and I still do meditate daily and do my Tai Chi, but it can only ever be for my own sake. 

Once we transfer this to the grand scale they are compromised by the contradictions of everyday life.

There is no, and never will be Utopia.

There can only ever be the valiant attempt of each individual person to live spiritually in a world where spirituality is almost impossible.

I know that what I am saying in response to my leaflet is somewhat controversial, but I have never shied away from controversy. 

I believe strongly that in every one of us there is a spiritual being waiting to be nurtured and that such nurture can only ever be good for the whole of society. This is equally true for those who have no belief in gods or the supernatural. The secularist is as spiritual a being as the devout being. 

What we need to learn is to encourage each to find that level of spirituality the is right for them and rejoice in their life. 

Have a great day. Go with the flow. 

The little web of life.

Yes, I have tried this also. There is very little I have not tried in my search for meaning and purpose. I painted these my fingers as they began to get knarled and buckled. My little fingers, as is my daughters, have always been bent. I was told when young this was a sign of being artistic. I can tell you that playing the clarinet with two bent fingers was not something that came easy.

Yes, I have tried many things in my search for meaning and purpose. Yesterday as I moved around the village making a final push in the clearing operation for the judging of the floral artistry of the village and the pride we have in it I found myself for a moment captivated by a spider.

I have seen many reactions to the presence of a spider everything from fear, disgust and captivation.  I have always been captivated by their splendour.

They are almost the perfect creation for their purpose. They have worked hand in hand with the Chi of life and seem set in where they are. Its body almost perfectly expresses its mind.

it spins beautiful threads, and its legs and body are exactly suited to both create and walk its web. From the centre, it spins its world radiating outwards with never a thread more than it requires.

its whole being goes with the flow of life around it and its sets its pattern. it knows its space and it weaves its pattern in accord with that space. It works at one with nature and does nothing to interfere. It simply does what it does and then waits for nature to provide. That which comes to it, it accepts. That which does not come to it is not its concern.

Once the work is done it waits. it does not contemplate expansion. it does not make war on its neighbours. it does not go for adventures in other lands or places. it does not try to fly to the moon. It speculates on nothing. It does not indulge in speculative thinking or enslave its fellow spiders.

The spider is simply a spider and it seems content so to be. 

Yes, I have, like many others, tried many things to find the meaning and purpose of my life. I wonder if there will ever come a day when I will sit back content just to be who and what I am?

I am slowly and surely learning, as the spider has long ago, to go with the flow. have a beautiful day and weave a lovely pattern of contentment for your day.

We need a target.

This last week I have spent much of my time trying to get the village looking good for next weeks judging for the Fife in Bloom. Here judges walk around the village and give an award on the basis of what we have managed to accomplish.

Many of the tasks I have been doing are those tasks that the judges might not notice the work that has gone into them, but had they not been done they would have noticed that they had not.

Yesterday I spent a long morning in pouring rain cleaning a length of a pathway and road of all weeds, litter and fallen leaves. There were times when I am sure my companion and I would have happily given in and gone home, it was a long and backbreaking job. 

But there is always a feeling of achievement when the target is reached and the job accomplished. Every day this week we have reached our target and we are almost ready for the big day. Another two days of work ahead. 

My painting this morning has been inspired by the many many piles of rubbish I have collected in the past week. A broken world coming back together. I think I will paint this on a canvas using acrylic paint and broken glass.

I have done much thinking this week as I have toiled.

Throughout my life, I have had, from a young age, sought to find meaning and purpose in my life. I have sought many philosophies and religions to seek help in my search.

But such meaning and purpose can never be found in a religion or philosophy alone. The religion or philosophy has also to lead to actions. it is not words that are important but the actions they inspire. 

Far too many get caught up in the words and the actions come to nothing.

Setting short-term goals for each stage of the journey helps us to discover and experience life in its fullness with a sense of achievement. Long-term goals give us a sense of perspective and continuity. If the only target and goal is something to be achieved at the very end of life such a sense will never be reached and we will have nothing but broken moments.

Targets and goals give focus to the experiences that accumulate and bring meaning.

Our goals should be meaningful and personal because nobody knows us better than ourselves. 

For me, I have daily targets that come from my going with the flow and never a day goes past with my awakening to the targets of my day. 

For me, there is, of course, a long-term goal, a gracious death with no regrets. And my many targets day by day I hope will help me have just that. 

Have a great day.

Dogs an amazing friend.

I saw this dog while out walking the other day, actually I see her fairly often when out walking. This dog belongs to a couple I met while walking. The lady walks it twice a day and it is very obvious she has a very strong bond with this dog. At first, it stayed well back from e but now that it is getting to know I am alright it comes over and lets me give her a pat. 

At this time of year when I meet her, she is often soaking wet having been jumping into the river. Being in shorts I do not mind her rubbing along my legs and getting me wet, it is after all only skin deep.

I do so miss having a dog, but that is another story and that is life. 

I cannot remember if I told you before, 886 blogs is a great many to remember, about when animals were created?

On the first day, God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

So God agreed with the dog.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: "Entertain people, Do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed with the monkey.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves, and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said: "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years." But the man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. 

For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. 

For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. 

And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone. 

And that's how life is explained through creation.

Science has confirmed that dogs love us back because they get the same rush of oxytocin when they look at us that we get when we look at them.

 Dogs look up at us and see us adorable?

The dog is thinking, I am a fuzzy creature and your a different adorable creature. And you smell interesting. I love you!

Isn't it fantastic that dogs love us in spite of our shortcomings!

Unreservedly and constantly!!

Regardless of our smell!!!

We're still interesting!

So if you have a dog, enjoy the pleasure and emotion they direct towards us. If you, like me do not have a dog make the very most of the friends you have, humans make a great alternative to a dog. 

We all love a bargain.

I was asked by a few friends what had happened to my two little birds. One person just the other day said she was missing them. I know one or two others who never liked them at all. But then what a boring life and world it would be if we were all the same. 

So for those who have missed them here is a little Chinese sketch and low and behold they have appeared back. Apologies that it is a very fast sketch time was at a premium. I will try better next time.

But having said that it is a bit of a bargain because if anybody does like it I have not put a copyright on it.  

We all love a bargain, but I also remember what my mother and my mother in law used to say about bargains and deals, " You only ever get in life what you pay for." What they meant was that many a bargain ended up not being such. Often a beargain lacked quality.

I remember when I was a very new minister and still a bit naive I was offered a bargain. it was just about the time when the new English Bible translation was being made available for sale. I was out with some friends when somebody I knew, but not well, sat beside me and whispered, "Minister, would you be interested in purchasing a case of those new bibles at a very good price?"

I remembered another saying I had heard, " Never buy a television at a bargain price from a man who is out of breath."

There are of course some real bargains if we are careful. I remember in the days when before my university working in a butchers shop. An older lady who was a good customer had paid for her purchases and remembered she had forgotten to get a bone for making soup.  I rushed through to the back-shop and selected a lovely large bone which would have made a grand pot of soup. I told her she could have it free. She said that there must be something wrong with it she would rather have one she had paid for. 

I returned to the back and took a cleaver and halved the bone. When I gave her the bone I charged her a small amount which she paid happily. So half of what she might have had for nothing paid for. 

At the markets in France, you can often hear people haggle over the price. Questioning a price was an almost standard procedure.  One such haggle went like this, "How much are these cucumbers?" "Two Euros for five." The lady pushed one aside. "And how much is this one?" "One Euro." "Okay. I'll take the other four for the one Euro."  Now here was a lady looking for a real bargain.

The leader of the City of Glasgow, when urged by Councillors to buy some property thought to be an "extraordinary opportunity for the city," said, "If they're selling elephants two for a ten pounds, that's a great bargain. But only if you have ten pounds and only if you need elephants."  

Beware of bargains. It is the same with life, if the road you are travelling seems very easy then it is possible you are travelling the wrong road.

Have a great day.

Laziness the mother of invention.

Symbols of love.

Some time ago I spent time in the company of a lovely couple and we laughed together. I became friends with them on Facebook. The other day there was a lovely picture of this bunch of flowers the girl, Hazel, had received from her dearest. I could not resist painting them, not exactly but I did make a real attempt to be as true to them as I could. The flowers will wither but the painting will still be around as a happy reminder of a joyful love-filled moment.

I seem to have had a hectic return to life back home in Freuchie. The judging of the village for the Fife in bloom takes place very soon and I have been out and about doing my little bit to make the village ready. I hope I am being of some help. 

One of the tasks I took on was the cutting of a very prickly hedge. I do not own an electric cutter but not being lazy I cut it with my hand shears. it took me over two hours. Later that day a friend told me I could have borrowed his and done it in about half an hour with less effort. Foolish me but as I say one thing that will not be said of me is that I was ever lazy. 

Somebody once said, sorry I cannot for the life of me remember who, "Some people would do anything to be able to do nothing."

I do not come into that category of person but I certainly know a good few who do.

Sheer laziness has probably been responsible for more shortcuts, not to mention valuable inventions than we are ready to admit. 

Most of us are continually on the lookout, at least subconsciously, for easier ways to perform onerous or routine tasks. I know that even though I never shirk a task I do always try and find the most straightforward way to do one. Laziness is indeed the mother of invention.

An example of imagination spurred on by outright lethargy is contained in the story of an old mountaineer and his wife who were sitting in front of the fireplace one evening just whiling away the time. Both were sitting in silence probably meditating on mountains they had climbed or the ones they intended to tackle.

After a long silence, the wife said: "Tom, I think it's raining. Get up and go outside and see."

The old mountaineer continued to gaze into the fire for a second, sighed, then said, "Aw, May, why don't we just call in the dog and see if he's wet." 

Good thinking in anybody's book I would suggest.

I remember a good friend of mine in one of my churches telling me a true story. he was a personnel manager in the local paper mill.

He told me of the time he rejected a job applicant because the firm was overstaffed in the department he wished to work in. The would-be employee persisted, "The little bit of work I'd do won't even be noticed!"

Now I wonder if he put on his CV. I am a very lazy person so will never get in any other employees way?.

I plan to have a lazy day but I am almost 100% sure that it will probably not happen. Hope you have a wonderful relaxing day. 

Do not be judgemental.

I read an article in the newspaper two days ago where the reporter was writing about the actions of a group of people. I do not wish in this blog to get into that controversy because that is never my purpose here. What did catch my attention was that in the comments written by fellow readers a great many were accusing the writer of the article of being judgemental. This was because the writer had expressed an honest opinion about the beliefs and actions of a particular group.

I was talking to another retired teacher a few weeks ago and we discussed how much we had enjoyed challenging students to express opinions about matters of importance. To be prepared to make a stance for what they thought was the correct thing to do in various situations. Some of their beliefs were often a bit shocking and off the wall but at least they were engaging in the process of thinking. 

Another friend who is still teaching was telling me that this no longer happens to the same extent. The most damaging charge one student can now make against another is that they are being judgemental.

I find this upsetting that this is where society does seem to be heading in the name of being politically correct. How can there ever be an honest debate? How can there ever be an intellectual argument if as soon as somebody is accused of being judgemental all discussion stops?

It seems more and more that we are all becoming intimidated to speak our minds. The in word seems to be, "civility." I am in fear that this call for civility is being used to keep us all in our place and to say nothing. If I am correct, and here I am getting slightly controversial, I am not in favour of civility.

But I do not believe that this is what civility is all about. Civility does not need to stifle discussion and condemn us to a position of neutrality.

Being civil doesn't mean that we cannot criticise what goes on around us. Civility doesn't require us to approve of what other people believe and do. It is one thing to insist that other people have the right to express their basic convictions; it is another thing to say that they are right in doing so. 

Civility requires us to live by the first of these principles. But it does not commit us to the second formula. To say that all beliefs and values deserve to be treated as if they were on a par is to endorse relativism, a perspective that is incompatible with Christian faith and practice, and the beliefs of many wonderful philosophies such as the one I am studying at present, Taoism. 

Civility does not mean refusing to make judgments about what is good and true. For one thing, it really isn't possible to be completely nonjudgmental. Even telling someone else that he/she is being judgmental is a rather judgmental thing to do! 

There are just some things that cannot be condoned. There are some practices that cannot be ignored.  

We can do this without being racist or prejudice we can do it in kindness but thee are just some things that cannot ever be ignored.

The danger is that we can become a people who are afraid to speak when we hear things that are just downright wrong. This is a dangerous road to travel. History tells us that if we say nothing we will find ourselves fighting wars that nobody ever wishes to do. 

Please forgive my somewhat serious content this morning but I see a worrying trend in our world where caring faithful people are being condemned to silence while those with unpleasant aims are given free reign. 

Have a great day, but stand up and be counted for what you consider right. 

Just a little Accident.

Looking back on my time in France and my return home it seems that during this time I have encountered more than one accident, my painful finger being only the latest. Now I am wondering if this is because I am becoming more careless? Or possibly my reactions are getting slower? Or maybe I am just becoming sillier as I grow older and doing things I should stop doing? 

It was just before Christmas that I fell and almost certainly broke my shoulder. I cannot tell for sure because knowing that they do nothing for such an injury except give you painkillers I never spoke to my doctor until I had to see him about the flu. He assured me I was correct that that was all that would have been done and that at my age it would take much longer to heal. Maybe I need to have a serious rethink of my lifestyle? But I probably will not.

I was telling my daughter about another injury while on holiday this time it was my friend falling from his bicycle and fracturing his arm. I was suggesting that his reactions were getting slower. She reminded me that during the whole forty or so years we have been friends he has fallen from bicycles and even horses so many times.

Accidents happen it is life. Maybe I need to reconsider my views on horseshoes and lucky white heather?

But all of that said and done nothing that has happened to me cam match this true story.

In a letter to his insurance company, a gentleman wrote the following account.

I am writing in response to your request for additional information. 

In block #3 of the accident form, I put "trying to do the job alone" as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I trust that the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was attached to the side of the building on the 6th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of brick.

You will note in block #11 of the accident report that I weight 135 pounds. But to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up against the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull and broken collarbone. 

Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of my pain.

At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel then weighed approximately 50 pounds. I refer you again to my weight in block #11.

As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, and the lacerations of my legs, and lower body area. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked.

I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks, in pain . . . unable to stand . . . and watching the empty barrel six stories above me . . . I again lost my presence of mind and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope, so it came back down on me and broke both my legs.

I hope I have furnished the information you have required. Now here is a man who needs a whole garden of lucky white heather. 

Have an accident free day as I also hope to have. A bit more work today with the Freuchie in Flower but I hope to have a walk before then, as long as I do not fall out of the back door.