I like trees and I like clouds...
I'm having a bit of stilted difficulty returning to this blog...which is why I have returned...I don't want to get stilted!

So...my post for today...at the age of 76...perhaps 77...I'm not sure...I have learned how to make rice...I wasn't sure what to do with it after I made it...so...I added salt and pepper and ate some of it...naturally I have enough for three weeks...

I colour my hair. There - it's not a confession...it is obvious...it is a fact. I'm not trying to hide my age...I just like the colour! Tomorrow I am going to my hairdresser to colour my hair and do my toenails. The latter is a product of doing Yoga. One does Yoga in bare feet...that is not pretty...

Yesterday a young, pregnant woman, gave me that look. I know it - "Miss Machin? You taught me!"
I have been out of the classroom for...5 years...no...make that 15...no 18 years! And yes, I got her name -it came to me! Jennie! (She was a red head - that helped.) I even remembered her writing. Sometimes I can't remember what I did the day before...but I remember my students' writing from twenty year's ago!

You haven't changed, Miss Machin! I knew you immediately.

And that is why I am going to thank my hair dresser tomorrow!

January 11

In my experience with students—talented students of writing — the most important thing for them to remember is that someone who is not them and cannot read their mind is going to have to read this. In order to write effectively, you don’t pretend it’s a letter to some individual you know, but you never forget that what you’re engaged in is a communication to another human being. The bromide associated with this is that the reader cannot read your mind. The reader cannot read your mind. That would be the biggest one.

Probably the second biggest one is learning to pay attention in different ways. Not just reading a lot, but paying attention to the way the sentences are put together, the clauses are joined, the way the sentences go to make up a paragraph.

One could do worse than returning to one`s blog with this:

It’s a serious thing

Just to be alive

On this fresh morning

In the broken world

Mary Oliver

The pictures speak for themselves.

Alas - I thought my future vet bills were no longer an issue...After all I had my grannie's Alexandrite ring to rely on. And then I read the following: While determining the exact origin of a gem is a matter for professionals, here is a brief guideline. If the gem has good clarity, strong color change, reasonable size, and your grandmother was not exceptionally wealthy, it is most likely a synthetic.
And that is the epitome of an anticlimactic sentence!

Five women all of an age sitting at the table, celebrating said age...
Five women all of an age get the brilliant idea: We should take a picture!
Not of the five women - we are of an age - but of the cupcakes bought to celebrate said age.
Five women all of an age - not one has a camera - not even the host - naturally. We are of an age.
Ah but...one has a smart phone... bought recently on the advice of her daughter.
Four women all of an age look in astonishment at said device. It is bright blue.
Three women all of an age say: I will never get one of those.
The fourth says: I'd better get one of those before they get rid of land lines.
The proud owner of said device admits that she has never used the camera.
It must be easy we say. And yes...after several accidental selfies, she takes a picture and we look in astonishment but what now!
Oh I don't know, says the camera owner. I only know how to text. I don't know how to call someone; I don't know how to answer the phone. I got a call from Peru but I think it was a wrong number.
Five women all of an age agree that it was probably better that she didn't answer. But surely it must be simple...
One woman gets out her cell phone...a simple device with a flip top. She knows how to use it. And so she phones the owner of the bright blue smart phone.
And it rings...loudly.
And the owner starts tapping on the green icon.
And nothing happens.
And the owner of the flip phone says: Your line is busy. But I don't think you should have to tap that hard.
And we try again but we all become bored. We are of a certain age.
Later that afternoon, I meet with some thirty year old's all of whom have smart phones...naturally...
And one admits that she too couldn't answer her phone. She had to go back to the  booth where she bought it.
But the answer is...not obvious. One has to swipe, not tap. Who ever heard of swiping a phone!