“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
This constant need for certainty
Is the greatest disease you may face
Creative power comes from negative capability
Mysteries are to endure and even embrace
Paraphrased, but almost word for word, Robert Greene talking about Keats.
The need for certainty is the greatest disease the mind faces.
Robert Greene
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful for Art to go book shopping in Chiang Mai for me and get me five music-related books. I’ll keep them at Utopia.
24th Mar 2023 – I seem to remember enjoying going for walks with Bruno, getting all dusty yet invigorated. These polluted days are not the best though. Come on rainy season! Getting Covid in July really set me back with walking and exercise though.
We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of ignorance.
John Archibald Wheeler
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful for my old tired body, still growing and learning new things.
Grass still green, succoured by recent rain
Sprouting from the dusty clay
Freshly unfurled frangipanis
Bursting brilliant, reflecting sunlight under your chin
The silent hills, jungle-covered green and khaki
Teems with little lives unseen
Sun smothers, bleaching the air white
The living and the inanimate
Thirsting for the next sunset
In the starlit night
Your body wears a shirt of humid air
Breathe deep the day gone
As fireflies pulsating dance
Attracts the eyes of confused dogs
Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalising animal.
Robert Heinlein
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful that we finally got some rain overnight. Temperature is better and my garden can enjoy the water.
Inspired by the ‘Everything Is Alive‘ podcast. Won’t someone please think of the cola!?
Unlucky is the man who is born with great expectations and who finds nothing in life quite up to the mark.
John Burroughts
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to Amy’s mum who cares and does little bits and pieces around the garden.
We remember you in your brief outing
Though not so many kind words were spoke
But your existence did give others context
As we remember the words of this dead joke
Inspired by the story of a stool, Adam, on which sit comedians in a comedy club. The stool ponders the death of a joke onstage. From the fun ‘Everything Is Alive‘ podcast.
If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and that is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.
Baron de Montesquieu
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful that the strawberry sellers were still there yesterday. I got two big bags for 40 baht.
A crazy bird is crying
Looking for a mate
Lizards discuss the rain
Three cats carefully sniff the cactus
Before settling to sleep again
Ant armies on an unknown mission
Disappear into the cracks
Dogs roll around uncontrollably
As if scratching an impossible itch
In the middle of their backs
Midges, gnats, flies, wasps
Bees and hornets too
Doing battle for the tastiest meal
Pollen descends to rest on my stomach
As I swing back and forth
Hoping for a breeze to feel
Slung between two tall trees
I’m hung on this piece of cloth
I am the outsider, here as observer
And today, it’s enough
It’s human; we all put self interest first.
Euripedes
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to be able to watch the AFL games again this year. The sport is still played and technology allows me to watch it.
Cursing the stupidity of man
What good will that do?
Criticising all you can
Is purely a criticism of you
Perhaps if you know you are insane then you are not insane.
Baynes, The Man In The High Castle by Philip K Dick
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful Cap and Kim are both in reasonable health after having blood tests today.
I know I did wrong that time
And my excuses were poor
I didn’t need to defend myself
Or lie about it anymore
Those actions were not mine
They were a me in the past
I hope you can forgive me
So I can forgive myself at last
The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew.
Abraham Lincoln
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to have the tools and equipment to do a little bit of gardening myself and cutting and sweeping yesterday made for a good achievement.
The little beast inside
Rising to do its harm
I push it back down again
Before succumbed to its charm
The little devil inside
Always looking to make its play
It takes all my willpower
To keep these demons at bay
So my life is lived
In this constant state of fight
When my time is done
I’ll know I’ve done what’s right
17th Mar 2023 – Self-control has been my battle and whilst I consider I may have mastered it to some degree now I must be wary because there is very little challenging me at the moment. When the challenge comes again I must be ready.
Because I have a little knowledge, some are filled with jealousy, others think me secretive and crazy.
Euripedes, from Medea
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to chat with Jess yesterday. I thought it was just five minutes but was 30! I realise I haven’t really talked to her for over a year.
Every night I die
And every morning born again
I can’t pretend it’s easy
To get up and go again
There is little choice
Whether alone or together
Get up or give up
And close your eyes forever
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to be able to pick a bagful of mulberries to take to school to share.
1994ever 