friends · knowledge

Pondering the Unanswerable

“Questions are guaranteed in life; answers aren’t”.

Why is it that I can write a post perfectly in my mind, when access to pen and paper or computer is impossible, yet I will sit, hours later, in front of the computer screen and the words escape me?

Gone. No clues remaining. Not even a hint of those fly-away words.

And why are there periods of time in my life when I’m completely solid and unswayable on a subject, yet at other times I fuss and bother over “nothing” questions?

Perhaps it’s all the fault of my Libran personality. Librans are said to be just a tad (ha!) indecisive.

But wait, I’m not even a Libran! I’m Taurus! Taurus, with Libra moon and Libra ascendant.

If I were a totally, fully-fledged Taurus, I’d know, with total, absolute certainty, the answers to all of the so-called unanswerable questions. ‘Coz Taureans are unwavering and determined.

Aren’t they?

Which leads me to another question; why do I, the Taurus, find myself most compatible with Sagittarius personalities? And Aries?

Why have I spent my entire life being drawn to Virgo men, who annoy the life out of me with their finicky, perfectionist ways?

When I spend too much time at home, I can go stir-crazy, so I spend time out…and miss spending time at home. The weather is hot, so I wish it were cold again. After a few months of cold, I miss the warmth. But only sometimes!

Is everyone this indecisive? Do we all long for the opposite to what we have?

Are we ever satisfied with our lot in life? Does everyone ask these questions?

Some questions are so profound, they hurt. Questions such as why are there unsuspecting people in the world today, who are suffering due to the effects of an earth quake? Why them? What did they ever do to deserve this?

There are no answers to these questions that I’m aware of.

So, I avoid asking the questions. They’re too painful and serve no purpose to a single soul, either to the questioner or to those suffering.

There once was a time, a number of years ago now, when I had thought that helping another human being meant everything. Being only one person myself, I knew that help on a grand scale would be impossible for me to achieve, therefore setting my sights on helping those closest to me, in their times of need.

Little did I know back then that I was on the verge on learning one of life’s biggest lessons.

During a traumatic time of a friend’s life, one of unimaginable pain and heartbreak, I attempted to offer assistance, to smooth the road to recovery for a period of time by taking care of all of the mundane aspects of their life; the washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shopping; whilst she focussed all of her energy on recuperating from the upheaval which was present in her life.

Day after day she slept, while I took care of her life.

After two weeks of seeing not a single sign of progress, not a hint of resurrection to her own life, I sought help myself, in the form of a psychologist.

I asked the question, “Why won’t my friend at least attempt to help herself? I’ve taken all of her life’s mundane chores over myself, thinking it would help, but she’s making no progress at all. She sleeps all day, every day”.

The answer to my question was not what I had expected, nor was I prepared for. The psychologist, in his infinite wisdom, told me to stop helping. He told me to leave my friend to her own devises. He told me to turn my back and walk away!

Walking away was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. But after he explained to me why she wasn’t making any progress, I knew I had to. For her sake.

While I attended to all of my friend’s chores, she had no need to get up off her butt and take care of her own family, so she didn’t! When the help no longer existed, she was forced into action!

Not helping my friend was the kindest thing I could do for her.

What I have learned is that the questions will always exist, no matter what. Some questions have appropriate answers, some don’t. And some of the answers are not necessarily the answers we wish to hear.

There are times when questions can frustrate. And other times when we wish to help, but it’s impossible to do so. And no one can explain to us why.

It’s at these times that sending a prayer (if we are so inclined), or kind thoughts of well being to those in need, is the best help we can offer. So, that’s what we do. It all helps, somehow. Don’t ask why…

 

 

gardening · gratitude · herbs · lemon · mangoes · pecan nuts · summer

Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Abundance.

Abundance

This past week has been a rather hectic one for me, with an abundance of work, mostly paper work, taking up most of my waking hours each day.

As a result I have missed out on posting anything here for quite a few days. I’ve even missed the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge for last week!

Now, where in the rules does it say a photo can’t be posted a couple of days late?… No where?… That’s what I thought!

So here I am with my photo, which represents last week’s theme ~ “abundance”.

This photo was taken last year, when our garden produced a massive abundance of extremely tasty food; tomatoes, lemons, limes, mangoes, pecan nuts, chillies, and a number of my favourite herbs, including rosemary, basil, sage, parsley and thyme.

This time last year, the planets must have aligned perfectly, giving us a bumper crop of absolutely everything we grow! The right amount of rain and just enough sunshine, with the right amount of heat beating down upon the earth.

This summer, however, Mother Nature has not been quite so kind to us. Luckily, I have my photos from last year, showing my garden in all of its lush glory with an abundance of edibles, with which to reminisce, until the perfect weather conditions return again.

And the perfect weather conditions will return. Mother Nature is kind that way. 🙂

son · summer

“I Don’t Like Spiders and Snakes….”

Female Huntsman, found in the pantry.

Along with his box of breakfast cereal this morning, my son discovered this eight legged monster, lurking around the shelves of our pantry.

She joins the list of “visitors” to our house this week; including the other two cute guys…the green frog and the little baby hare.

I’d hardly call this visitor cute, although we do manage to co-exist quite okay with our spider population.

We are sure that this spider is a female Huntsman, with the males having somewhat longer legs and smaller bodies.

My son put the spider in a glass jar, which is where she is in this photo. She posed patiently for me whilst I played around with the settings on my camera, finally finding what I was looking for. My clever little camera has a setting for taking photos behind glass…perfect!

It seems that we humans are not the only creatures being rattled by the heat we have experienced of late. The small creature population appear to be turning up in the most unexpected of places!

son · summer

Salad by Candlelight

Salad by Candlelight

7.30 pm, Monday night ~ As I hand write by candlelight at my kitchen table, I feel inclined to use a fountain pen, if only I had one!

Outside the window next to me is a glimmer of lightness, enough to assist the candle in providing me with the light I need to see the whiteness of my sheet of paper clearly.

Only a matter of a few weeks ago we lost power for a number of hours. This time around, the candles we had rummaged through the cupboards in search of back then were close at hand.

How different daily life would have been, pre-electricity days. For one thing, meals would have had to be prepared earlier than they are in my house!

When we lost power tonight I made a dash for the kitchen and began poking around in the dark vegetable crisper in the bottom of the fridge, hoping the salad vegetables would be easily located in the dim light.

Taking photos was a matter of “point the camera and hope for the best”! The salad appeared to be quite presentable, having been prepared with more “feel” than sight, with the assistance of my now well-used candles.

8 pm ~ With the power restored rather fast tonight, much to the relief of Adam, who found it necessary to resort to playing computer games, rather than talking with his friends on Skype, I felt a tinge of sadness.

Without electricity, the house was silent, all but for the sounds of the family’s voices, as we talked amongst ourselves.

No television, no chance of the phone ringing, just writing with my pen and paper.

And salad by candlelight.

Computer Games