Hello Earth
Here, again, I greet you, after a day of all sorts of small tasks. Some were domestic and practical tasks, all the little things that add up to taking care of myself. Others were digital and communicative. A news report on telly tonight said people have been using the internet more during the pandemic, to stay connected. I was already using it that way, for years. It doesn’t feel abnormal.
Earth, I like you at night when everything goes quiet — on winter nights, that is. In summer the nights have all kinds of sounds, of people and other creatures. In winter I feel as if I am in a cave: a surrounding, protective cocoon, but with plenty of room to move within it.
Leaning in, I savour the ownership of my space. Not that I do own it, I rent it. But it’s Government housing and I have tenure. Unlike private rentals, I can put pictures on the walls wherever I like; I can have pets if I want to; I don’t have to worry about huge hikes in the rent. It feels like mine; it feels like home.
Listing gratitudes, I start with the quiet street with pleasant neighbours — whom in fact I seldom see, which suits little old hermit me. (When we do see each other, we smile and wave. If anyone needs help, the rest of us will give it.) Then there’s the view of the Border Ranges out my front door; the view of Mt Warning, I mean Wollumbin, as I drive in and out of my street. (I don’t see the mountain views from my windows, but I don’t feel deprived by that.) I’m thankful too for the frangipani tree across the front wall, which has doubled its height in the 10 years I’ve been here; and for the small back yard with neighbours’ trees along every fence, as if they were mine. I’ve enjoyed many times of sitting in my back yard, looking up through their leaves. They are mine!
Offering these thoughts, I bend my head to you, Earth, with my palms together making the ‘Namaste’. I bless you, Earth, for the many ways in which you have blessed me.
369 words of prose for Poets and Storytellers United's Writers' Pantry #26: "You can make anything by writing".
369 words of prose for Poets and Storytellers United's Writers' Pantry #26: "You can make anything by writing".
I was just talking to my Piano Man about how the fact that we are fond of spending time at home and interacting with friends online has made the current situation not so overwhelming. We are the lucky ones, I guess--living in space we want to be in, loving the Earth that feeds us, feeling blessed for what we still have.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think we are very lucky – and am conscious there are many who are not so.
DeleteHowever convenient and blessed the internet is - not actually meeting people, travelling etc is beginning to get to everyone as restrictions keep extending here and the infections keep rising here. So much to be grateful for and so much more to overcome... we all hope for all the help we can get as we struggle to cope with the times.
ReplyDeleteIt fluctuates, I find. Sometimes, as in the moment of writing this, I'm happy enough about the situation. At different times, as noted in one or two earlier earthellos, I miss the 'real-live' contact with other people. What is even more interesting is that, when I read other people's reflections, it seems many of us are going through the same ups and downs at the same time. (So much for individuality! Maybe we really are one organism.)
DeleteLucky you to have a forest glade for garden with all the neighbours trees surrounding you. With almost no cases in South Australia social distancing is being eased a little but borders with other states are still tricky to cross.
ReplyDeleteVictoria's a worry right now; that's where several of my children and their partners and offspring are.
DeleteI’m the same, Rosemary, the Internet has been a bit of a lifesaver for years now, and it hasn’t felt abnormal during the lockdown. But I’m a morning person, and that’s when I am able to write. I couldn’t write at night. We have a similar relationship with our neighbours, seeing them seldom but on a friendly basis when we do. But the view from your window is very different, and I love reading about it.
ReplyDeleteI always love reading about your surroundings too, Kim.
DeleteAs someone who has spent many years at a time housebound, I understand these words so well.
ReplyDeleteIndeed you would! When my late husband became housebound, it meant that I pretty much was too. That's when the internet became a real saviour for me.
DeleteAh I can testify that you used the internet today lol. I had to do a lot of online work lately. It works but I far prefer face to face. Ah you have a frangipani in your garden Love them It must be tropical then were you live. I saw them in Tonga.
ReplyDeleteIt is officially called sub-tropical here, which means that it has many features of the tropics but also some temperate zone aspects. We have the tropical plants, and in Spring we also have clover growing in the nature strips, for instance.
DeleteI have coincidentally spoken about the cocoon of sorts too. I love how peaceful and full of gratitude that piece was
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThis form is so calming. This one in particular seems to put little tent stakes of gratitude all around, until one can see more good than otherwise. I think I'm more aware now of what & how I'm communicating with others because I can't follow up in person and online is less of a stopgap.
ReplyDeleteWe get gentle little nudges from Satya Robyn (who instituted this practice) in daily emails, as to what we might focus on each time.
DeleteYes, the pandemic, dreadful as it has been for so many, also has some interesting lessons for those of us who are surviving so far.
It does help to list our gratitudes. We so often get caught up in the snarls of daily living that we forget that there are things to be grateful for, despite the snarls. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have thought you needed a reminder, MMT. (Smile.) Your own writings are so often full of delight in the world around you.
DeleteI love your conversations with Earth, Rosemary. I, too, am pretty much content with my cyber-world which keeps me occupied for most of each day. I do, however, miss human contact and the occasional lunches with friends. I find, as I grow older, that my world seems to grow smaller and smaller, and I seeks ways to stop that from happening.
ReplyDeleteOur restrictions have been eased a little. I have been able to have a few visits with friends – albeit limited numbers and keeping a distance.
DeleteIt is the daily challenge for me...learning to count my blessings.
ReplyDeleteWithout this 'earthello' practice, I might not do that.
DeleteA lovely conversation wit Earth.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed Sunday
Much💖love
Thanks, Gillena.
DeleteIt's lovely to listen to your grateful heart. xo
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoy it, Ayala.
DeleteThis is beautifully evocative, Rosemary! I find this particular "earthello," to be more solemn than others perhaps reflecting on its surroundings while appreciating and listing gratitude at the same time. Especially resonate with; "In winter I feel as if I am in a cave: a surrounding, protective cocoon, but with plenty of room to move within it. "💝🥰
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right; it is reflecting the quiet night.
DeleteThis is just lovely, Rosemary! One of the reasons - I tell myself - that my writing output has fallen, of late, is because it is so difficult to be inspired in such dark days as these. So much for that attitude. Here you are: pointing out the way to positivity … and proving that: we can still find beautiful things to be grateful for … that such observations can lift us up … and that we can write to that experience with inspirited eloquence. Wonderful writing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Wendy. I'm glad this gave you something. I do think that maintaining positivity sometimes means focusing on the small and immediate. That doesn't mean the larger catastrophes have gone away, but that we mentally put them aside for the moment.
Deletei like this Rosemary. i like how comfortable and whimsy your humble abode is and yet you are thankful for it. it inspires me. great write.
ReplyDeleteDelighted to have inspired you and given you enjoyment!
DeleteIt is a great achievement to be contented with your lot. We are all blessed who live here. So many of our forefathers struggled and sacrificed to get here,,,we should never forget.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteGoodness, this is so beautiful and reaches so deeply into my soul. The wonders of earth have always been in my vision. I grew up surrounded by woods and spent most of my life outdoors because in our small house I had no room of my own. I slept on a couch in the living room for 14 years. My private space was everything I saw and touched beyond my front door.
ReplyDeleteI had a bedroom and only slept on the couch in the living room when extended family came for xmas. But I too spent much time outside – and we moved when I was 12 to a place with the bush (our term for woods) outside my back door; I did a lot of wandering there, happily alone.
DeleteI feel that you are in deep peace or contentment in this Hello. Satisfied at where you are but a longing for more. I sensed a calmness as I read it and thank you for that, Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I conveyed that to you, Joel.
DeleteThat "frangipani tree"...I had to Google it. Wow. So beautiful. So lucky. Thanks for introducing me to something new.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are wonderful, and have a beautiful scent too. Some people call them plumeria.
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