The inimitable Jon Jandai talking about laying down the burdens we don't need to carry.
Amen to that. So wise, so sane.
For all the reasons he mentions, I no longer have dogs (I used to). We do still have one cat. We got him with his brother, and they were rescued cats — that makes a difference, I think, because here they are in the world; someone needs to look after them. They were both neutered, because I think urban scenarios are over-populated with cats already, and unwanted litters of kittens are a problem. Ours is a working cat — he kills the rats attracted by our next door neighbour's chickens, and we feed their bodies to the crow family. But he is getting old now, and we have made the decision that when his life ends we will not have another cat.
What we do have instead are our seagull pair and our crow family. Every day they come for their breakfast and supper, and we have got to know them and they trust us. We love them, they are a source of joy to us. I would not keep a bird in a cage, but to make friends with a wild bird feels very privileged, very special.
And what Jon Jandai says about "my" relationships, and the imposition of our perspectives on others, I have found to be true in my life too. As my children have grown into confident women following their own path, they regard me with affection but they no longer need my guidance, my opinions. And Tony, now we each (separately) cook and clean and run our lives, makes choices quite different from mine. We love one another, and most days we spend ages chatting about our encounters and thoughts and experiences, but we refrain from too much involvement, too much influence. We like it better that way.
Leaving my house today, a small collection of things — a screwdriver, some cable ties, and a collar to go round something (what?).
The brush in the picture did not go after all. I retrieved it, because it's good for scrubbing our vegetables and the silicon mat we use for draining dishes (we have no draining board), which has little projections to assist in draining off water but also in accumulating fungus.
2 comments:
Your words about birds and pets are so wonderful. My father could charm wild birds out of the sky and I miss that. WE have had rescues cats and I have sworn never again. We feed the wild birds and I feel especially blessed when the cockatoos and kookaburras drop in. Dad's favourite birds were little willy wag tails and despite him not being around this house since 2015 they pop in almost every day.
Enjoy. your weekend/
During my lifetime the expectations around care of pets have changed. In my childhood, cats were beloved, but not especially expensive — neutered and vaccinated (once), then after that never went back to the vet at all, lived more outside than inside, ate whatever they were given and were fed once a day, and took themselves off to die when the time came. How times have changed, and how very expensive are the innovations! Present expectations would put the cost of keeping a pet beyond my budget.
In the UK we don't have any kookaburras; I have lived in a place where there were cockatoos in the wild because they had escaped from a zoo and bred, but they are not native to our country. We do have wagtails, but not right here in our garden — though we used to see them every day during the years we lived just half a mile along the road. x
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