Reflections...

Reflections
Last week there was a welcome chink in the awful weather we have been having. The sun made a stunning come-back and actually came out!A quick inspection of my bonsai revealed the emergence of tiny green buds and the sweetest of cherry blossom on one of them. This inspired me to do a bit of gardening for I am always surprised at this time of year at how much suddenly needs to be done. How can this be, I think, Mother Nature has been asleep for months and the minute she starts to wake up, everything needs tidying up?
my favourite bonsai
Anyway, for a day or two I enjoyed myself. No writing was done; it was like having a mini holiday, sneaked when no one was looking. Sadly it didn't last long. Soon the rain returned and brought cold cruel winds with it, so it was time to return to the keyboard which welcomed me back like an old friend.Mother's Day came and went, a day I'm not too fond of as I haven't been one for a long time now. I need no reminders of that time either, really I don't. But Anita is still very much a mother, surrounded by her offspring, so it is a ritual we solemnly observe, marked by a family get together and dinner for which I had planned a glorious roast, like always. Only to have a plaintive request from youngest grand daughter, 'Could we possibly have a meat pie?'Well, I don't mind what I cook, and everyone else liked the idea, so it was humble meat pie for Mother's Day dinner.
Not much progress to report on my book 9Lives, though I seem to have been doing a lot of work on it. It suddenly occurred to me that at least two of my characters were a bit one dimensional and could do with more back story. This involved an awful lot of back tracking, so thank God for the Windows ability to 'find' things making names, sequences and dates so much easier to find.Just when I was deep in the swing of things, the printer ran out of black ink, and guess what, every other colour in the box but not one black. Why had I not noticed that before? So no more printing until supplies arrive.
I have made another monumental discovery as I wrestle with my new laptop. It is a totally different kettle of fish compared to my computer, made a thousand times more complicated because it runs on Windows 8. This bears absolutely no relation to Windows 7, of which I am inordinately fond. Why on earth is it so different? What were they thinking?I thought progress was supposed to make life better; at least that's what I have always assumed. Guess I was wrong to think that, so I sent for the Which guide for laptops which was supposed to sort me out. But it didn't, turned out to be less helpful than the scanty leaflet that came with the laptop. This might just might turn out to be the one bridge too far, or even the straw that breaks the camels back.Obviously, I must have been out of my head to even contemplate getting a laptop. Me, I hate computers, remember?I tell a lie. There was one I didn't hate, not once I had figured out how to use it at any rate. My old Amstrad. It was only a word processor, which lets face it, is all we really need, isn't it? It never used to crash or swear at me in PC language (and I could play solitaire). Spring is here!


Against my better judgement, I have begun a sort of a countdown to my birthday on May 2nd. Never thought I would make it this far and it seems significant to me although I'm not sure why. I really don't feel that old, but in just 27 days I will be 70 years old. (or young!) 70 years I have been on this planet, years full of all those people and things I have loved and hated, endured and enjoyed, lost and found. Most of them all gone now and barely remembered. Perhaps that's what is supposed to happen as you get older, things fade away or get forgotten. Best thing for most of it, I say.
Before I sign off, I have a message for mothers everywhere.To all of you brave, fearless and long suffering, patient and wonderful women, it is only right that you have a special day, a day when you are revered and treated like a queen. Just don't expect to see me there anytime soon.
Best wishes, see you soon,Jaye