Saturday 2 May 2015

Time to drop everything



and make for the hills.


Who would stay at home
and wrestle with a computer on a day like this?

My back hurts, my neck is stiff
and I have cursed incessantly for hours now.


Buying an up-to-date computer is all very well,
but the damn thing is turning up
its fancy nose at any other gadget I want to connect.
It’s going to take days to incorporate all the data from older computers.

That’s bad for an obsessive, impatient maniac like me.
I want it done, and want it done yesterday.

Sod it, I’m off out of here.


First stop is the secret pond.
Sitting here and sniffing the dank mouldy earth
and brackish water can only be good for me.

Millie loves it too. I only just stopped her from jumping in.

Then off up into the woods.
The path is narrow, steepish and very overgrown towards the top.
I swear some more at the difficult terrain,
wheezing and stumbling and forcing my way through
wild rhododendron thickets.
Millie is better off than me.

 Looking down at the idyllic Shropshire landscape,
the gentle, aimless hills and
a farmer doing what farmers have done for millennia,
long before the abacus was invented,
much less computers;
my bad temper subsides.

I am calm enough
to appreciate a bit of accidental modern art:
a mudguard off some small motorised vehicle
stuck on a post (which used to hold a dog poo bin).


And so back home to my own garden
whose spring glory is bathed in bright sunshine.

The season is well advanced, even the tulips are fading.



I gazed a while, and felt as light and free
As though the fanning wings of Mercury
Had played upon my heels: I was light-hearted,
And many pleasures to my vision started;

from I stood Tiptoes Upon a Little Hill
by John Keats



39 comments:

  1. Beautiful yard as it always is, and glad you are feeling well enough to get out and about. I do not care what it costs, if and when I get a new laptop in the coming months, I am paying someone to transfer everything.

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  2. Nice photos on such a fine day. I think I may be envious of you having wild rhododendron thickets.

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  3. A walk is always good for airing out the brain. That is what my dear mother-in-law used to say. Looks like it worked well for you.

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  4. That walk worked its magic - I can see it. Your garden must be lovely at this time of year - I remember its beauty at the very end of the season. Sometimes we just have to throw up our hands and stomp outside before things get better.

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  5. You worked your magic on me! This wise post convinces me to go outside RIGHT NOW - and I shall.
    Thank you dear


    ALOHA from Honolulu,
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  6. I like the Secret Pond!

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  7. You live in the most beautiful place, it is like pages in a story book. I would feel like a queen there.

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  8. YES. There is nothing more effective at restoring equilibrium than a walk and some absorption of nature.

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  9. hard to be in a bad mood when it's so pleasant outside.

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  10. Nothing like getting outside to cool off. I bet you came back and solved your computer problems.

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  11. Your pictures show that it's much better to be outside on a day like that than cursing at the machine. And thank you for the wonderful pictures so I could join you. :-)

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  12. Thank goodness you went outside. You need to hire someone for the computer - it will save you the $$$ in stress. Your garden is already fabulous!

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  13. I love this walk you took us on and your own garden is looking good too. Nice tulips.

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  14. I'm still not done clearing a firebreak here and spent the afternoon with allergies, asthma and a chainsaw. But your post perked me right up. It's all worth the effort and new computers are just the future novelties of the past. You point out what is really enduring, cathartic and important. Thank you, Friko.

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  15. What a beautiful post, dear Friko! The hills, the pond, the flowers --- I can smell them all! Thanks for sharing the joy.
    Hope you have been well. I've been away for more than two months; so it's time I catch up and get back to my regular blogging self. :)
    Happy Sunday!

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  16. Hi Friko - yes technology can send us running - hope it gets loaded up soon so the flights of fancy can have a relaxed start to their walking out. The countryside looks glorious ... and I need to get out into the bluebell woods - it will be a soggy garden today ... the sun will be out once again soon. I can smell the earth and see the fields as to a delightful garden .. have a peaceful weekend ... and enjoy those walks with Millie .. cheers Hilary

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  17. No one over forty has an inner IT nerd , I'm afraid . Probably why adult colouring books are in vogue ... most of us can manage those .

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  18. There's nothing like a walk in such beautiful surroundings to deal with frustration, is there!
    Your garden looks lovely. Tulips are nearly all gone here, too. We're in the middle of the lilac season.
    When it comes to something like setting up a new computer, I can be surprisingly patient (patience normally not being my forte). But I do get very angry when things don't work the way they should.

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  19. What a delightful walk you shared...it lifted my mood, too! Thank you ;)

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  20. Going outside and getting away from the computer is good for the mind and good for the soul especially when the scenery is so beautiful.

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  21. Because I am the little computer geek, I have no problem with transferring information to new stuff. I might encourage you to have computer people do it happily for a small charge or perhaps one of your computer friendly friends might do the same . All done safely and no discomfort or frustration. But then, after such a lovely walk amongst lovely woods n dales, you may now be up to the challenge. Hope it all works out for you.

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  22. My old computer still working and have thoughts of updating and may not :)
    I am heading for my woods today
    beautiful sunny day.,,.

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  23. What a delightful way to begin my day - your garden and Keats.

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  24. Friko, it was grand to go on this walk with you. Such a glorious day to be outdoors in a timeless Shropshire landscape ... much better than being indoors wreastling with software compatibilities.

    Glad that both you and Millie are able to get out and about. How i would love to have truly climbed that hill with you all. xo

    p.s. Might we have some more views of your lovely garden, please?

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  25. Lovely.
    Off I go now, on my own little adventure, far away from the computer. :)

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  26. Your garden is looking quite wonderful -- so full of color and light! And I love this peek into your world. Yes, on a day like this, wrestling with the computer should fall further down the list.

    I can empathize about connecting gadgets with a new computer. I've been experiencing the same thing -- sometimes it just doesn't want to recognize anything. I'm none too fond of technology, yet wonder what I did without it.

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  27. Yes! Sometimes with technology you have to just get up and walk away. And you have some beautiful walking away places to sooth the mind, that's for sure. :)

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  28. It's a lovely time of the year. Hope you're feeling better soon.

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  29. I do believe English poets have an unfair advantage. All that beautiful area to explore...and a better kind of sod outside!

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  30. Bad moods often dissipate when challenged with a ramble. Your path through the woods is a lovely one, with the view at the end worth the effort. Computers can be utterly frustrating.

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  31. With the landscape around your house looking so gorgeous I certainly agree that you should go outside and enjoy it all. Your garden is already looking very nice.

    I read your last post about coloring books. Actually I bought some for my husband on the recommendation of his neurologist. It seems that coloring drawings like busy mandalas is very good for the brain. All this color drawing coordination helps keep the brain active and young. I bought him some coloring books from the Dover Press – they are really quite lovely. I guess it is what the doctor ordered, and if it helps him … why not?

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  32. I'm especially fond of the pond, brackish or not. Water simply is wonderful, in all its forms. Even if I can't sail on it, I'm perfectly content to look at it. As for that mudguard on the post, at first look I assumed it was modern art. In fact, I thought it was a representation of a shoebill stork.

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  33. Oh, what a wise choice you made! A ramble with a dog is the cure for almost anything.

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  34. Wow, what a beautiful walk you had! That would do a lot to ease stress and frustration! Hope things are better with the computer by now.

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  35. I really think that technology is a fiendish plot to keep us stuck at home, endlessly trying to bend it to our will, and each change we make just seems to make life a little more complicated. Glad you managed to escape into the countryside.

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  37. Nothing like the outdoors to soothe the savage beast. Me too.

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  38. This looks like heaven to me, seriously. How fortunate to live in such gorgeous surroundings.

    =)

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