Is this what happens to a boater's mind when he can't leave his mooring?

If we were on the cut at the moment, we'd be very well-tanned - remember those very sunny few days of  sun a while back? On one day, the temperature in the boat when I woke at 7:00 was a mere 17°. By the end of the day, it was 27°! We would also be very wet! For days now (or is it weeks? I've lost track of time) we've had frequent heavy downpours, sometimes very short-lived and diminishing simply to 'raining'. But only sometimes. There's been a lot of strong wind as well.

Before the storm

After the storm

Is this another one on its way?

Now, I don't look upon us as fair-weather floaters - we can recall many occasions when we've got soaked right through (they're all in this blog!) - but I really wouldn't want to be caught mid-water in a downpour such as we're experiencing right at this moment. What made us laugh was the single file of around a dozen ducks who left the rain-beaten canal for the rain-beaten long grass. An odd choice for a duck?

I can't remember if I've written before about the strange but rather lovely poetic experiences I've had over the past months or years, but it happened again recently. My apologies if I have told you before and you're bored by the repetition.

I don't consider myself to be a poet, though I've written a few for my eyes only. I enjoy good poetry. It was part of my O and A-level English courses, then my English degree studies took me deeper and introduced me to a number of poets I hadn't been aware of. But I haven't written any worthy of  public scrutiny. Imagine my surprise and delight, then when I woke up one morning with a poem, short but complete, running through my mind. I'd describe it as an Elizabethan nonsense rhyme

Gently does it

I am oft times of a mind to

call the evening a Gentle,

and to spend that Gentle wisely

seated quietly 'neath the trees.

This was followed not long afterwards by a silly combination of rhyming couplets and a haiku.

Haiku

I’m going to write a Haiku.
It’s not going to be very hard, ‘cos, 

whenever I start writing Haiku,
I can turn them out by the yard.
But there’ll be something different with this one
That’ll make it stand out from the rest.

It will surely be
a poem that ends better
than you might have guessed.

My latest, also a nonsense rhyme (madness triggered by moored boat syndrome?), came to me as I awoke, erm... some other time.

Celery

You can tango with a mango,
you can stare at a pear,
you can grapple with an apple
if the orange isn’t there,
play cribbage with a cabbage
and rout a brussels sprout,
but what the hell do you do with celery?

I was amazed when my sister, Jill, sent me some of her poetry. Some of it had also come to her as she woke from sleep. Odd, huh?

Here's another odd thing. There are three million premium bond prizes each month, and Grace and I have each just won a prize in the same draw. And it's happened at least once before. What are the chances? Any statisticians out there? They were only the smallest prizes this time, £25 each, but welcome nonetheless. We reckon we've had a better return from our bonds over the years than the interest on any bank account.

And, before I go,.. I came across this on the wall in an old church a while back. It's attributed to a 17th century nun, but there are those who think it's much more recent that that. I don't care either way. It made me laugh a lot - and some of the laughter was on me!

Every picture tells a story; a picture paints a thousand words

Some of you will know that sometimes I laughingly refer to myself as a "blogographer". Most of my photos find their way onto this blog in one way or another. Every picture tells a story, a picture paints a thousand words, and all that. It's no secret that my camera of choice is far from fancy. It's an old 12.2 megapixel Samsung PL80 with a 5x zoom, and I love it. I have another, rather better specified camera that I do use from time to time, but the small size of the Samsung is what gives it the edge for everyday use. I can take it anywhere with no encumbrance.

But there's another, more important feature of this little device that I value a great deal. Because it only has a tiny lens and very restricted zoom capability, it forces me to look at things close to me. I belong to a Facebook group for wildlife photographers, amateur and otherwise, and the majority of the photos there are fabulous close-ups of birds and other animals. These are taken with expensive cameras with huge lenses and very fast shutter speeds, often shot from a considerable distance.

photo by Jonny Reed

But these three photos, taken with my diddy camera, leaning out of the side doors of the boat, have caused quite a stir on social media. They are simply shots of reflections on the water just outside Kantara.

 

I've also posted a lot of shots of  clouds, sunsets, flowers, trees and insects in the FB group Jonny Reed belongs to, and I've been delighted to see a growing number of other members displaying theirs. I think it's so important to take a look at what's close-up, those beautiful, mysterious or simply odd things that don't demand a telephoto lens.

I've just signed out of FB and Twitter for an indefinite period. I have to overcome that FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) syndrome again. It's a bit like a fast; hard to do, but essential for one's wellbeing. Since the main purpose of this blog is to be my own record of my life, to be looked back at from time to time, it will continue. My main problem with it at the moment is that my current situation has made our daily lives very small. There's not a lot to write about. We can't cruise, and we lack the drive to do much else. If I explained that in any greater detail, I'd probably lose most of you readers because I'm so dreary!

Enough. I'll say no more on the subject.

If you need a good read or four, please take a look at my books here on Amazon or, if you'd like to see more of my art work, visit my pages on Flickr.

I'm off.