Just there and just so

August has been busy after weeks of blank pages in my pocket calendar and I constantly feel I am running to catch up but never quite succeeding. In the old days, I could juggle quite a few tasks and I wondered what I would do with so much free time in retirement.

Now, I wonder how I ever found time for a job. I gather I am not alone in this.

If I could itemise my current accomplishments to justify this state of affairs, I would feel redeemed, but alas, there is no such list.

Just getting through the day sometimes is a major achievement!

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I jest. I have not yet reached such a stage.

Our current busyness is due partly to the fact that we have resumed touring the countryside, which in Spring was curtailed while Grant struggled with the “garden”.

Lately, he’s been given to impromptu outings: “Let’s go…” he’ll exclaim or:

“Why don’t we just go to the chasm!” Which was Sunday morning’s announcement.

Ausable Chasm, or as Grant calls it a usable chasm, is a more than 2 hour drive each way.

So it took up a large part of that day.

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But before I get to that, there have been a few more local expeditions, nothing exotic, but a ride in the country is always fun, especially now that we’ve been here a few years and can make comparisons.

Last year, for example was desperately dry, which was very hard on the flora. No doubt the fauna as well, but in them it is not as immediately noticeable.

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Although we’ve had long dry stretches this year, here in Washington County (I moved from Washington State to Washington County – NY) they have been punctuated with short but quite significant downpours. Not many, but we are grateful for them as many parts of the country are in dire straits.

Many years ago someone told me the place to live in the States was Minnesota because they have so many lakes and he meant as a water supply, not for fishing and boating.

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On that occasion, I was in Minnesota on a two-day outward-bound sort of training session that I had been bullied into attending. Smart marketing had sold the event to my employers as being a fabulous motivator for customer services staff and many of our people came back from the experience raving about it.

The more I heard, the less inclined I felt to participate. I was happy enough to take part in the outdoor event, but sitting in a classroom listening to the sort of stuff people were mentioning was not my scene and I would have continued resisting, but a manager I respected pulled the “I am disappointed in you” card. Beast.

Somewhere in my eternal muddle I have a photograph of myself standing on top of a telephone pole, but I cannot put my finger on it, so you are spared that enormous excitement.

Apart from climbing telephone poles, the outdoor day consisted among other things of a zip-line and wall climbing, something of a challenge for a person who doesn’t like heights. I expected that these tests might prove too much, but persuaded myself to have faith that the harnesses would keep me safe, which of course they did.

It was nice to be outside on a bright, warm day, so until we were shuttled back to the hotel, I was quite happy. But then the mental torture began. Group exercises. “Sharing”.

Heaven spare me from sharing. Girls huddled in corners weeping, others offering support.

I don’t remember what the guys did. Drank beer, I expect.

No way. I couldn’t even bring myself to share with my psychotherapist, for God’s sake!

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Back at base, after this sensational experience, we were asked to evaluate it, but apparently we were not expected to be honest, as I was called in to be cross-examined and not just by a manager, but by a whole gang of inquisitors who wanted me to change my opinion.

Basically, all I had to do was say that I’d got something out of the two day session. I had already allowed that the day outdoors had been enjoyable, but I’d politely dismissed the rest as something short of a waste of time.

It is possible that I wasn’t all that polite. But they’d asked my opinion and the session had been pushing honesty, after all. If they wanted me to change my wording, calling me to be cross-examined in such a hostile environment was not the way to go about it. If they didn’t like what I’d written on the form, they could tear it up.

Now they were all disappointed in me. Oh dear.

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There were times when I cursed having to belong to a union, but in this instance, it meant I had nothing to worry about, as it was by then very obvious I would never climb into the dizzying ranks of middle-management.

Very glad about that I was too, in the end.

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Joe pye-wee appears to thrive along river banks, so we only catch sight of it while on one of these outings. As you may guess, I am quite keen. I love the colour. And it attracts bees.

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A little further on we came upon what turns out to be common soapwort.

Also rather charming and new to me.

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Overhanging the river, Tilia was something else I’d never noticed before.

It’s all a matter of being in the right place at the right time, no doubt.

Of the car stopping just there, when the light was just so.

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