Four corners

OK, yes, now we really are getting a bit of heatwave! Windows wide open, gloriously warm. The garden birds were in stunned silence to begin with but now they're whistling summer tunes to one another. I did a couple of rounds of Saluting the Sun in my head and then another ritual on my knees...removing a square metre of wallpaper layers from a corner of wall! That may be it for the day though if I could get some brunch and a small rocket inside me the afternoon may involve the communal gardens, a folding chair and a book. If not, maybe I’ll put shorts on and a towel on the carpet and lie down pretending I’m on the beach!

The joy of being here now not withstanding I express much gratitude for writers who take you to other places with their words, and seem to find joy in little incidents and encounters as much, if not more, as guide book 'must sees' which may be overrated and are often overrun! I was on a Venice water bus once marvelling at everything around including a couple on the seat behind going through a list of the sights there they'd 'done' and those they had yet to fit in. NOT my idea of the best way to travel...I'm still in Australia with Mr Bryson just now and we haven't argued about the itinerary once!

I give thanks for all the different sorts of people who have found and read my blog and from so many places as well. My 'audience' yesterday evening included readers from the USA, Russia, Argentina and Australia....lighting up the useful, albeit inaccurate, oblong map we use to represent the world in all four corners. I liked that...I like a bit of symmetry. I’d also like to say hello to France, and Italy and the Netherlands and South Africa if anyone of those who have come from there come back.

I give gratitude once again for the BBC’s wonderful Day in Pictures series on their website. Wherever you are from it helps you to remember that even on this little planet there are many other ways of being. 21^st, 26^th and 27^th September’s collections I found especially moving and inspiring. I hope you do too if you decide to look...

I give thanks for a text chat with Clive...it's such a special treat to have contact with someone who knew me before my illness, who met some of the other sorts of me there were. I give thanks to Juanita for her email which I will reply to soon and I give thanks for ‘real’ peanut butter, I think the thought of that might just get me into the kitchen again!