Life's illusions I recall

Mmm...I give thanks for the way the shafts of evening light make it over the terrace rooftops to gild the upper leaves of a garden tree, and the pretty pastel sunsets we're getting, reflected somewhat on the sea. I'm grateful I found a way to avoid those contentious plural forms of the word for the pointy bit on top of houses!

I'm grateful for a busy and productive start to the day and for an unscheduled but obviously necessary sleep this afternoon. Plan now is to stay awake for tea and TV and a bath and then more of the same...I'm still more tired than is useful for even my low key everyday life! I'm grateful for the feel of sun on my skin and the sight of the sparkly sea from the beach at lunchtime...and that this time last week I was experiencing something similar somewhere else! 

I'm grateful for canvas shoes you can clean with a scrubbing brush and washing up liquid and to Laura for helping me with some other jobs involving a drill, screw drivers and ladders - tools I struggle with these days.

Recently I've been feeling the after effects of a bit of deception in my personal life. I try to be open hearted, open minded and open handed and it's hard not to be hurt when people take what feels like excessive advantage of this. But I'm aware that the pain comes mostly from wounded pride and I'm grateful for understanding that pride is no more use to your personal development than perfidity, whilst responding to callousness with kindness is probably more helpful to both parties than responding in kind. And I give thanks for the bit where I fell for the illusion We always enjoy that part, don't we? When we feel some good fortune or bounty has come our way. But it's all illusion, the winning, the losing, the sunsets too...and that any of it matters in the end. I wonder though: people who take the whatsit...don't they just end up with more whatsit? Having been through the urological treadmill it's not a state I envy...