On a hayfever day

from w
I'm not doing much today except sneezing as the wind is carrying pollen or something in the air is disturbing me badly. Anyway I ventured outside to say hello to Brandon, the wounded crow, and take a few garden kind of photos and mess around with them. The results are a bit psychedelic at times. One of the relatives said I shouldn't mess around with nature as it's beautiful by itself! Perhaps she is right.

And then when I think about the annoyance of a bit of hayfever, it's nothing compared with the suffering of some of our friends. Last Sunday a group of us went to visit the nearby nursing home, the minister to lead, me to play music, others to sing. Some elderly members of our church congregation now live at the nursing home. One song we sang 'Come as you are' now has a new meaning - as we were singing it I noticed our friend Nola, who is now deep in dementia, looking so lost and being cradled by her husband. The tears just came and 'Come as you are' now can mean all kinds of elderly people in their various states of ill health. I felt like the 'Weeping Camel' in that film. Also, now I'm on eye-drops for eye pressure that will surely make tears come more easily. For the past five years Nola, every Sunday, had asked me 'When is your son coming home to Australia?' and I had answered, 'Not yet'. Well, I told her this time that the family have arrived and now live with us (immigration matters pending of course) but Nola doesn't recognize us these days and wouldn't have understood my comment. So sad.