About saying hallo and goodbye to summer sheets and lettuce

Ours is a household governed by the 'seasons,' as roughly designated by me!

The months are as follows. Spring covers April and May, Summer, June, July and August, Autumn, September and October, and then Winter, by far the longest, stretches from November to March!

I am fairly flexible (a necessity in our land, surely), especially with the summer sheets. Many's the 'summer' when the poly-cotton variants from the beloved brushed-cotton regulars, never make it to the bed, such are the vagaries of so-called 'British summertime'.

Likewise with summer clothes, where I am, of necessity, flexible. How many of us have put away our winter woollies at the first flush of warmer weather, only to be hauling them out a week later, when frost rears its head again.

And as to lettuce, well I'm a believer in trying to eat foods in season as much as possible so lettuce definitely comes into that category. For one thing, I'm an ott rinser of most things and am not keen on washing lettuce in very cold water!! 

Well, they do say variety adds spice to life!

About making the best of life

 Maybe life is about making the best 

of the hand we've been dealt,

whatever that is.

About teaching children to give and to receive love

We need to surround our children with the armour of love - and that is love given but also love returned, not just love taken and especially not love 'taken for granted'.

Children need to be taught how to give love, to care about and for family, friends and others. We must let them learn the pleasure of giving cards and presents and little acts of kindness. We mustn't let them feel that giving is a one-way street.

The more we teach them to love and care for others, the more love and care they will be able to receive and appreciate. By allowing them to be selfish, we do them one of the greatest possible disservices.

If we bring them up to be the centre of their own universes, we deprive them of the greatest gift in life. That is the knowledge that other people exist, that they matter, that being aware of other people's needs and concerns and responding to them, can be the greatest source of true happiness in this world. If we help them to connect with the world, the world will connect with them.

About bereavement and menal health - Mary Kenny

Mary Kenny in the Catholic Herald, 21.4.17

.........."I don't think that it is correct to associate the pain of bereavement with mental health issues.
This, I believe, is a diagnostic error that runs through our society and should be examined. Grief and sorrow are deeply distressing experiences, but they are not a form of mental illness. To feel grief and sorrow is a normal response to a very sad event. Indeed, not to feel grief and sorrow as a consequence of loss would be a greater indication of having something wrong with your emotional processes."

About keeping our faces as 'young' as possible

My basic skincare plan, such as it is, consists of applying whatever body lotion or hand cream I happen to have at hand, generally gifts, Mother's Day, birthday, Christmas etc, to my face, hands, arms and the other few parts of my body which are likely to be in contact with the outer world!

Over recent years, I've found myself, as I apply the cream to my face, almost massaging it in, whilst, at the same time, pulling the strangest grimaces. The idea came to me from a yoga booklet I read many years ago showing various movements, one of which was called 'the lion' and was a way of exercising our facial muscles.

I just feel it must be important to try to keep our faces as supple as we can because they are the most exposed parts of our bodies by a long way, especially in my case, as I am a very 'nesh' character, noted for wearing scarves, polo necks, hats and gloves etc.

Just a thought.

About rivers and nations

A river travels along its bed, 

constantly changing, 

being changed by its environment.

So also, is a nation - constantly reborn; 

birth and death constantly renewing its life.

About driving at night and dealing with the 'glare'

The older I become,  the more the glare of oncoming headlights whilst driving at night causes me problems. 

As if it isn't enough just to keep remembering to dip the headlights oneself so as not to dazzle others!!

I have discovered that, instead of looking ahead at the cars, 

if I look down at the road and concentrate on the road markings, 

I'm much better able to deal with the glare safely. 

Thought I'd share the tip.

Could this be an allegory for the glare of life?