Actually, it’s more accurate to say I’m thinking about living things: there’s Ms. Robin, who, after a brief hiatus, has now returned to the nest she built in our patio umbrella . This will be her second brood this year, and her fourth since she first arrived last summer, apparently approving of our new patio and furniture.
There’s Mr. (?) Spider who, for the last couple of weeks, has reliably built a web from my car door to the ceanothus adjacent to the driveway. I can’t get in the car without knocking down the web, but it doesn’t seem to bother him – he just puts it back up overnight.
Both of these creatures set a good example for me – regardless of the vicissitudes (Mr. Spider has to rebuild his web every day, Ms. Robin’s last clutch of eggs didn’t appear to produce any fledglings) – both keep at their work, doggedly. It encourages me to encounter them each day, busy and engaged.
Being out of the mainstream workforce has its challenges. I find myself more or less completely fading from most former colleague’s ken as they (naturally) cope with the more pressing issues of their respective lives. Much of my ‘work’ involves finding ways to stay busy – I’m trying to bring more order to my photo archive, I continue to work at rehab daily, I give myself photo assignments that match my current state of mobility. Like my mascot, Wall-E, it’s up to me to make sense, and purpose in the world in which I find myself…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
As Steve Jobless used to say, “People have to be told what they want.” For all the complaining people do about their bosses, most of them really need to be told what to do in order to have much of any goals. Very few people can dream up new ideas that they would want out of thin air & make them happen on their own. Ken Rockwell is another photographer who retired 8 years ago, has no-one telling him what to do, but somehow manages to dream up more goals out of thin air than he has time to achieve.
Good morning, Chris. It may seem to the casual observer, that the work of the birds and the spiders and the four-leggeds and all the creatures that share this world with us (including other humans) is aimless and repetitive and comes to the same conclusion in the end anyway. But I say, it’s the doing of the task that is the important thing and also whether or not it is doing no harm in the process. In doing it, we make it important. Also the enjoyment of the doing is what adds to its importance. In seeing and recognizing the work of the robin and the spider you have acknowledged its creativity and importance to life itself. Then you shared it with us and we acknowledged it also. Hot diggity dog, what a wonderful day. Thank you!!
Actually I think this is Ms. Robin’s third attempt but, unlike last year when we actually saw one fledgling fly away, not sure if any attempt as reached fruition. Now that attempts have been hit with massive heat wave at some point, leading me to think in terms of fried rather than hatched eggs.