Good things only #5: last week’s highlights

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a “good things only” post. But last week had a few highlights I wanted to record.

On Thursday on my evening walk I noticed a bat hanging on the top strand of the barbed-wire fence. One prong of wire had gone through a wing and it was pretty well stuck. I thought it was dead, especially given it had been a really hot day and it must have been there since the previous night.  But when I started trying to get it loose, thinking I’d take it home for the kids to see, it turned its head and opened its mouth at me. I managed to get it loose and took it back to the house where it had a drink of water from an egg cup before flying away. I’d never held a bat before, or even seen one that close up. It was such a tiny, beautiful creature.

 

Then on Friday I got an unusual compliment. I think it was a compliment, anyway. As I was coming out of my office, someone knocking on the next door said “I like you hair! It’s the same colour as the undercoat on the F-35”. Which says something about my workplace… it may be frustrating to the point of infuriating at times, but it’s generally interesting at least.

Sunday was the Goulburn poultry auction. What more need be said? What could more exciting than that?  Even if none of the birds I bought can fly.  😀

good things only #4: unexpected gifts

It’s been a while since I posted one of these, inspired by Sean’s series of “good things only”. And thank you to OM for the wellbeing pack. It was a lovely surprise.  🙂  This time a tanka series. 

 

I morning commute

there in the mirror –
see the falling yellow leaf
dancing gracefully
in a slipstream pirouette
lost already in passing

II rushing between meetings

in the corridor
between meetings she gives me
a wellbeing pack –
I give myself permission
not to overthink this gift.

III walking to school pickup

a wet tennis ball
dropped into my hand by a
stranger’s smiling dog,
waiting to share his joy in
green grass, blue sky, and the chase

Good things only #3 / sevenling (roses)

Finally the teaching-year is done for me, with just graduation to go next week.   So I’m hoping to find more time for reading and writing now.

It’s been a challenging year, and the last few months in particular have been difficult. So here is a floral pick-me-up, for myself and anyone else who needs to stop and smell the roses.

1.  The lilies are just starting to bloom! First the Asiatics, but soon the Orientals and trumpets will be blooming too!

2. Hearts-ease – also known as Johnny-jump-ups or violas – are in bloom in all sorts of unexpected places. These first snuck into my garden ten years ago as stow-aways in a pot of something else, and they’ve spread to come up year after year in pots and bathtubs and garden beds.

good things only #2

I haven’t been writing lately, because it’s marking season and I haven’t had time or head space for anything else. But it’s all done except the late submissions now, so here is an animal edition, for my second good things only:

1. Driving home from school drop-off on Wednesday (campus is still closed although the Canberra lockdown has lifted), with the prospect of another day of nothing but marking, when crossing the road in front of me:

Of course I had to stop and get out and watch it finish crossing the road and trundle off into the bush.

No matter how urgent the marking, there is always time to watch an echidna. Echidnas are egg laying mammals with an electric sense in their nose. How cool is that?

Good things only #1.

Taking a leaf out of Sean’s book, I’m going to try some (non-toxic) positivity posts to try to boost my mood (struggling a bit lately). So here are some good things from my day, to remind me:

1. Coffee with a friend for the first time in months.  So nice to talk to a person who I don’t live with and who doesn’t want something/need me to solve a problem for them!
2. A senior colleague I respect saying he learnt a lot from teaching with me, in front of the whole school.
3. Relaxing in the sun with my darling oinky girl, even though she wouldn’t share the seat with me. She did bite me on the bum, but not hard, so I’m interpreting as affection.