Headed Home
There was a time when I had a full head of teeth and a mouthful of hair, but my brain is clear and youthful...I mean useful --or something I can't think of. Here is a candid Normaphoto taken last night. It showed up when I checked my e-mail today. Asked her about it. She said, "You were smiling and nodding at whatever you were looking at."
I was watching and listening to one of my favorite singing duos, Jilda and Rick Watson .
Rick is a longtime follower of my blogs, and I of his, but this time I felt some special instruction going on. I guess it's because this year is closing and I shall be 70 when it does.
I move in space and time but am not alone. Sometimes I encounter a giant vessel and call out, "What ship are you? What cargo?"
I am answered,"The 'Fado' of the Pliades-Bombay Navigation Company, 15 billion years out, carrying cures, ideas, peace, progress and prosperity for all life on earth! Headed home! What vessel are you?"
"I am Geo., only 70 years out and carrying nothing much except maybe a vaccine for Urban Sprawl. Also headed home."
"Good enough, meet me at the pier pub. I'm buying."
Now who could resist that?
That is a sweet song, Geo, and sung beautifully by your friends. Home is where the love is.
ReplyDeleteI found turning 70 liberating. I no longer had to worry about growing old; I was old and it wasn’t so bad. A few years later, I am still myself, I am still loved, and I can still walk and chew gum. There are annoyances but I had even worse annoyances when I was 30.
Dear Arleen, I won't be 70 for a month or so but have been thinking about it. We are old enough to remember the game of Badminton get officially accepted into the Olympics. I think they're considering Dodge-ball now. After that, Walking-while-Chewing-Gum would logically follow. Let's start training!
Delete:) Love, cat.
ReplyDeleteDear Cat, appreciated, reciprocated.
DeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI loved the song, and I love this post. They say age is just a number, but I don't think so. They talk of a 'young soul', but I want mine to be old, very old. I don't want to be a mentally retarded soul. I want to be as old as I am.
Happy Birthday!
Thank you, Ana! I seem to need a lot of reassurance about this coming birthday. Suspeito que a alma exista em seu próprio momento e nós, que estamos aqui para aprender, nos desenvolvemos ao longo do tempo. You are precisely the right age.
DeleteWho indeed?
ReplyDeleteIndeed indeed, dear Bruce. In life and cosmos, there are rewards for the darndest things.
DeleteI wouldn't dream of resisting. Rick and Jilda are favorites of mine too.
ReplyDeleteI too enjoy and am invigorated by their work, which fortunately is well-represented on YouTube. I thank them here because they are so life-affirming.
DeleteI'd be up for a wee dram!
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely smitten with the words and image of your passage about calling out to passing vessels. I'm waiting for the "Fado" to arrive.
Listening to Jilda and Rick is a nice way to wait.
As for that number "70," as someone who has crossed that line, it may be helpful to remind yourself you'll never be younger than you are. I think that is permission to be youthful.
Dear Tom, you doubtless know Fado is wily word for nostalgia about something that may or may not have happened --or hasn't happened yet. This is beyond most shipping schedules --even Portuguese ones. But the Watsons' exceptional songs, so gentle and joyful, do indeed make the wait worthwhile. Permission to be youthful --Norma would prefer me useful-- is a comforting thought that I appreciate very much.
DeleteI too am headed for home, Gaea, our world, our home. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying the journey. Don't be in a hurry, it'll be there for a very long time. We are all iterations of carbon, eh? And yes, like Tom, I'll have a wee dram too, with the smell of the peat burning. Maybe two.
ReplyDeleteDear Mike, I'm in no hurry to be reduced to base carbon. Been getting ads from Trident Society that sound pretty good --except I'd rather pay a lump sum than accomplish cremation by installments. No need to horrify my survivors.
DeleteWhat a lovely picture of you, Geo. Kudos to Norma for capturing it.
ReplyDelete"...a full head of teeth and a mouthful of hair..." - HAH! I love it :)
0_Jenny, glad you like Norma's photo. Sometimes even I need to feel lovely. As for teeth and a mouthful of hair, it's been a while since I woke up like that. Teenage memories.
DeleteLovely photo Geo. I have always just been drawn to your writing. But now I see a bit of eye candy here! Almost 70! Its looking good on you and me thinks destiny will allow you to stay at home with Norma. 80 needs you both! As for really going home I personally can not wait to be nothing with my lifemate who passed away 3 years ago. I used to tell him: Meet me at the very edge of your world and I shall meet you at the edge of mine for this is the only place where madness in pairs is allowed to flourish. I could tell you stories about this home of ours! But would you believe them? I enjoyed your friend's song. Thank-you for posting a link. Oh....and I think I might actually envy your teenage memories. I will have to ponder it as Osho and get back to you as Lunatic.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I actually googled The Fado of the Pliades-Bombay Navigation Company. =:O Geo...my brain cells...
Please get back to me in whatever form you wish. My sincere condolences on your loss. Loss is what gets me spelling a star system Pliades instead of Pleiades they are homonyms. Pliades was the queen of king Piramort in old, old legend. They were two little centaurs who loved each other very much --even though Pliades always beat Piramort at chess. My father-in-law and I played chess for many years. We were neither royalty nor centaurs, but I sure miss those chess games.
DeleteKudos to Norma for taking a wonderful picture of you, Geo! I enjoyed Jilda and Rick's song ~ with a message that becomes more poignant with each passing year. I'm not far behind you on this journey through life, for I turn 70 in the middle of March. Your post had me googling several things, starting with "fado." That lead me to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, something I knew nothing about. Then I was distressed because Canada doesn't have any intangible cultural heritages on the list. What??? :( I loved that the Bombay Steam Navigation Company reemerged as the Pleiades-Bombay Navigation Company traveling among the stars, presumably under warp drive and not steam. Then I remembered that you shared a fado song in the past ~ although I can't be sure. I seem to have lost some brain cells over the years, as well as hair, and teeth. But I'll take it! Every day is another gift which I can appreciate more than I can say. I would never turn down an invitation for a drink at a pier pub! The reports on our news are alarming regarding the fires in California. Let's not even discuss PG&E. I do hope you and your family are safe!
ReplyDeleteDear Louise, I'ved use the name "Bombay" ever since I was a little kid because it's a big kaboomby name and I liked it. In the 1990s, India changed the name to Mumbai and made everybody in Bombay pack up and move there --probably at great inconvenience. If the Shivsena can honor Goddess Mumbadevi, I can Turn Pleiades into Pliades, but I'm OK, we're Ok...you Ok? California has always been a highly flammable state and this year is more antagonizing than most, what with PG&E and God punishing us for nude beaches or something. As for age, don't worry about losing neurons. I put my brain in Tupperware before bed.
DeleteAh, the pier pub, where all the best vessels tether. Norma will have much jollity to capture there :-)
ReplyDeleteWe Earthlings all have high hopes for jollity, here and hereafter. Except I hope there is no perfection in metaphysical reward. There is no humor in perfection.
DeleteAnd there you are, sitting in your own little slice of heaven with your books and music in the lamplight lost in your own mind. Beautiful. May your ship sail long.
ReplyDeleteDear Delores, thank you for your kind comment. Books pictured are part of our kitchen reference library --started for the kids and still useful for Norma and me. Add lamplight and music, lexicons and lives written by better minds than mine and the voyage is profitable. Long may you sail as well.
DeleteThat's a terrific picture of you. Best thing about it is the look of utter contentment on your face. And it's good to see that you still have your hair. Clumps of Smarticus' beard came out yesterday, so I guess the rest will be going soon. He was a little alarmed, but it'll grow back. Heck, he might even end up with more than he had before all of this started! As for now, he'll just have a little more face to wash...
ReplyDeleteTake care, dude. I love how your mind works. There's always more to your writing than meets the casual eye... :) Have a super weekend.
Dear Susan, Yes, I still have hair. So far, I've not had radiation or chemotherapy --only been a year and a half, no recurrence. Hopefully a routine decapitation and several rides in (what dear Harry Hamid used to call) the Burrito Wagon, did the miracle. I sure hope you and Smarticus can avoid at least some of the recreational anxiety/depression that we still battle here. All my best wishes to you both. May all your weekends be super!
DeleteThe schedule of chemo and radiation is rather grueling, but so far, we've both managed to avoid depression and anxiety. During his chemo treatments, we play good ol' Yahtzee to keep ourselves entertained. (With a small towel on the table so we don't make enough noise to bother any of the other patients.) I'm thrilled for you that there's been no remission. That's awesome! We'll keep plugging away and hoping for the best. He won't be getting another PET scan until after the treatments have finished. If there are any more nasty lit-up spots remaining in the scan... we'll start another round of treatments. Whatever it takes. We're too damned stubborn to give up.
Delete"Whatever it takes. We're too damned stubborn to give up."
DeleteSomehow, I've always suspected that. Can't imagine why. You sure we're not related? Love and admiration to Smarticus and you.
Geo:
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a wonderful time at the pub!
I have to say something about the Normaphoto today.....
It may very well be due to my mental state today, but I have to say that there was a very obvious (to me at least) optical illusion I saw in the photograph. To me, when I first opened the image, I thought you were gripping a tobacco pipe between your teeth. The brownish/black notebook that I now see is the actual image, looked like the stem/shank and bowl of a pipe at first glance. :)
I think this may be an illusion only I would see, as I have been in a mood the last couple of weeks where I am thinking a lot about my pipes and pipe tobaccos again. I am not sure where you are at currently in regards to the hobby, but at the moment, I am still steadfast in my resolve to continue to refrain.... although I *do* think I am close to faltering. :)
PipeTobacco
Dear Prof., Yes, now that you mention it, that notebooK DOES look like a pipe. No wonder I sometimes try to set fire to it. Seriously, my pipe was never tolerated indoors, but in my pumphouse, with the AC full blast, I am tempted. I lift my old briar from the rack my brother-in-law built me, 50 years ago, and take a nail from the bench to probe the pipe-bowl for anything remotely combustible. "Faltering"(?), it's a part of living, recreational even --if not done in excess. I wish us both the best.
DeleteYou look like the kind of man with whom one can have a delightful conversation. Yours seems like a wise and reflective 70.
ReplyDeleteWhat a kind and welcome comment! Thank you.
DeleteA vaccine for urban sprawl: now, that would be useful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Squid. I suspect it would have saved my grampa.
Delete