Thirsty Thursday

Apologies are due to you, dear readers of Wear and Dao, for the absence of the blog. This was due to the purchase of an Apple iPad to make Wear and Dao  more accessible. So what's been hapenning in the meantime, you may ask. Well, on Monday morningyour blogger and his kind caring nurse and wheelchair pusher went to the MetroCentre in Gateshead in search of an Apple iPad to upgrade the quality of the blog. This explains, dear readers, the reason for the absence of blogging in the last few days.

So why Thirsty Thursday you may ask? Obviously  because some readers amongst you may be thirsting for  information! Indeed one or two of you contacted the blogger to ask about the whereabouts of the blog.

So, here you go dear readers of Wear and Dao, a summary of the events of the past four days ... Monday after buying the Apple, we went to Marks and Spencers for lunch ... a  spicy,chilli wrap, which was delicious and nutritious as expected. Dessert was a lovely cake and after all that we returned to Stanhope to try out the Apple iPad, which was when the fun really started.

Having purchased the lovely iPad dear readers Tuesday was designated for learning how to use it. Having used a tablet for some time , indeed your old blogger writes this blog on a tablet , one would assume that some knowledge could be transferable , wrong ! Passwords abound ! Help was required , and where better to find help than the hub where an old friend has been known to assist IT illiterates such as your old blogger to get to grips with the modern method of communication. And so to the hub using the wheelchair which is now the transport mode of choice and the kind caring nurse, as someone is required to push said wheelchair and since she requires exercise , a route along the river walk was taken, then up the incline into the village shopping area  renamed Everest by the caring nurse who was less inclined to be kind. Once at the hub an invitation was extended to the friend and her husband to visit the home of the kind caring nurse to assist the old blogger with his new toy.
On Wednesday more fun was had as we learnt a few more things about Apple iPads from other experts, between breakfast, lunch and supper, mostly healthy and nutritious,  with certain exceptions 'like chocolate and chips.

This brings us bang up to date to Thursday Thirsting and a delicious and nutritious breakfast of porridge with fruit plus buttered toast and marmite.  John came for roast lunch and news of his intention to take communion despite his previous adherence to scepticism about any religion, which by no means means he has no beliefs in the Meaning of Life and the numinous. After lunch Gillian the Angel of Stanhope arrived for more philosophy and all four of us engaged in the big questions.  So, dear readers of Wear and Dao,  there's your summary for the missing four days. And by  the way John added more solutions to the mystery of the Apple iPad, so all in all a most productive and illuminating day was had by all!

Metro Monday

Good evening  dear readers of Wear and Dao, today has been fascinating indeed at the MetroCentre in Gateshead near where your blogger and the kind, caring, nurse carer and part - time chauffeur live, i.e. Stanhope in Weardale. Stanhope by the way is somewhat like Stanley, except Stanhope has hope in the name and Stanley near Consett has no hope, having been a pit village in it's heyday leaving the coal miners once prosperous now without hope! That's the post-industrial age for you folks ...
Still, that's the past nowadays, these days i.e. Monday 25th March 2022, we are in the eternal present moment, as Eckart Tolle taught in "The Power of Now".

Anyway, moving on to Metro Madness, the Metrocentre was madness for sure, full of shoppers sheltering from the rain showers, window shopping for things they didn't necessarily need, but could wander about in the dry, warm Metrocentre.  The only reason your technophobic old blogger and his wheelchair pushing friend from Stanhope turned up was to find the Apple store to move away from Android and upgrade the system, which was achieved thanks to Darryl the young salesman flogging good iPads for a reasonable price, maybe £1.6 k for the system of choice , definitely a bargain. All this took very little time, so we headed off to Marks and Sparks, more properly M&S, for lunch of spicy falafel in a tortilla wrap, which was delicious and nutritious with dessert of cake dunked in cappuccino mmm!

Heading home for tea we pondered how to make the Apple system operate compared to Android and asked Siri for her advice since voice recognition's a thing in the post-technophobic age. How times have changed dear readers since your old technophobic blogger was a boy, before televisions let alone mobile  phones were widespread, imagine that if you can; it's like miracle to us, bringing us slap bang up to date, face to face with the existential possibilities of Miracles, whether or not they help us to comprehend the Nature of Reality and the Meaning of Life and the numinous ...meanwhile, back home the
Methodist Minister arrives and we discuss the big questions  of Heaven and Hell and where on Earth we might end up when we pass on, up or down, God or Satan ... some choice eh? dear blog readers!

Tomorrow's a whole new day and who can foretell the future?  Answers on a postcard please , dear readers of Wear and Dao, meanwhile, good night and allow the future to take care of itself ...

Sunday Lunch

Good morning dear readers of Wear and Dao, it's Sunday yet again, the 71st one in the life of your blogger  and frankly the first one spent with a debilitating illness. The previous seven years were spent walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela putting in  shifts of 50km a day, with a record of 65 km. That one was tough but doable by setting off from the hostel in moonlight and arriving at the monastery in Santiago de Compostela after dark. That's a walk never to be repeated in this Life at least. Walking upstairs is the cause of breathlessness these days!

On with the story of today, Sunday 24.04.2022, a typical Spring day with sunny weather to warm us and the occasional cloud and a stiff breeze to necessitate a few layers plus warm hat and scarf to stay cosy when out in the wheelchair getting the VitD for free. Today was yet another day for getting out in the wheelchair, with just Bill the Philosopher coming over for Sunday Lunch ... a yummy Spanokopita bring memories of trips to Greece years ago. Jules and Peter the next door neighbours came over to shift some more things out of The Retreat House, including a beautiful bureau for the bungalow we move to soon.

Anyway suffice to say the spinach and feta pie was wonderful and another masterpiece from the kind friend and retired nurse and chef de cuisine in whose house yours truly lives currently, pending the move to the bungalow over the road. Bill the Philsopher certainly appreciated it and the leftovers from Sunday lunch soon became soup spiced up with turmeric and delicious. After Bill departed a third exposure to vitD left the skin glowing and your blogger glowing too.

After supper it's time to compose the blog about Sunday Lunch, involving reflections on a life led to the full and rarely allowing fear to spoil the fun. Between blogging FB Messenger needs attention paying to Daughters and good friends ...and whilst all this reminiscing is going on Bach and Beethoven play on headphones to further inspire your blogger to create stories which may inspire readers to aspire to the numinous, as indeed yours truly was inspired by great teachers like J.Krishnamurti, Alan Watts, Gautama, Jesus Christ, Rumi and numerous other famous Gurus.

Tomorrow is Monday at the Metrocentre, the local superstore, where an Apple store will advise us which iPad/laptop to purchase to enable easier writing and blog editing and how much. Research suggests around £1k will do it, which might sound expensive to some,  but a retired blogger with plenty of time on his hands finds it a bargain to be honest.

And so dear readers of Wear and Dao, Spring turns into Summer, April into May and the world keeps on turning as human beings get older daily until they drop off the perch and return to the soil from whence they came and to which they must return someday, sooner or later.

Saturday Serenity

Another weekend in Weardale dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog. So, why Saturday Serenity? Well today's a peaceful day with no visitors expected but clearish skies meaning a ride out somewere or other to enjoy the vitD on tap from the Sun! That will mean four consecutive days sunbathing, helping the recuperation of the wheezing old blogger.

Naturally, even on a Serene Saturday it would be madness to expect complete serenity, what with the kind caring nurse carer and car driver at the wheel of the car and the wheelchair as we shopped at Sainsburys in the Arnison Centre, not far from Stanhope where both reside. And close to Dryburn hospital the scene of a few dramas.

For strangers to the North Pennines of England this means a shortish trip to Durham City where the local authority hangs out, sometimes actually working and collecting taxes! If this sounds mean by the way, many folks say the exact same thing, including the kind, caring nurse driving her car today and yours truly sitting serenely  in the wheelchair. Before this shopping expedition breakfast of porridge oats with fruit and honey, followed by toasted sourdough bread and a second coffee in which to dunk it. At Sainsburys when shopping was done light lunch was pain au chocolate dunked in cappuccino. Long time readers of the blog will recall that ye olde blogger has enjoyed many a cappuccino in many countries , the maker of today's  cappuccino would perhaps benefit from visiting these countries, if not to enjoy the weather and get some vit D then to learn the art of making one .  Skipping lunch, led to a slightly larger supper ... a gorgeous spanokopita or cheese pie that is usually made with filo pastry and feta cheese plus spinach, from Greece, though this version was varied by substituting puff pastry for the filo.

So much for the food offering today, how about some philosophy and psychology now? Well let's say not everything went serenely between the caring nurse carer and yours truly and leave it at that! Anyway, by the time we returned to Stanhope rather tired, and had consumed the spanokopita and dessert, it was time for bed and completing todays story on the blog, whilst reminiscing about many lives the theme of Life after Life  a story by the well known mystic  Kate Atkinson which speaks of many lives, all happening at once, which is hard to swallow indeed, nevertheless touching a nerve in the immortal soul of yours truly ...

Tomorrow is Sunday full of possibilities, but let's not speak of that today ....

Friday Fish and Chips

If it's Friday it must be Fish and Chips naturally dear readers of Wear and Dao.  Anyhow, that's as far as Christians are concerned, though we know that doesn't mean every reader of the blog by any means! Frankly I'd guess at less than half that number when we include Buddists, Daoists, Sufis, Muslims, Sikhs and Jews ...

The guests today were Lee, Martin and Paul, though none of them stayed for fish and chips ... we discussed books mostly over tea and biscuits. .... Paul Hope was keen to visit and required a lift from Lee and Martin as he was not permitted to drive since his stroke over six months ago.

After the first batch had departed, Carol the pracitioner of Bom called in with gifts of Buddhist books and a beautiful book of Bom written by Carol and her husband between translating books from English to Russian and vice versa. Linguists please note that Bom has an umlaut over the "o" and Bom the religion predated Buddhism, though Bom folks still quote Tibetan Buddhism notwithstanding a schism in that religion.  It beats me dear readers why religious practitioners seem to love nothing more than to fight over minor differences when every so-called religion professes to point to the numinous yet declines to practice it!

Anyway it was late before Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas appeared on the plates of the kind, caring nurse, carer and chef de cuisine and the blogger, but the wait was surely worth it since the dish was sublime and went down a treat, not to mention the sweetmeat supplied by Carol the Buddhist/ Bom adherent, who didn't partake of Fish, Chips and traditional Mushy Peas. Carol by the way lives local to Stanhope and is a dear friend of ours and certainly practises what she preaches! She eloquently described to the old blogger the wonderful fauna observed on her recent walks along the roads much travelled by yours truly.

And so Fishy Friday morphs imperceptibly into Saturday Serenity or whatever the alliteration requires! If you're enjoying reading this stuff why not comment on it, after all dear readers it's a lonely road when travelled without company ...

Thursday Thirsting

Yet another dry, sunny day in Stanhope in Weardale, where it's a joy to wake up at any time dear readers of Wear and Dao,  none less than today, Thursday, 21.04. 2022, thirsting for knowledge of the numinous Nature of Reality, a mystery indeed! Reading Kate Atkinson's book "Life After Life" surely examines Life and its myriad meanings, a mystery examined many times in Wear and Dao ... Bringing us yet again the question of Eternity and what is meant by it, and anyway why question anything at all when Philosophy clearly points to the numinous?

Today Marta came to lunch from Corbridge in Northumberland  with her two boys and later Gillian the Angel of Stanhope in Weardale County Durham, arrived for philosophical discourse. This all taking place , coincidentally, in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, wittily renamed ANOBS, a step away from National Park status, resisted by County Councils who see their power undermined! What is it with these bloody Authorities that they feel the need to control everything? Some may say it's the Freemasons, others just Fear of losing the control they yearn for , and psychology addresses that existential fear in deep philosopy. How on earth can we unearth the fear felt by the needy without Jung and others?

Krishnamurti addressed these questions of course  in his insightful books, and coincidentally Marta is a new student of Jiddu Krishnamurti and has been busy collecting his books, since she has been thirsting for knowledge most of her adult life. Come to that dear readers of Wear and Dao, who hasn't? Gillian who arrived soon after Marta departed certainly is keen to increase her knowledge and continued the philosophical  discussion.

So, as you see dear readers of Wear and Dao, there's rarely a dull moment here as visitors call for the delicious food served up and the wisdom shared with those choosing to call over to share philosophical teachings including Krishnamurti. Gillian by the way dear readers was supposed to leave with volume 1 of the 13 Bucket Books however was distracted by the nurse with a present for her husband,  Simnel Cake!

Wednesday Whippersnappers

Wednesday 20.04.22 dawns fine yet again dear readers of Wear and Dao; a gorgeous sunny day in Spring as the Easter school holidays are in their last week before school recommences and the kind caring nurse's Daughter comes for lunch with her two sons, who are a bundle of fun if somewhat exhausting for old folks!

Lunch is meat pie and jacket potatoes for the carnivores and veggie pies plus jacket potatoes for the vegetarians. Dessert is ice cream jelly and cake after which the five of us take a stroll in the Sun, which warms the skin and offers fresh air and exercise for us, albeit with the old blogger perched precariously in the wheelchair and the younger members vying for the honour of attempting to tip him out, much to the amusement of the cheerful strollers along the riverside walk ...

The family return home early enough to give the knackered old blogger a chance to recover well before the light supper of pea soup and ice cream. So, all in all, quite a day was enjoyed by all, which is always a pleasure. After blog writing and pondering upon the Meaning of Life and the Nature of Reality today's post comes together nicely, if a little repetitively. Clearly the Meaning of Life is to amuse and educate our young folks in the ways to Enlightenment via Philosophy and to learn from other maybe wiser heads how to reach Nirvana, which would be quite a feat, would it not dear readers of Wear and Dao, and maybe walk El Camino de Santiago for themselves one day!

Tomorrow Marta is to visit for lunch with her small sons, plus maybe Gillian the Angel of Stanhope for a post-Lent afternoon tea. How time flies, as money hopefully flows in from the potential sale of the Retreat House and out through rental of the desired bungalow. Never a dull moment in Weardale as UK Column News plays to try to scare us into the Resistance, but scare tactics never work in the longer term i.e. eternity!

Tuesday Truth Seeking

Another fine day dawns in Stanhope in Weardale, adopted home for your old blogger dear readers for many years now, and a wonderful place to live and die in.

What is meant by Tuesday Truth Seeking anyway? Surely that's the aim every day. Well it certainly is for Wear and Dao anyhow! Life's too short to do anything else, except read enlightening books, write enlightening blogs, think enlightening thoughts and so on ...

Today has been changeable weather wise, but we went out anyway, well wrapped up against the elements, in order to do some shopping for the food stuff we required to make the delicious and nutritious meals we so desire. Guests are expected every day this week and they're used to a high standard of delicious and nutritious lunches and teas. After the shopping trip we visited anold friend who's moving house and helped her with her packing, not an easy task at all since she has far more stuff than can fit into the new abode.

Meanwhile, back to the menus for the recipes for today, Tuesday April 19.2022. Tortilla or Spanish Omlette was main course, followed by blackberry and apple crumble with ice cream. Before all that baclava for elevenses plus a delicious chocolate cake rather undermined the pretentious attempt to eat healthily.

Tomorrow the daughter of the kind caring nurse friend is coming for lunch with her young sons, both delightful and energetic boys. So, a busy day has passed and an early night is required ... Good night dear readers ... See you in the morning ...

Monday Musing

Bank Holiday Monday in Stanhope means the Easter holidays are extended for some. Most schools extend to the end of week, which is nice for the teachers and not always convenient for working parents.

Meanwhile on the alliterative front, the blog requires writing in order to amuse you dear readers ... or maybe confuse you, because you never know how to write these blogs to point readers to philosophy, defined in Ancient Greece as love of wisdom or love of knowledge,  two very different things. Why bother you may ask, to spend time blog writing when there's plenty to do apart from seeking the Nature of Reality and the Meaning of Life?!

Good question dear readers, what's the point of anything?  Plenty of folks just enjoy their lives without seeking to know the Nature of Reality or the Meaning of Life. As for this philosophical old blogger, he finds meaning through finding a higher purpose, bringing us to today's guests at the house of the kind caring nurse friend with downstairs bathroom and toilet , where the daughters arrive, bringing gifts of baclava and free range eggs. Not to mention Love, of course, you can't put a price on that!

Anyway, what else can we do but muse on the Meaning of Life?  It passes the time beween living and dying after all. The dear daughters certainly amuse and sometimes bemuse their old Dad! And are unfailingly kind to each other and Father, so who on Earth could ask for more than that?!

After the daughters a potential buyer arrived to discuss the purchase of the Retreat House which she wishes to purchase and we wish her to purchase it too. Much musing continues around the content of the Last Will and Testament, the old blogger having foresworn the accumulation of possessions.

Tomorrow  we have nothing much booked in at all, meaning time to muse upon the Meaning of Life yet again, read books like the Bucket saga, Alan Watts and others, reflect on the length time left in this human form, and so on ...

Sunday Sabbath

Easter Sunday in Stanhope, the 71st Sabbath of your blogger's life so far dear readers,  and maybe the last, who knows? Clearly the inevitability of bodily death is known, but not the time of it. As for passing peacefully, who knows? Can we choose it? Well yes indeed we can, it's called euthanasia  ... quite frankly dear readers I'd consider it, despite the prohibition by several religions. Linguistically speaking of course Sabbath is Spanish or Sabado, whilst Sunday is Domingo.

Anyway dear Diana was invited for afternoon tea at 3pm, maybe for hot cross buns or toasted teacakes ... we'd already decided to have brunch by the way ... our philosopher friend Bill decided to join us unexpectedly making four for afternoon tea, and simnel cake appeared, baked by the kind caring nurse carer, plus yummy chocolates posing a dilemma for your old blogger. As if that wasn't sufficient drama Bill's unexpected dilemma was due to solar flares disturbing the equilibrium of many sensitive souls.

Now, Diana and Bill had never met before so naturally Philosophical issues were discussed,Diana being Roman Catholic and Bill a philosopher without any religion but an understanding of the numinous and deep faith in the after life. But what on Earth does it mean? Well, the meaningless nature of organised religions springs to mind ...

Well, that's Easter Sunday done and dusted dear readers, so what treats will Easter Monday bring us? Two daughters obviously and maybe more surprise guests for lunch to discuss the Last Will and Testament and more philosopy naturally!

Family Easter Lunch 2022

After yesterday's Good Friday lunch with Alan, the mother and daughter of the caring nurse carer arrived for a family lunch with a delicious nutritious repast of jacket potato, prawns, marie rose sauce and salad. The mother is 90 next birthday and still fit enough, whilst the sister, who drove them over from Jarrow is semi-retired, a nurse like her sister who also hailed from Jarrow, where the protest march started on its way to Parliament during the General Strike in 1926.

It was fascinating indeed for your old blogger, dear readers, to hear from the caring nurse carer and her mother and sister about their childhood growing up in Jarrow, an industrial town where the Great Depression hit hard. Compare this to to life in Southampton where the blogger's father lived. Dad lined up outside of the Docks hoping for a days work and felt humiliated,  and he vowed to create his own work as soon as he possibly could.

Anyway, back in Jarrow the caring nurse carer's father, who was a Roman Catholic married a woman who belongs to the Church of England and brought up their children to attend a Catholic Church ,whilst the blogger's parents then living in Verwood, Dorset were non-conformist,  Mum Methodist and Dad Congregational, though neither attended either Church, nor were atheist. The children were not expected to attend Church on Sundays or any day, except weddings and funerals, whilst back in Jarrow the children were expected to attend Mass at the risk of being ostracised by the Priest and forced to confess their sins at Confession. Confused , well thats religion for you ! Back in Verwood we preferred to play football on Sundays.

None of these reminiscences take us closer to our Maker and frankly dear readers that's one of big questions we need to ask, especially at Easter. What on Earth is the point of spending a lifetime toiling if not to find a reward at the end? Here we go again, heaven or hell,  God or the Devil ... what do you choose dear readers, up or down? Miracles is a start, everlasting peace perhaps? Ascension definitely, who wouldn't choose that?

So, that's it for today. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and Mass for practicing Christians and maybe purgatory the rest of us!

Good Friday 2022

Happy Good Friday dear readers! The day when Jesus Christ was crucified,  so probably inappropriate to say "happy", Easter eggs notwithstanding. So, today Alan arrived for lunch of fish pie followed by trifle, a veritable feast cooked up by the caring nurse carer and chef de cuisine.

Before all that dear readers, the door bell rang to announce the arrival of the District Nurse to check the progress of the impatient patient, then a second surprise visitor landed with John arriving from Barnard Castle, where he resides to Stanhope where he works. John's mission was to discuss ways to improve the services in Weardale. The caring carer nurse plus your ancient blogger offered advice and suggested John stay for lunch to meet Alan, but John regretfully declined, leaving an Easter Egg as a gift and missing the wonderful fish pie and amazing trifle and Alan's delightful company.

After a few hours of philosophy, psychology and punning, Alan departed promising to return another day for more of the same, plus exchanging the book of Harari which he borrowed, having returned several books including The Shoulder on the Hill written by a local author and The Master and His Emissary by psychiatrist Iain McGillchrist, whose subsequent publication was The Matter with Things.

Books, books books, can you ever have enough dear bibliophiles? Well it certainly passes the time when not blogging ... at 71 years old and finally succumbing to serious ill health, it's vital to pass the time productively and what better than seeking meaning in this Life before passing peacefully to the next. Of course a peaceful Life or Death is not guaranteed nor whether we're heading up to Heaven above or down to the fires of Hell. Maybe neither? It's all rather confusing, especially on Good Friday, which was surely not good for Jesus Christ according to the Christian Bible nor Brian whose depiction of an alternative in The Life of Brian upset many upright Christian folks and amused sceptics who comprehended that all these stories are metaphorical.

Organised religion has a lot to answer for over its centuries of domination and hypocrisy after all. These are the questions philosophers pose, not seeking answers but better, deeper questions dear readers of Wear and Dao. And at 71, when the Will is signed and The Last Testament completed what else is left to do but rest in peace and maybe clock up a few more years in the two bedroom bungalow over the road in Stanhope.

Tomorrow the mother and sister of the caring nurse carer arrive for Lunch as the Easter season continues.
Meanwhile an early bedtime and light supper is sufficient, meaning  hot cross buns with lashings of butter and ice cream for dessert.

Maunday Thursday

Well well, dear readers of Wear and Dao, Easter is underway the day before Good Friday when Christ was crucified and fish is required eating, so the kind nurse/carer heads over the fells to Consett to fetch fish for the Good Friday repast when dear Alan arrives for a fish lunch. Of course Friday Fish is not obligatory, except for fully Christian folks and even then who's to dictate the fishy rules and regulations?

Hey ho, here we go again dear readers, falling for the brainwash yet again, instead of pleasing ourselves, accepting and offering Easter Eggs or not. Some say we live in a free world and slavery was prohibited ages ago, whereas common sense advises wiser heads that converting capital to the revenue accounting column makes perfect sense!  Never mind, common sense is not as common as you might like to think dear readers and some use common feast days as an excuse to share abundance with those they love.

Dear Gillian arrived for afternoon tea to discuss philosophy and Will writing  since it's long past time to settle the Last Testament of your doddery old blogger. Before the discussions on Will writing commenced, scones were eaten warm with butter, which was heavenly indeed, lunch having already been consumed with spinach, veggie sausages and a nice sauce, which was utterly delicious and nutritious as always. It would appear , dear readers , that your doddery old blogger , having nothing to do but think , concentrates on his stomach ? Mmmmm Easter ? Chocolate comes to mind !!! .

But first dear readers, supper was eaten comprising veggie mince, cabbage, sweet corn, mushrooms in small quantity but marvellous quality. Dessert was soya ice cream leaving a fresh taste in the mouth .... a healthy diet I'd say.

Anyway, none of this culinary chit chat takes us close to the Meaning of Life, the point of living a good life after all. Lying in bed listening to Bach's Messiah gets us close, but is it close enough dear readers?  If you've any idea of Life and the Meaning of it, please do share; Maunday Thursday is frankly confusing  to lay readers, dear blog readers of Wear and Dao. Still, Gillian the Angel of Stanhope explains it all philosophically not to mention Will writing, Last Testaments and so on. Bedtime now, it's late as this is composed for your pleasure, to educate, elucidate and who knows what reason. Good Friday's tomorrow and Alan is due to arrive for lunch and to discuss the Meaning of Life ... it's a busy life dear readers, blogging, reading and considering the issues of Easter and the metaphorical mystery of miracles and the wonderful world in which we chose to live this time round.

Good night dear readers and with luck we'll all sleep deeply and awake refreshed  ...

Lung Function Testing 3.04.2020

This morning just before Easter, a lung function test is offered by the NHS at Bishop Auckland Hospital, and involves stressing the lungs to bursting point to see how they cope. This gives us a good idea of the scale of the problem and the treatment required to relieve the problem. After the hospital, we departed for lunch with the daughter and grandchildren of the caring nurse carer who wheeled your wheezey blogger to the hospital appointment.

After a hearty lunch of soup, quiche and salad we drove back home to recuperate from the very busy morning, enabling your blogger to start this post, read the Bucket saga etc after the obligatory nap or siesta.

Still, dear reader, that's mere details. After all the main thing now is not fearing dying, nor the manner of passing, but maybe improving the time left before kicking the Bucket. A Last Will and Testament is needed, naturally, since it's vital to establish the last wishes of the deceased and who's to inherit. Clearly the two daughters inherit, and the share is 50:50 as always. Other beneficiaries need naming and all this needs signing and witnessing.

This dying business seems terribly troublesome for all concerned but that's living and dying for you. Never mind, a decent funeral gives family and friends a chance to gather together to rejoice in a Life well led and a Death accepted as inevitable. A belief in ongoing consciousness aids the whole process, of course.

Beyond all that dear readers, frankly the preferred funeral is to be buried on the fells of Weardale in a peat bog!  Instead your blogger gets to choose the funeral venue, songs to be sung, food to be eaten etc. The suggestion is the Methodist Chapel, Bach, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Tina Turner's Beyond and maybe Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from The Life of Brian. As for food, maybe a delicious, nutritious buffet in St Thomas's Church Hall.

In the meantime dear readers, life goes on and 2 bedroom bungalow in Stanhope becomes available,  which may be 5 years of A Place to Be  and the lending library brimming with books on Philosophy and Theology etc. If you happen to be in Stanhope sometime do call over for conversation.

Tuesday 12.04.2020

Another day dawns in Stanhope with nothing much happening except the new normal routine i.e. porage and toast with marmite for breakfast, a healthy lunch comprising chips, butter beans and sardines, or fish and chips basically with pudding or dessert , skipped to leave space in the tummy for afternoon tea. plus light supper before sleep. Today an old friend joined us for afternoon tea to reminisce about the past and the future plans.

She was looking very sprightly since I last saw her. She's put weight on since then and still the compassionate woman I knew from her time at Weardale Community Transport, if slightly plumper. Still teaching the Dances of Universal Peace all over the U.K. and still a gypsy in her soul. What else could you wish for in a dear friend dear friends?

Well, since we mentioned healthy menus for breakfast and lunch we'd best mention afternoon tea with Nic!  Apple pie with ice cream was on the menu, but Nicola declined, so the blogger and nurse/carer  enjoyed afternoon tea rather later. As for supper, obviously the menu was light, comprising of houmous and dips with light dessert being ice cream and mango. A snack between was a little caramac. ..

And so dear readers the wheel of fortune spins round again and again, speeding up as it goes round heading for the end of the body incarnate towards the discarnate fleshless state wittily described as a skin carrying a bag of bones by Alan Watts, the great philosopher and wit whose many books grace the bookcases where your old blogger lives currently.

Tomorrow it's lung function tests at Bishop Auckland Hospital then Easter Week is upon us with Good Friday etc with more tall tales from a life well lived, maybe the last, who knows? The important thing and a lesson from Wear and Dao the blog is to live this Life satifisfied; satifisfied one lived well and died content.

Palm Monday !

Easter week as we know dear readers, extends to a fortnightly celebration with practicing Christian folks. Lent is over and done with, leaving the coast clear for scoffing Easter cake laced with marzipan and Chocolate eggs on sale for ages as relatives spend fortunes on chocolate in fancy packaging, oblivious to the obvious answer which is to wait until after Easter before purchasing their choccy choice!

Clearly Palm Monday is not really a thing, but it could be easily with a little imagination. Anyway there's far to much fuss about Easter, given that Christians are rather out of fashion these days, with folks of many faiths and none getting drawn into wasting money on expensive Easter Eggs through peer pressure ...

Anyway, on with today, Monday before Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Well dear readers, today was free from visitors so the time was spent trying to organise bureaucratic types with forms to fill out in order for your blogger to secure the finance to and influence to obtain the bungalow in Stanhope we desire opposite with two bedrooms, and shared bathroom, kitchen, and drawing room.

In the process of form filling, shocking news arrived from a solicitor to advise that a youngish friend died before Christmas leaving his wife and daughter grieving, reminding your old blogger that we are all sure to die some day and the time of it is unknown. Along with the form filling a Last Will and Testament is required signed by solicitors though the beneficiaries are known more or less. Still, it's worth keeping tabs on the issues before it's too late.

Meanwhile dear readers we crack on praying for miracles, not in order to live forever or choose the time of passing, but to settle affairs so that heiresses  are not left with issues unresolved, or recriminations for things left unsaid. In case you were wondering dear loyal readers of Wear and Dao this blogger is unconcerned about his mortality having led a good life this time around and delighted that his two daughters need have no recriminations and a sense of ongoing consciousness beyond death.

Saturday Synchronicity

Here we are again dear readers of Wear and Dao another weekend of synchronicity or coincidence depending on your point of view. Since it's already late let's make this brief and precis the points alluded to today according to the kind visitors who popped in today.

Lunch was eaten peacefully enough, then the door bell rang and an unexpected visitor, the district nurse no less, revealed her schedule for the day. Her task is to ensure her patients are OK and the patient's carer too. Most of the visit consisted of her typing on her laptop listening to our requests patiently  and making informal comments since she's very gregarious  and her background turned out to be Hebburn near Jarrow where coincidentally the caring nurse in the room once lived and whose aged mother still resides, not to mention her sister and brother. Coincidence or Synchronicity? You decide dear readers!

Next up in the sychronicity stakes, Jules and Peter next door neighbours at the Retreat House rang the bell to announce their arrival to discuss the sale of the Retreat House to release some cash to fund the move to the bungalow over the road from the rented house with the convenience of a bathroom and toilet  downstairs. However, dear readers, our visitors rang before their agreed time enabling the current occupants to manage our schedule better, though whether that counts as synchronicity or serendipity is up to you to decide!

Next through the door was Howard, an early member of A Place to Be, which found it's first base in rented accommodation  down by the river in Stanhope and he came on the scene when running a social enterprise in a walled garden and your old blogger was rather younger earning money in different ways including writing business plans at £1k. Good money for someone rather unsuccessfuly running his own social enterprise.  Never mind, we were commissioned to write it and write it we did, and did our level best to add value. What has all this guff has to do with Saturday Synchronity is unclear but the evening conversation was certainly deep and meaningful since Howard's another philosopher with ideas to share which certainly sounds synchronistic or serendipitous to your old blogger.

That's today done and dusted, tomorrow is the second day this weekend as Palm Sunday announces Jesus Christ being welcomed into Jerusalem by the crowds of Christians laying palms in the road. As for Monday in Holy Week it seems there's no Palm Monday so please consult practicing Christians  and let the heathens know...

Enjoying Easter Eggs !

Happy Easter dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog. Regular readers may recall Easter spent on Camino still in search of the Truth. According to some of you who can be bothered to accept the challenge of seeking the Truth and through whose lens  you choose to peruse the Nature of Reality and other vital questions sought by those who can be bothered to work out things Philosophical and those merely amused to read the story of Wear and Dao on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and beyond to Finisterra ...

Today on Palm Sunday friends gather to enjoy lunch together discussing comparative religion and whether or not any organised system of religion can have merit..Lunch went well with delicious, nutritious home made dishes with goose eggs, garlic, plus the secret ingredient which is love; Bill  the philosopher and Sunday regular came along plus Carol the local adherent of Bom no less, leading to fascinating discourse between the four philosophers i.e. Bill, Carole, our hostess the caring nurse and yours truly!

This afternoon the next door neighbours came to shift more fixtures and fittings including many more books and the bookcases in which to keep them. It's delightful to gaze at the displays wondering how many books there are and written by whom. For example we have Krishnamurti, David Bohhm, Alan Watts, Ramana Maharshi, Thich Nhat Han, Robert Pirsig, James Lovelock, even Boris Johnson's biography of Churchill putting our fascist prime minister centre stage playing his hero's role.If this narcissistic PM is a hero, your sceptical blogger begs to differ dear readers. Adolf maybe, Winnie surely not!

Anyway, politics is merely divide and rule, an old game played by those interested in role play. Shakespeare said "All the world's a stage and he knew a thing or two. Let's muse instead on Ascension, Miracles and the Nature of Reality  shall we?

Tomorrow, Monday, Easter Week continues in Jerusalem and books pile up to be displayed  ... Shakespeare's on the shelf,  William Blake too ... is there time to read them all in the short time left? Who knows dear readers  but let's give a try shall we?

Friday Futures

As time continues to speed up with memories and reminiscences reminding ancient bloggers that life is short, dear readers of Wear and Dao, what on Earth  is to be the legacy of this Life, and who cares anyway! Today was a funny one and remarkably free from appointments! though replete with memories and reminiscences.

Hey ho! 71 and counting the days to spend living and those to spend dying. After all what else is old age for except recalling past triumphs and disasters and treating those imposters as the same, as Rudyard Kipling said regarding the Crimean War. The British Empire lingered over long and still carried on allied to the USA. Basically it's been NATO and the Anglo-American alliance backed militarily by NATO, versus first Russia then the Soviet Union backed militarily by the Warsaw Pact. Other alliances came into play as China upped its game and produced cheap goods to flood the markets leaving China holding the money and  the Western Economic alliance, the Common Market, basically skint and in decay. That's Empires for you, each one rises full of vigour and decays through debauchery. ..

However none of this divide and rule tomfoolery cuts any ice at this time of life when the future requires peace, ascension,  miracles and certainly not more Empires, endless wars or even the eugenics agenda of Klaus Schwab.
Of course past history or a future means nothing if the philosophers are right and all that exists is the eternal present moment.

So what does tomorrow offer us? A meeting about selling the Retreat House soon for one, good healthy food to sustain the body, good stimulating books to read and write and the milk of human kindness, principally provided by the kind caring nurse these days but throughout this life by many friends, family and acquaintances. Bearing in mind of course the foregoing quip about the present moment or the Power of Now according to Eckhart Tolle whose even better follow up was the inspirational A New Earth ...

Thursday Thinking

Thursday today dear readers, a day for thinking, reflecting on Life's mysteries. Indeed it's a wonderful world as time speeds up and Universe conspires with the Planet and all it's fascinating facets, as discussed with the mystical Marta at the lunch she created and the Stollen Cake she provided for dessert. Thursday is really a day for thinking philosophically, as reflected in the title of today's blog.

Dear Marta is so deep, not to mention a talented chef, and the talk swung between creative thinking and cooking and profound reflections on her upbringing in Poland and life now in the North Pennines of England, where she resides now with her English husband and two small sons with Polish names. The caring nurse now looking after your wheezing blogger dear readers arrived in Stanhope from Jarrow and made her living as a nurse at the Community Hospital, whilst your old blogger arrived from the New Forest of England via London, Newcastle and Stanhope.

In the afternoon Gillian arrives bringing cheese scones to share. Lent for her includes the Christian observance of fasting in remembrance of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert before beginning his ministry . Her penitential preparation of eschewing sweet treats  leads up to Easter time when Jesus was crucified. Other religions do penance too, take the Muslims who take no food at all in the daytime but fast, until nightime, which is not great for their digestion. The Jews do their penance by not working on their Sabbath and enlisting neighbours not Orthodox to work for them with essential jobs.

Beyond organised religions lies true salvation as discussed with Marta and Gillian, who love to discuss religious foibles and mostly agree that the route to heaven comes not through such things, but philosophy, miracles and ascension ...

Tomorrow,  Friday sees a day free from any commitments, though time is definitely speeding up and the bungalow desired awaits!

Wednesday Wondering

Another day in Weardale with 9°, light rain with showers and sunny spells; not that the forecast affects your mostly indoors old blogger dear readers. So what does Wednesday 6th April  2022 promise us you may ask? Wednesday Wondering what on Earth is going on and the Nature of Reality  is in the alliterative blog title after all. And what on Earth can we mean by that as the search for the Nature of Reality continues along with Enlightenment and Miracles you may ask.

Wednesday promised hardly anything going on and U.K. Column News was eschewed in favour of the spiritual path. The caring nurse meanwhile set off to the Retreat House to meet the valuer of next door, prime candidates to buy the Retreat House in order for the old blogger and his caring nurse to fund the bungalow opposite the current rented house with bathroom downstairs to avoid the stairs which were making the old blogger wheezey. On top of all that more books were gathered as part of the house clearance ready for the next door neighbours.

Anyway, the price was discovered and the buyers agreed to pay it with details to be discussed Saturday. Books were displayed on bookshelves reminding the old blogger of the number of enlightening titles moving house to the interim bungalow via the house with downstairs bathroom and toilet.

So what's the latest from Ukraine and war with Russia you may well be wondering? And the eugenics plan of Klaus Schwab? Well that's all divide and rule or yinyang whilst Unity Consciousness or non-duality is the goal now. At this time of life when old age arrives along with respiratory problems Ascension,  Compassion and Universal Love plus what's going on in Heaven on Wednesday Wondering day keeps the wondering mind alert and exercised not to mention book 10 of the Buckets Book keeping the old blogger amused as well as the caring nurse, though she's still on book 2 due to her doing all the work!

This afternoon, after a delicious lunch a phone call tells the pair of us that we're top ranked for the bungalow we want in Stanhope. Great news indeed. Tomorrow Marta comes to visit bringing home made salmon with curried rice and herbs and dessert of stollen. She's quite a chef that Marta! After Marta departs to collect her boys from school Gillian the Angel of Stanhope may well call over for philosophy and prayers as all the other visitors like to do.

Well well, dear wondering readers if you have suggestions for future topics of books to buy do get in touch please ...

Tuesday Weather

Tuesday dawns early in April, increasingly so until the Summer Solstice in June when the days shorten even though summer has barely begun!  That's in the nature of things calendrical dear readers, and 71 years plus of calendar watching and season counting means the old bones are creaking and lungs wheezing somewhat, especially when upper respiratory problems invade the sacred object called body incarnate.

Clearly a discarnate body has nothing about it to infect, therefore no wheezing or sneezing only the eternal, ethereal soul to float about either in heaven or hell if you believe all that guff.Yesterday's forecast was for drizzle all day but sunshine prevailed until dusk when a sprinkle of drizzle arrived. That's the good old Beeb for you dear readers, if you can't even trust the weather forecast what's the chance of the News being trustworthy?

Tuesday's visitors arrived bang on time to give the wheezing old blogger the attention he required for healing, not to mention his compassionate carer and nurse as we shared afternoon tea with biscuits, creamy cakes and philosophy, of course, what else?! Well, a miracle might help and we all prayed for that, and the three visitors discussed the books and their genres, authors and so on, while others listened to the spiritual music playing on the stereo.

Before all that Diana rang to announce her exciting news that her daughter, son-in-law,  and two boys are returning from Hong Kong soon with a third child in the womb of her daughter.

Tomorrow looks interesting, with a valuation of the Retreat House at 11.30, when we'll have an idea of the price we might charge to the next door neighbours. That's it for tonight dear readers, see you tomorrow for more Miracles and stories about the nature of reality! 

More Monday Miracles

Monday comes by yet again, this time the first one in April and certainly the first in April 2022. Since this is the case how come the daily miracles don't appear to be working? But that's a sceptical view dear readers, possibly even cynical. If you could only see the transformation wrought in the current abode of your old blogger, you'd surely believe in Miracles. Then there's ever increasing numbers of friends praying and on macro scale UK Column News on livestream with a different view from the mainstream narrative or brainwash as it's better known.

Oh my word dear readers, we appear to have fallen yet again into error or should that be Sin? As Catholics learn Sin may be venal or mortal, but in reality Sin merely infers error or in Latin to miss the mark or bullseye hence "without" e.g. vegetarian =  sin carne and so on. Leading us remorselessly to address vegetarianism since warm blooded sentient beings have been avoided for many years for health reasons, though not vegan nor fully veggie but Pescatarian for health reasons again. Vagu'un perhaps if we must have labels for relaxing our crazy minds!

A serious task as we move house at The Retreat House or A Place to Be to the more suitable house with downstairs bathroom and toilet, an interim stop before the bungalow where we may rest in peace.

Now for the books of which there are many, since The Retreat House kept a Library with serious books which may enlighten and describe the Miracles which we seek daily. Now they are displayed at the new Place to Be where visitors call over to check on the health of yours truly and his nurse friend and carer en route to the bungalow!

Sunday Stories

Once upon a time, dear readers, there lived in Bulgaria three old folks called Wouldov, Shouldov and Couldov. Now these three fine fellows spent their days debating the conditionals of Life, missing the point of living their lives with confidence that action was required at times, not wasting their lives wondering whether they Wouldov, Shouldov or Couldov!

How many lives do we live if eternity is a thing, dear readers? And how can we know whether our current life is good or bad? Who is to define good or bad after all? It's a choice for each of us to decide of course. As this old blogger happily embraces this Life in all its phases: happy childhood, happy adolescence skipping off school to hitch-hike through Franco's Spain, Andorra, Catalunya, Mallorca, Algeciras, Gibraltar, Morocco, then Teacher Training for three years in Chalfont St Giles studying Physical Education and English, adulthood as revolutionary causing mayhem in London as TGWU Rep, moving on to Newcastle as father of two wonderful daughters whose Geordie mother still loves them whilst she and her father i.e. me fell out of love, your old blogger took up the spiritual path returning to Source via Albania and other exotic venues ... this is the edited version of my Life this time around, which you may have noticed dear readers, puts yours truly at the centre. Solipsistic?  You may think so, though I disagree as it happens since my insight is so crazy as to see many worlds each with everyone at the centre of theirs! Does it make this blogger good or bad? Who knows about the value judgements because contentment is my thing and a desire to share contentment with all human beings ...

Now for Sunday Lunch with Yorkshire puddings and the rest, except the flesh of sentient warm blooded beings of course, plus dessert with chocolate and Philosophical discourse. The thing with Sunday lunch of course is the time it takes to prepare compared to the time it takes to eat. Still, if the Sunday lunch event seems worth the effort, what with roast potatoes, parsnips, sweet potatoes  and carrots plus cabbage, not to mention yorkies risen and veggie gravy too, well whether or or not the effort expended was worth the gratitude and praise from the two visitors and the ancient blogger, what with the Philosophical discourse shared by all four of us is really up to the carer of the blogger to say!

Meanwhile Monday approaches, the weekend finished for a while, so what on Earth does Monday to Friday have in store? Hopefully further steps towards Ascension clearly and more Miracles naturally!

Saturday Earwaxing

The weekend comes around  yet again, the first in April this year of 2022; how many weeks and weekends may we have seen at the ripe old age of 71? You may well ask dear readers, anyway three score years and ten is our allotted time, so your 71 year old blogger is already on overtime!

Last night's April Fools sleep was broken by a rather disturbing dream of The Rocky Horrow Show, a 70s stage show and later a film of cross-dressing. The aforementioned earwaxing treatment is basically standard procedure for unblocking the ears from the wax build up without sticking a hair grip in to hook the wax out!

Such is the mundane life of homosapiens dear human blog readers. We pass our lives of 3 score years and ten in  the company of the humans all the while wondering about other worlds and Universal Love and possible Ascension.  Thich Nat Hahn or Thay as he is often referred to, meaning Teacher by the way, has written many books to inspire Buddhists and other Truth seekers to draw folks into Plum Village near Bergerac in South-West France. Your old blogger had the good fortune to spend a week there some years ago, inspired by the message of Thay which is Interbeing, claiming that a group of dedicated nuns and monks might ascend together as a superorganism, which is inspiring to say the least!

After earwaxing friends and neighbours called over to help clear The Retreat House next door. Since they are keen to buy the Retreat House they're busy helping the blogger's carer  clear anything not required, shift stuff which fits in the temporary house with downstairs bathroom and store or remove stuff not required. The current cooker for example is heading back here, plus books from the Library and pictures from the walls. All mundane things the human beings need to do from time to time en route to Enlightenment! I

Moving swiftly from the mundane Saturday to mundane Sunday, tomorrow, we find philosophy with the Sage Bill arriving for lunch to share his wisdom, though to be fair to other human beings it's clear that every Homo Sapien has something to teach us and we have something to learn too! That's how Life School works as often told to you, dear readers of Wear and Dao... in the end there is no end only bliss from Enlightenment discovered in myriad ways, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela being a Way easily attained by spending a month or so walking alone to maybe discover your own Miracle of transcending homo--sapiens and joining Thay and the others.