Saturday, May 17, 2014

Try, Try Again.

I went out to try a kite this morning and it almost got up several times, but with a wild twist each time it came down almost tangling me in the string and tails. The gusty wind just toys with it and then gives up. I'll try again, and one day it'll really stretch up for heaven. I'll have to be careful if it does because it will get beyond my control when it gets very high. I don't want to lose it over the building.

I guess I'm lucky there is an empty lot next door that I can get a little action with. I hear that "the home" has tried to buy the property, but without success. Maybe next year.

New Computer

I'm going to buy a new computer today. Mine is in trouble, and the folks that know about these things assure me that I can't put Windows 8 on it because it's not big enough or it doesn't have enough bytes--kilo, or mega, or some kind, I'm not sure which. Anyway this one is old and has errors and I hope I'm doing the right thing. I don't really want to understand it, I just want it to work.

If I can get a computer that does what I tell it to, I'll be able to make out here at "the home." That sounds like a pretty sterile environment--interacting with a computer for fun. It seems like the thing that would fill your life ought to be something live--friends, companions, at least a pet. I like some of the people I know, but they don't do the things I like. I do have a few that will read the Bible with me, and there are a few that, sometimes, will read poetry with me. But to really get involved the computer is better than the people. That is really sad, I think. Maybe I'm expecting too much. 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Choosing Activities in "The Home"

Sometimes it's hard to get your motor started and get yourself in gear. I'm at that place now. I have things I want to do, but doing them requires the time and space to focus and explore. I have a friend who wants to help me, but she wants to help me learn to paint. She is an artist and she shares that talent with others here. They are experiencing the joys of watercolor. 

I just want to experience being with the friends. I enjoy the charcoal drawing more than the watercolor. Of course the watercolor is prettier and more colorful, but I'm not talented in that way, and I know it. 

Whatever talent I have is with words, not color. I write a little poetry and a lot of essays, and occasionally some history or fiction, but I'll never be an artist. I will love my artist friends. I hope that's enough.

It seems to me that concern over depression and loneliness in old people may be more apparent to others, and less a problem for the old people than researchers and observers want to believe. I'm convinced that frantic activity and decorations don't substitute for meaningful effort and work. These people have lived a long time and had many successes and great energy to get to where they are now. Trivial crafts and foolishness doesn't replace that in the day to day living. Visit a relative in a retirement home or assisted living apartment and see what I mean.