My mother was very small in stature but she had a saying, ‘Big is good but small is better.’ When we plant a tiny seed we are in wonder what it produces. The Bonsai tree is a usual size sapling but it is manipulated so that it only grows as a miniature tree. By contrast the Californian sequoia tree grows large and the General Sherman in Sequoia National Park stands 275 feet and the trunk measures 100 feet round. If felled it would provide enough lumber to build over 30 5-roomed houses. The sequoia begins life as a small seed no bigger than the bonsai seed.
We English people are obsessed by the weather and we would like the seasons to live up to their names. It is not something new for us to have 4 seasons in one day. A few years ago my better half and I went shopping at a certain supermarket. The sun was shining and it was really warm but when we came out the car park was flooded, so we had to paddle ankle deep in water to the car. We had left the sun roof partially open so the inside of the car was covered in water. We found a couple of carrier bags to sit on and we did see the funny side. What you call ‘changeable weather.’
I love football but as the teams were being shown before matches in the Euros, it got me thinking – a face is made up of two eyes, a nose and a mouth, but no two faces are the same except perhaps for identical twins. It is amazing how we recognise people even as we grow old which brings wrinkles, worn out skin and dulling eyes. What a mystery!
Wrinkles are sometimes referred to as nature’s tracery but Charles Dickens said that every wrinkle is “But a notch in the quiet calendar of a well spent life.”
Marie Cove