Miscellany of thoughts

Yesterday I got as far as musing over what I would write about in my blog. I got distracted by having to prepare dinner, make a phone call & do the ironing so by the time I was free to do my own thing it was too late to actually get on line.

One of my ideas was to comment on our magnolia tree. This tree was newly planted when we had the garden redesigned a couple of years ago. It is only young & has not really flowered so far. As a result I’m looking forward to seeing it in its full magnificence.

Last year, the tree budded up for the first time. We went off to the Netherlands on holiday, by which time the flowers were all but gone. This year my hopes were up. A magnificent fat bud appeared. It opened up. Within a couple of days the winds had blown it apart. How disappointing! It was the sole the flower. The rest are leaf buds. I can only hope as the tree grows older, & stronger, more flowers will appear in the coming years.

My other potential topic was the question of evil. The novel I’ve just finished reading, “The Hunter of the Dark” by Donato Carrisi, suggested that evil has to exist in order for mankind to appreciate, & turn towards, the good & godly. Without Judas to betray him would Christ have had the same significance? It’s his death on the cross for man’s sins & subsequent resurrection that is important. The question then arises should the Church enable a certain amount of evil, in order for the majority to turn to God? It’s quite a thought.

It is all part of yin & yang. To appreciate beauty you need the ugly as a contrast (though often I will admit beauty is in the eye of the beholder & sometimes, look a bit longer & you discover beauty within superficial ugliness).

Today I will add a more prosaic thought. The Fox got to the doctor yesterday. Our regular GP suspects that all the Fox’s symptoms are stress related as a consequence of my cancer & its treatment. However, he is going to arrange some more blood tests & a scan to check there isn’t something amiss with either his kidneys or his prostrate. He did emphasise that he thought any such problems were an outside chance. We’ll see. So now we await a hospital appointment for the Fox, just for a change. Just hope it doesn’t come at the same time as my next appointments.