Simply..hard to know....

5/4/2022

..what to write about lately. I know from the numbers that you are all still there, but you have gone very quiet. Undrstndably. You perhaps don't knw what to say either as the shock of this horrific war can make all else seem inconsequential.

As Susan in Dorset so encouragingly pointed out in yesterday's comments:

Negative intentions and actions spread out in waves, as we are seeing, but so do positive intentions and actions.

I am thinking a lot about what I can do, who do I listen to, how much do I watch and about horticultural quietism (!).

The Estonian singer Mari Kalkun says 'We are all activists and must stand up for peace'. I would add for all the things that are the antithesis of war. You can hear her about 3 minutes into the programme.

More soon.

My brain as well as my herat is hurting.

Yours too?

19 Comments

Susan in Dorset

5/4/2022 11:47:07 pm

I'm heartbroken and very angry, and trying to stay on the side of solutions and not veer into retribution.

Some possible actions are:
1. Moving all funds from banks & companies that invest in weapons (most high street banks) to ones that don't e.g. smile bank/Co-op or Triodos bank or building society. Move any shares to ethical companies.
2. Emailing Russian institutions with factual information & calls for their solidarity. (I'll start with ballet companies).
3. I email the Kremlin every few days! (I'm sure a 'bot' deletes my emails on their arrival, but maybe someone gets to read them.)
4. Donate, if we can. Host, if we can. (Dr Roman Cleg's team at UCL take medical supplies right into Ukraine.)
5. Contact our MPs and insist that the government ceases to buy Russian fuel.
6. I'm aspiring to be kind and more generous-hearted to everyone, including people who's attitude and behaviour I don't like.
7. Live a simple, good, peaceful life: plant primulas and arrange them beautifully in a jar.
8. Pray, meditate, contemplate: seek a sense of stillness, from which ideas for effective action can arise. The balm of your blog, is one place of such stillness, Freda.

Freda

6/4/2022 02:27:50 pm

That is a brilliant list Susan. It is so important to do SOMETHING. Thank you for sharing it here.

Clare Rose

9/4/2022 03:01:55 am

I think that this will be a long effort and everyone involved will need supporting through it. That might include opening a garden and offering tea and cake for refugee hosts and their guests later in the year. There may be a local group to support refugees that you could join and they would have more ideas. 😉

Gail

6/4/2022 03:24:16 am

I like Susan’s ideas to actively do something. I’m already doing 6,7,8 (except lilacs for primulas).
Additionally, I regularly write the President if USA requesting common sense in our fossil fuel production. We have enough for us and extra to help our European friends .

Freda

6/4/2022 02:29:33 pm

We may very soon need that help! Thank you for your effort.

Mary R.

6/4/2022 07:07:26 am

Good Morning, Freda! I have so enjoyed so very much your posts and pictures lately but realize I have also been quiet. I have been an Ostrich with my head in the sand regarding world events and hoping that my simple and peaceful feelings will ripple out to help this chaotic planet. Doesn’t seem to be any thing else I can do but have compassion for the bits and pieces I hear. Please do know that we are here and very grateful for your website.

Freda

6/4/2022 02:32:25 pm

It’s very hard. Creating a own little patch of peace and harmony ads to the amount of peace and harmony in the world. That’s a fact not to be ignored I believe. Even doing that can be difficult enough!

Gwendoline

6/4/2022 12:22:31 pm

I’m sorry I’ve been quiet. It really does seem, sometimes, that words are not equal to the occasion and I forget that one of the most crucial things to do in the teeth of evil is simply to keep the flame of good connections burning. Possibly not the best metaphor but I hope it makes enough sense. I’m just trying to make enough sense. Hugs to all who pass here and would like one.

Freda

6/4/2022 02:35:58 pm

I will have one for a start. Thank you! I think it is a great metaphor. Good connections could be said to mean everything, both in intimate relations and in world affairs. It’s impossible to make sense of this situation, but we can try to make sense of our situation.

Rosemary

6/4/2022 01:16:03 pm

I always read your blog, but don't always have the right words to respond. Thank you, Susan for your 8 points. I need to think about all of them, and will. Don't need to think about the last sentence because I know that very well.

Freda

6/4/2022 02:38:59 pm

I am also inspired by Susans suggestions. I plan to keep the blog is a peaceful place, but I just had to acknowledge the horrible situation and the suffering. It’s anything but simple.

Freda

6/4/2022 02:39:52 pm

Thank you all for your intelligent and compassionate comments. It is such a difficult time.

Gillie

6/4/2022 10:47:17 pm

I always read but rarely comment. I’m in my final months of working and find your blog inspirational for the type of retirement that I desire. It’s all feeling very discombobulating at the moment though!

Freda

7/4/2022 02:29:46 am

Isn’t that a fantastic word? I hope you are not too discombobulated for too long, and that you can enjoy the planning as much as I hope you enjoy your retirement. Thanks for reading and for commenting Gillie!

Gillie

7/4/2022 11:35:16 am

I love this blog. Thanks Freda

Grace

7/4/2022 09:34:47 am

I am a little late in joining this conversation. We must all take action in whatever way we can, be it through fundraising, donations, hosting, volunteering, writing to the powers that be … (to reiterate much of what has already been said). No act of solidarity is too small. I was very moved listening to Mari Kulman singing and speaking – thank you for sharing that Freda. In an attempt to find a calm space in the midst of the ongoing tragedy, I took out an anthology of Wendell Berry’s poems and came across one entitled To a Siberian Woodsman (after looking at some pictures in a magazine). Poignant and somehow very apt …

Freda

7/4/2022 02:34:44 pm

That poem is very apt and very moving. Thank you for introducing me to it Grace.

Grace

7/4/2022 09:36:38 am

Sorry, it's Mari Kalkun!

Elizabeth

12/4/2022 02:55:42 pm

Dear Freda, I feel very weighed down with it all but spirits lifted tonight.Not only did my son come for supper but two old frends from my Thirsk days turned up on the doorstep as we were finishing and came in for a cuppa..Such a relief when people are as lovelyasyou remembered them and a conversation continues as if there were not three years in between. Feel so much more relaxed for their company. so counting my blessings.in this brief turning away from the gloom. Must avert my eyes more often.

Simply..hard to know....

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