While making the shot I wondered about the apple – to me, a food as well as a concept or an idea that resonates in so many ways of ‘home’. I could call up many memories in which apples had a role. Ubiquitous, but anything but common. Humble yet noble, the everyman (or woman) fruit.

If I was travelling to a far-off place what would I take? I decided that like the Victorians, yes, I think I probably would take an apple tree or two with me – for the fruit, the wood, for the love, for home, and for my new home. Across the globe, across the years.

Manifesto
04. Every day is an opportunity to cultivate the promise of the future.
14. Every day the ordinary can be the extraordinary.
30. Every day use all your senses. Touch. Smell. Taste. Hear. See.

It seemed a little strange that the case was left on the pavement almost seeming deliberate in its positioning. Yesterday it was exactly that. A young lady ignored the ‘don’t feed the birds signs’ and carefully left the bottom half of her muffin, still in the case, on the ground for the birds.

Today, a concise story of the earth and its place in the universe was laid out before me.

First there was the brick pavement. It was good.

Then I notice the muffin remains in a round case – a planet of potential in the void of the pavement.

First a sign of life. A sparrow flies past. Inspecting. Approving. Landing. Eating. Communicating.

Another sparrow. More…

Eating. Gorging. Chattering. Fighting. Exploiting the limited resources. Fighting harder for the remaining crumbs.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a gawky tall man, with long hair and a straggly gray beard. Old clothing, sandals and socks. He walked towards the birds, oblivious.

At the last moment the birds took flight to safety.

The muffin case was not so lucky. The man’s foot crushed the case. The remains stuck to the underside of his right sandal and he kept walking. In a blink of an eye there was not so much as a crumb left.

The void of the pavement was complete.

Manifesto
08. Every day choose to bring about change.
28. Every day you will be tested.
8. Every day there are things you can’t change. You can change the way you think about them and deal with them.

Mis-communication is so easy when you’re in an unfamiliar environment. Different accents, different use of language, different ways of doing things – they all contribute to a sense of not being sure about what you are hearing or seeing.

I thought it was simple. We wanted two jasmine teas and one green tea with our lunch that we were ordering.

“Tea bags or flowers?” asked the man behind the counter.

What I expected, and what I thought I had asked for, was not what we were served.

I had thought flowers meant leaves because this is what I was familiar with.

Imagine my surprise when I saw what was in our mug – a dried flower. Slowly the flower unfolded as it became more hydrated.

We all drank our teas with a smile on our face. They were the perfect compliment to our Vietnamese meal.

Can you guess which mug was the green tea and which one was the jasmine tea?

Manifesto
09. Every day learn something new.
14. Every day the ordinary can be the extraordinary.
17. Every day look through a new lens.

Our friends Gabi and James got married today. Gabi made a big contribution when we got married, and it felt very good to be able to make a contribution to their first steps as a married couple. We both had very small weddings, mostly family and a very few close friends. And we both had excellent catering. Right. That’s the priorities sorted out then.

We had a great time with the combined families – it was such a privilege to be invited (and involved).

I’ve never quite figured out whether Gabi and James are friends or family. I think it’s very, very rare that your true family are the people in your birth family. It’s generally less complicated if you build your own family from selections from the rest of humanity.

Best wishes for a lifetime of love.

Manifesto
02. Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.
10. Every day connect with somebody.
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.

I prefer to regard a dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy and extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavor that lasts. — Graham Kerr

I think if I was stuck on a dessert island I’d want apples. That’s a dessert island, not a desert island. There I think I’d want drinks with little umbrollies and bendy straws. Apples. I like fruit of all kinds, but I am particularly fond of apples. Well, them, and lemonade lemons. Apples make better desserts though. A great apple and a slab of cheese. Apples with cranberries. Apple snow. Apple crumble. Apple tarts. Apple cake. Apple flan.

I just realised I haven’t seen toffee apples since I was old enough to want one. And that’s a crazy long time ago. Shortly after Adam and Eve in fact. I can remember apples that had a kind of glassy texture – the sugar forming under the skin. Apples that were pink inside when you bit into them. Sun warmed, tree ripened. How simple, how beautiful.

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
14. Every day the ordinary can be the extraordinary.
22. Every day refine, clarify and simplify.

They always cheer me up.

Manifesto
15. Every day make a difference to yourself and others.
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.
32. Every day have a laugh.

It took a birds a few days to discover the food, and then suddenly we were on the A-list for food supplies. I’m such a sucker for helping out the birds, and I feel so happy when an occasional stranger drops by – in this case a hen Chaffinch. They’re not exactly hugely common here but they’re not exactly every day either. I really like the sultry pink of the male – very oo-la-la – but we didn’t see the male.

We were standing in kitchen admiring the flocks of little birds and basking in the love when to our complete horror a rat bounded along and straight up the shrub. Without the faintest hesitation the rat started scoffing the bird mix, looking around for a moment and then back into it. The atmosphere in the kitchen ranged between shocked horror – (yeek a rat!), fear – (mercy for the little birds – our new friends), outrage – (you greedy barbarian), relief – (thank God it’s outside), suspicion – (can it get inside?), guilt – (did our putting out the food attract this abomination?), accusation – (that rat is definitely from the neighbour’s place – couldn’t *snif* have come from our place), and the killing rage – (I keel you and your family’s family!!). Luckily by the time I’d got a hammer and returned to the scene of the robbery the rat had eaten its fill and had departed.

We all calmed down, and the birds returned.

Update: I put out a few nice blue/green coloured snacks for Mr Rat in an old drain pipe. A few days later the snack had entirely gone, and I do hope Mr Rat is seeking more convivial feeding options elsewhere.

Manifesto
23. Every day retain your personal power. It belongs to you. No one else.
26. Every day take action. Every small step counts.
32. Every day have a laugh.

I am the proprietor of the Penguin Cafe, I will tell you things at random… — Simon Jeffes

I love that song! I love that Cafe! And there, hiding in the corner of Higher Taste, the Hare Krishna vegetarian restaurant we have lunch in fairly frequently, I found a harmonium – or something similar – equally harmonious.
Isn’t that so often the way? We try something scary and new, and after some misgivings we find ourselves strangely comforted by what has become commonplace. Often our comfort zone isn’t all that comfortable in the first place – it fits too comfortably – squeezes up on our shoulders and itches on our necks. Did you put on weight? No, I don’t think so, but you have expanded beyond the fit of your reality.

I resisted the temptation to take the harmonium down to give it a whirl. I can’t play any musical instruments at all and the results of all the mistakes would be disturbing. At first. Gradually though, if I continued to play, a couple of things might happen. I could get better and music would result. My audience could go deaf, or simply adjust their aesthetic to like my playing. Or just maybe, after a few years mutual practice, we could all come together – my sounds becoming music, and my audience comes to like it. Creative harmony, at last. And we would’ve forgotten all the mistakes.

I get better results when I pay less attention to the mistakes, and more attention to the getting it right.

Manifesto
13. Every day be better than you were the day before.
24. Every day is a journey. Not a destination.
26. Every day take action. Every small step counts.

I’m always fascinated at the supermarket – every time we go there’s a new range of goods – often variations of what we already have – seven or eight varieties of canned beetroot. 101 varieties of salad dressing. 202 varieties of breakfast cereals, as used by every cartoon character ever known, including every sports person in the history of humanity. Macro-biotic organic home-made gluten free carbon friendly not tested on animals condoms. Now with lime. Not licorice.

It’s been my experience that people are generally pretty conservative about what new tastes they are prepared to try. They go to restaurants and order the same as what they’d have at home. I’m the same too, I guess – new flavours take some time to be bedded down into our taste bud’s repertoire. The comfort zone.

By the way, speaking of comfort zones, should you need the recipe for licorice bagels, it is the same recipe as used for ‘Burn the House Down’, ‘Another Crisis Averted’, and the ever popular, ‘Lucky Escape’.

Manifesto
02. Every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.
09. Every day learn something new.
21. Every day seek the support of others. You are not alone.

With what kind of voice
        would the spider cry
in the autumn wind? — Basho

For the moment, not even a breeze – while we’re waiting for the storm due in the next few days. I rush out for a quick sandwich and cast about for the photo – actually it’s the sight, the eye full, the glimpse, the snap of the moment – that’s how to capture the moment of the photo of the day. I made a similar photo back in October, and wrote about the beautiful toffee and butterscotch colours. And then there are the horizontal, arched, and triangular pediments on the old AMP building behind – lovely, but I can’t work out why – perhaps the architect was indecisive.

Today is budget day – ironic how everything seems to be paused – holding our breath – waiting. More tax or less? Will we be richer, or poorer? Me? I’ll be richer for the view and for the photo, and we’ll all just have to wait for the storm that follows.

Manifesto
30. Every day use all your senses. Touch. Smell. Taste. Hear. See.
44. Every day remember how far you have come.
47. Every day you are responsible.