Oriental

    I want to tell you a story......
    We moved to Cleveleys in 2006, having left a very large cliff top house in the north of Scotland. This house had a ghost ( of course, don't they all ? ). but that's another story for another day....
     Well this new house required some TLC, so we set about doing DIY. When it came to the lounge we found two large ceramic figurines of Geishas taking tea. These looked very fragile so we moved them to a safe place: returning them to the fireside surround when the decorating was done. I was very aware that their very long, delicate fingers might get caught as I passed the fireplace and therefore placed the figures squarely into the wall. Next day my husband asked me if I'd moved the figure on the left, to which I replied "No". She was at an oblique angle facing out. Anyway we put it down to the cat..or the wind ? She was duly put back into the wall out of harms way. On return from shopping she was again facing out...and it hadn't been the cat, as she was out ! We tried three or four times to keep the figurine in a safe position, but each time this one geisha was moved. We discussed the matter with a friend ( who was a medium ) and he suggested that we just keep it at the angle it preferred. So it is that the two figures sit angle- on, either side of the shelf. Never having been accidentally touched. I later found a scribbled message on the base of the 'tea table' that sits between them. It read ," To Ken with all my love ".  Ken was the deceased occupant of the house.
      Anyway I'll cheer you up now with a poem I wrote in July 1968.

                                                Azalea Walk

I'll walk by your side beneath the overhanging blossom
and watch the sun filter flutteringly through the ever changing moods of the day.
Kaleidoscopic colours of petals drift across our faces and our minds.
A small bird rises from the dark and distant undergrowth
and whistles a tune to the air.
We smile, and the trees open up their leaves to let us enter -
Before us spreads a world where time has no meaning and we need no understanding :
a world where contentment rules and everything smiles.
Come ! Take a walk with me beneath the overhanging blossom.


   I wrote this after receiving a postcard entitled " Azalea Walk "...from somewhere in Surrey.
  Azaleas, of course, originated in SE Asia and Japan...hence the connection to today's topic.

Thank You for reading....and a Guid New Year to ane and a'.......Kath Curtiss