When I was a child it was not uncommon to remark upon the sudden appearance of large earthworms after a heavy rainfall.  The worms seemingly sought to escape the underground deluge of water. The metaphor: a change of circumstance provokes a change of behaviour; the flooding of one is the reveal of another; the aeration and draining process is universal; when one goes down the other comes up, and so on.

This morning it is raining heavily – for the first time in a long time. As much as the ground will no doubt benefit from the moisture, I find myself also to have reacted to the precipitous change. Like worms, idea and reflections, images and sensations have this morning bubbled to the surface of my thoughts. Naturally old age such as mine is a customary additive to the pensive spirit. I have the time and the curiosity. And it pleases me too that I do because it is an additional marker that nothing preoccupies me but leisure, that whatever urgencies, necessities, considerations or mandates of whatever prescription have been attended and resolved. For the moment therefore I am content to observe the rustic burnished view from the drawing room window, to contemplate how I shall later fulfill my idleness – whether a tricycle ride in the basement or a car ride or both – allowing my mind in the meantime to twist and wind through whatever manner of thought or recollection most appeals to me, propelled by some, overlooking others. I am interrupted in the focus of my vagueness by the flat, smooth, dark reflections upon the river. The colours of the fields have been enriched by the shadowy grey clouds above and the replenishing moisture in the ground.

I had a telephone conference this morning with my physician’s nursing assistant. This is not the first time I have consulted her directly. In the process she has become my primary source of medical intelligence.  Coincidentally at the golf club recently we spoke with our young server who is soon to be engaged in studies to become a qualified and certified nurse. Our summary conversation made it clear to me that she understood the depth of her role and studies. It is very possible that the involvement of nurses is increasing in the medical community as more and more physicians are in short supply. The reality for me is that most of my medical concerns are of superficial importance only – which is to say as well that, for the rest, the remedy is, “Learn to live with it!” This is not to diminish the value of the nursing advice; rather I acknowledge the nature of my own – predominantly functional – enquiries. I have always held nurses in the highest esteem.  As one who has spent considerable time in hospitals undergoing serious matters (open-heart surgery, punctured lung, concussion, etc.), I feel my opinion though not authoritative is legitimate and authentic. I find nurses to be desirably candid – as befits the nature (and intimacy) of their work. Conversation with a nurse is customarily free of surplusage and innuendo.