How We Measure Our Days

On one of our favourite walks we pass through the Memorial Gardens next to Chatswood Station. Several years ago when the station was being renovated some bureaucrat had the bright idea to 'relocate' the garden so that the land could be used for 'better' purposes. Luckily the voices of reason and heritage won out, and although the garden lost a metre or two to the railway expansion the rest was preserved for our continued pleasure.

Each year the garden passes through many seasons. Only a month or so ago the rose bushes were just wooden silhouettes cut back literally to within an inch of their lives. But as the days have warmed, the leaves have sprouted and the flowers have started to blossom. A week ago we had our first big sniff of a budding red rose and yet by today the garden has already become a veritable banquet of smells. From the classic big red, through to the yellow Texas rose and the mauve 'fizzy' one that we just love, Neil and I leapt from one delight to the next each of us trying to find the best smelling rose of the day. Sure we probably looked like lunatics to those commuters who strode through the garden on their way to another busy day, but hey their loss not ours.

Our other great pleasure on our walks is the wildlife we meet along the way. Occasionally, particularly in the bush we encounter the odd and the exotic like the blue tongue lizard or the wild peacock, but everyday in our good old local suburban streets we look out for old friends and new. Here we know many of the local cats, dogs and even rabbits by name, and to those whose 'official' name is a mystery we have allocated nicknames to which surprisingly they often respond.

Because cats are mercurial creatures with an excellent understanding of the principle of 'random habits' they cannot be relied upon to be out on show and so each day we count ourselves lucky if during the hour we come across two old friends or new. A three cat morning is considered very lucky and a four cat one cause for extreme celebration, particularly if it includes new friends as well as old.

By such measures then today has been a day of extraordinary excellence, this morning we met not one nor two nor three cats on our walk but five!! And in this count were two new friends one of whom paid us the rare honour of allowing us to stroke his fine black coat. And then to top things off as we arrived back home feeling very delighted, who should be up on the balcony outside my office door, but our own black cat regally surveying the neighbourhood from his elevated second storey position.

It's the small things in life that really matter, take time to smell the roses, pat a furry friend or just smile because you can. :-).