How well have you spent you the time of your life?

I cannot claim myself to be an artist in the normal sense of one who produces works of art like paintings and sculpture that sells for zillions of dollars at Art auctions, but  I do not deny that i can or could have been one. But I  am creative in more ways than one, I like to draw ans sketch wherever and whenever while at the same time I collect my thoughts as notes while this act is happening. I call them notes to myself. 

I enjoy fishing even if I do not catch any as it gives me time to relax and meditate on the horizon. I only fish when I get the chance to but do not make extra effort to really go fishing . Oddly enough I always feel guilty sticking a live worm or shrimp on to the hook, I feel the pain I cause to the bait and to the fish I caught.

I enjoy playing the flute and the guitar but am not really good at either, just enough to entertain myself and others when the occasion presents itself.  I try to master a song or two just for the moment when I am asked to play and I enjoy singing with it.

I have often made it my effort to visit the rural areas where life is more  physical and challenging. Meeting the local folks and getting to know their life and day to day activities. has always given me great pleasure and much to learn that books and videos does not convey.

Working on my art  has kept me from feeling bored or in need of something to do. I allows me to express myself  while focusing my mind on the activity at hand. I feel sorry for those who are of retirement age and at a loss as to how to keep themselves busy. Most will take up gardening around their home, while others travels if they have the means and health to do so. The more fortunate ones are those who have taken on a hobby or two all along which can in their retirement days become more entertaining if not rewarding.

Staring out into the wilderness and the hills, the lakes and the rivers, is another of my favorite past time and I try to make the effort to do this every chance I get. I would allow my mind to wander to the far distant  shores and imagine myself  walking among the bushes and smelling the landscape around me. The question, what it would be like will call out for me to venture to where my eyes can explore only from the distance. Even the white clouds above me becomes a scenario for my exploration. I like to feed my senses with the vast expanse of the nature around me.  

Planting rice seedlings into the muddy field is an experience that all those who eat rice daily. thus helps to remind one of how hard it is a job to grow the food and give us thoughts on why it is bad to waste food.

Being able to revisit places that had been at one time or another my 

haunt keeps me in touch with what it was like in the past the good as well as the not so good moments. I like to also observe the changes that had taken place over a period of time for the better or worse.

This was oe of my most special moments when I sat on this boat cleaning the fish that I had caught for dinner.  A small group of us had been camping along the river for five days and it was located deep in the jungle. By looking at this picture I am reminded of all the exciting moments that took place while we were there. In essence all the pictures I have taken are reminders of events and episodes in time of my life; not easily forgotten.
#sketching and drawing,# rice planting,# meditation