This is not so much a memoir as a confession. Few days would go past without me reminding myself to be aware of Right here, Right now.
I find it so easy to be planning what I need to do for the rest of the day – or tomorrow. I don’t seem to include what I want to do, just need. It’s very easy when you live by yourself to be eating a meal you’ve just prepared and finding your thoughts wandering off to something that happened today or, more frequently, might be on the agenda for tomorrow, instead of, ‘Wow! This is delicious!’
This sort of attitude immediately leads to the making of lists. Yes, my kitchen bench is never without a list for the day (and often the beginning of tomorrow’s list as well). I keep a small pad and pencil by my bed and occasionally, in exasperation, jot down in the complete dark, some idea I can pursue in the future so I will stop thinking about it.
Our sons frequently used to make CDs, singing songs about the idiosyncrasies of their parents (and sometimes those of the neighbours, in which case we played it very softly). So of course there was a song about Carmyl making lists – there might be an erupting volcano outside the door but Carmyl would still be at the bench making a list.
And I suppose one of the problems of list-making is that if you manage to get seven out of the eight items accomplished for the day, you feel a tinge of failure that number eight is not crossed out and will have to be transferred to tomorrow’s list.
Magda Szubanski headed a National Health Check series on TV last year which included a program running in Mansfield to give people healthier lives. One of the three things they suggested to do each day was to go for a walk around the block and listen. Put away each time you think of something you did yesterday or have to plan for today, and just listen. We think of past and future for 85% of the time and only 15% about what is happening here and now.
Last week I came across a quote from the Dalai Lama on Facebook.
‘There are only two days in the year when nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right time to love, believe and mostly live.’
I’d better put it on the frig!
I find it so easy to be planning what I need to do for the rest of the day – or tomorrow. I don’t seem to include what I want to do, just need. It’s very easy when you live by yourself to be eating a meal you’ve just prepared and finding your thoughts wandering off to something that happened today or, more frequently, might be on the agenda for tomorrow, instead of, ‘Wow! This is delicious!’
This sort of attitude immediately leads to the making of lists. Yes, my kitchen bench is never without a list for the day (and often the beginning of tomorrow’s list as well). I keep a small pad and pencil by my bed and occasionally, in exasperation, jot down in the complete dark, some idea I can pursue in the future so I will stop thinking about it.
Our sons frequently used to make CDs, singing songs about the idiosyncrasies of their parents (and sometimes those of the neighbours, in which case we played it very softly). So of course there was a song about Carmyl making lists – there might be an erupting volcano outside the door but Carmyl would still be at the bench making a list.
And I suppose one of the problems of list-making is that if you manage to get seven out of the eight items accomplished for the day, you feel a tinge of failure that number eight is not crossed out and will have to be transferred to tomorrow’s list.
Magda Szubanski headed a National Health Check series on TV last year which included a program running in Mansfield to give people healthier lives. One of the three things they suggested to do each day was to go for a walk around the block and listen. Put away each time you think of something you did yesterday or have to plan for today, and just listen. We think of past and future for 85% of the time and only 15% about what is happening here and now.
Last week I came across a quote from the Dalai Lama on Facebook.
‘There are only two days in the year when nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right time to love, believe and mostly live.’
I’d better put it on the frig!
Carmyl Winkler
October 2023
October 2023
Here are the words to 'She'll Make a List'
She’ll make a list…”
When the final trump shall sound, when the judgement’s all around,
When what was written in Revelation is writ large in every nation,
When the world is covered in haze and we’ve reached the end of days,
Carmyl will pause and make a list.
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there making a list.
When the lookout turns volcanic and the town begins to panic,
As the town sinks beneath a pile of lava,
Tallangatta is the new Vesuvius and although I have no proof of this,
I think I know what tactic Mum would rather...
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there making a list!
When a freak Hume weir tsunami wipes out half the Bandiana army,
As the tidal waves come surging from the west,
While the folks will all aspire to find some ground that’s higher,
Carmyl will go to the bench and do what she does best
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there making a list!
Reprise.. (‘One more time…’)
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there, (…will be there… ) making a list!...
Carmyl will be there … making (… making ..a) …a ….list!
Courtesy of Carmyl and the Winkler Brothers!
Postscript - "She’ll make a list” was sung by brothers Michael, Stephen and Tim Winkler, at a celebration for Carmyl’s birthday some years ago. Lyrics, Michael Winkler. Music –verses fit Gilbert and Sullivan’s ’I am the very model of a very modern Major General’ while the refrain is reminiscent of toe tapping Dixieland Jazz. (Cassette recording was played to accompany Carmyl’s story ‘Right Here, Right Now’, at U3A in October 2023)
She’ll make a list…”
When the final trump shall sound, when the judgement’s all around,
When what was written in Revelation is writ large in every nation,
When the world is covered in haze and we’ve reached the end of days,
Carmyl will pause and make a list.
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there making a list.
When the lookout turns volcanic and the town begins to panic,
As the town sinks beneath a pile of lava,
Tallangatta is the new Vesuvius and although I have no proof of this,
I think I know what tactic Mum would rather...
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there making a list!
When a freak Hume weir tsunami wipes out half the Bandiana army,
As the tidal waves come surging from the west,
While the folks will all aspire to find some ground that’s higher,
Carmyl will go to the bench and do what she does best
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there making a list!
Reprise.. (‘One more time…’)
She’ll make a list, she’ll make a list, she’ll grab a scrap of paper get a biro in her fist,
When the final trump shall sound, loud enough to shake the ground,
Carmyl will be there, (…will be there… ) making a list!...
Carmyl will be there … making (… making ..a) …a ….list!
Courtesy of Carmyl and the Winkler Brothers!
Postscript - "She’ll make a list” was sung by brothers Michael, Stephen and Tim Winkler, at a celebration for Carmyl’s birthday some years ago. Lyrics, Michael Winkler. Music –verses fit Gilbert and Sullivan’s ’I am the very model of a very modern Major General’ while the refrain is reminiscent of toe tapping Dixieland Jazz. (Cassette recording was played to accompany Carmyl’s story ‘Right Here, Right Now’, at U3A in October 2023)
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