U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2022
    • Program Suggestions
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • German - Beginners
      • Meditation
      • Russian Literature
      • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Col
    • A - COL
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Art Appreciation
    • Australian History
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • Our Stories - by topic
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Col-G
    • COM - G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology
    • Enjoying the Internet
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Family Stories
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German
  • I - R
    • I - R
    • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
    • Investment
    • Jane Austen Book Club
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder Group
  • S - Z
    • S -Z
    • Singing for Fun
    • Sky's the Limit
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Advice
    • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Talks
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
    • Wise Guys Book Group
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide 2023
    • Timetable - Month Overview
    • Full Timetable with Dates
    • New Courses 2023
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • February Newsletter
    • Calendar 2022
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
    • Gallery 2022
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2020
    • Gallery 2019
    • Gallery 2018
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2016 >
      • + Christmas Lunch 2016
    • Gallery 2015 >
      • Christmas Lunch 2015
    • Gallery 2014
    • Lifeball Video
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Wangaratta
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
  • Contact

My Other Life

18/7/2016

0 Comments

 
​It will never get me a job and it is not on any list of life skills. In my other life I am a four leaf clover gatherer and in my lifetime I have found at least fifty of the little charmers.

My mother got me started.    
​‘Go outside and look for a four leaf clover.’

​This was her way of getting a bookish child outside for a bit of fresh air and sunshine.

I can only suppose that one day I did find one and became intrigued by the fuss it caused.

I have an Irish heritage and people talked easily about “The luck of the Irish.” and “lucky four leaf clovers” My mother sang, “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover.”

A lot of my childhood was spent head down, bottom up, duck diving in clover patches looking for amazing, attention grabbing “four leafs.”

‘Look Mum! Look! I found one.’

‘Good girl. Press it in your bible for safe keeping.’

We covered all bases in my family.

With adolescence serendipity came into play. Waiting for the bus and looking down I would find a four leaf clover staring back. Go for a walk and there, by the side of the path, would be a cheeky, “look at me” four leaf . I felt they were actually looking for me.

As a young adult, the work ethic kicked in.

Luck, it seemed, had nothing to do with anything. Hard work, persistence, organization and getting along with others seemed to be the keys to success.

‘You do know, don’t you, that they’re only mutant three leaf clovers?’

Of course I knew it but I also knew a good clover patch when I saw one. There always seemed to be a little voice that said, ‘Might as well have a look.’

These days, on odd occasions, I still look for, and find, four leaf clovers but now I only pick some of them. It’s enough to know they are there. If I know of someone who would find one appealing, lucky, amusing or fortuitous I might pick one and put it in a card for them. If I locate one, I might leave it and steer someone nearby so they can have the thrill of “discovering” it.

Do people think I am weird, quirky, eccentric? Probably all of the above though no-one has ever refused a four leaf clover when I have given them one.
​
As for five leaf clovers. They…are a completely different story.
 

Picture
0 Comments
    'Our Stories'

    Pat's stories

    Picture

    Topics

    All
    Advice
    Ghost Story
    'Good Vibrations'
    'Growling'
    My Other Life

    Links...

    Pat's stories on ABC Open

    The Australian Writers' Centre 'Writers' Room'

    ​
    The Wheeler Centre

    Archives

    December 2017
    May 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    RSS Feed

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2023
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2023
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2023
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2023
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District. 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria