Reflections on the puddle of life

Today has been one of those days where everything feels fresh and new and as if it is happening for the first time. Perhaps it is the light touch of spring, the crisp blue sky, perhaps it is the faint touch of hope in the air, who knows. The cause is not important, making it last is, perhaps, the bigger challenge.

But there seem to have been a number of events today which were the first of their type, for this year anyway. Starting with this morning when I watched Barack Obama make his speech in Prague and thought that, for the first time in the longest time, there stood a man who had something to say that was worth listening to. And though I didn't agree with everything he had to say, and though I am dubious, as always, as to whether a politician will ever stick to their word, I was refreshed by the positive message, the hope, the committment to dialogue as a first course of action, the turning away from bomb-laden politics, the rejection of fear. And I think that if Obama achieves nothing else it was apparent today that his recent tour of Europe has begun the process of re-building the bridge between Europe and the US which has been crumbling over the past decade and I think that it is about time and at the same time a miraculous achievement. One thing he said really stood out to me, well actually there were a few things:

I know that a call to arms can stir the souls of men and women more than a call to lay them down. But that is why the voices for peace and progress must be raised together.

and

When we fail to pursue peace, then it stays forever beyond our grasp. We know the path when we choose fear over hope. To denounce or shrug off a call for cooperation is an easy but also a cowardly thing to do. That’s how wars begin. That’s where human progress ends.

and whilst promoting a message of peace, it was also a message of responsibility, collective responsibility, and one in which the barriers to peace must be confronted.

There is violence and injustice in our world that must be confronted. We must confront it not by splitting apart but by standing together as free nations, as free people.

which made me think of Sartre, and his ideal that with freedom comes responsibility and that to be free you must work towards freedom for all. Perhaps that is why this speech made sense to me, possibly. And whilst there were some contradictions, and it'll be interesting to see how things work in practice, it was good to begin the day with a sense of hope, albeit acknowledging that hope comes with a price and the journey towards a more peaceful world will be a difficult one. Hats off to the man.

So, we're decorating at the moment and in the process I've generated a lot of washing. This morning I looked out and found, to my pleasure, that the conditions were perfect for line drying for the first time this year. Not too warm, the suggestion of a breeze. I pegged out my sheets, squishing my way over the damp grass, and turned to see my first butterfly of the year. It was a peacock, which looks like this:

it was kind of huge! Beautfully coloured, it settled on the patio, open-winged, collecting the sun.

It's my daughter's room we're decorating. Since we moved here 5 years ago we haven't really done much around the house yet (the past couple of years we've been expecting to have to move, but now we're staying.) and my daughter's room is only the third we've tackled. Needless to say it's pink. Oh boy, is it pink. Here it is:

seriously, after a day of looking at it I'm beginning to wish I was colourblind. But she loves it, as you may be able to tell. Tomorrow I'm going to paint a mural on one of the walls with flowers, a rainbow, a big fat faced sun, and we're going to get her a pink butterfly clock for her wall which she's been pining for since Christmas.

And now I am sitting in the quiet evening peace, alone in my living room whilst the kids play upstairs. My washing is dry, the decorating is over for today and it is a pleasure to be alive.