Taking a sicky

Yesterday I took a sicky... not a planned one and it is certainly not my hyperactive self that chooses to sleep in the middle of the day. The rest did me good so this posting can hopefully make up for the missing piece yesterday. There is such a lot going on the world. Water supplies around the Japanese Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant are threatened and the effects might be lasting on the environment. They say that a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous so I cannot venture any opinion, other than to voice sympathy and concern.

On a lighter note... spring is still evasive in Uppsala, gradually the snow is disappearing and soon we hope to see the first flowers smiling at the world. Today I was unexpectedly invited to lunch at the Uppsala University-based International Science Programme office. A wonderful kind team who made me feel instantly welcome.

Unexpected
More than a smile
We shared over lunch
The odd nervous giggle
Describing
Scary encounters
Busy cities
Gaps penetrate
Citizens and visitors
Unexpected
Safety and security
Critics
Surviving the local
Criminal element

More than a laugh
We shared over lunch
Standard travel tips well received
Watch out
The occasional parking ticket thief
Anonymous
The price of a black-market passport
Racketeer Economist
Survivors of some sort
The honest ones
Almost crying
Defeat

More than a casual connection
We shared over lunch
A natural association
Sweet
Valuable exchange
North and south
Not ruled
By the indiscriminate
Interests criminal
Greater than animate
Learning together
Still
The central element

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, For the ISP Team at Uppsala University, 2011-03-25

How to quell a wondering mind?
today i ask you
my reader
a question:
how do you quell a wondering mind?
is there a trick
a special
time and place
to harness the waves
ideas abound
all over the place

instead i will just murmur
ideas present
visions happy and pleasant
like the spring wind
promising rain showers
the odd glimpse
of bright flowers
present waking hours
collating interesting research ideas
old concepts dour

my mind wonders
about things like
my birth-date’s availability via the internet
how old i am
no secret
maybe you can do a horoscope
lining up cosmological charts
all possible
without my consent
the era of the information age
transparent

my mind will wonder
all the time
sometimes i can capture
ideas succinct
new issues distinct
old dreams extinct
what next
you want to think
my wondering mind
will continue to search
occasionally snagging
something good
rather than falling about
digging up rotten roots

By SBNN, 25 March 2011