If my body was a motor vehicle, then it would have been traded in some time ago. There are very few cars on the road that are of a 60 year vintage and those that are have usually been lovingly restored. For worn-out brakes, gammy suspension and a smoking engine, not to mention all manner of dings, read sore joints, clapped-out shoulders, a bad back and so on and so forth. The truth is, such a trade-in would soon be on the way to the wreckers yard.

But my mind is as nimble as ever and perhaps more adaptive and malleable than at any time in the past. Sure I forget things and I have more of those annoying tip-of-the-tongue moments, but my capacity for learning and critical thinking remains intact. This being Father's Day in Australia, I think I can take this one short bow at least.

It is also the first day of spring and the weather has turned, on cue, to warm and sunny, as if by Divine fiat. I did my walk this morning in a t-shirt for the first time in months, which is an energising feeling. Unencumbered, one wants to walk faster, if only the knees are willing! It is a glorious day for anything outside though. I cannot put it better than e.e. cummings.


in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee