Lying in bed days before my upcoming vacation and not ready to get moving, my mind was randomly flitting from subject to subject. One moment I was planning the day ahead, the next I was reflecting upon what had transpired at the soccer committee meeting the previous evening, then I was thinking about how thankful I was to have a good neighbour to keep an eye on my home while I am away and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This blog has been on the top of my mind for several days now and so I finally settled on thinking about how it would be a good idea to blog about my good neighbour. I recalled that I have a prized book that was passed from the author, to my grandmother, to my mother and then to me. That book is called \u201cBack-Door Neighbors\u201d. It is a book of poetry written by Edna Jaques which was published in 1946. Edna Jaques was a Canadian poet. In the foreward to this book she is described as \u201cWhat Robert Burns was to Scotland . . . Edna Jaques is to Canada . . . the voice of the people.\u201d In that foreword it is noted that \u201cHer poems-as says herself-are clad in print and homespun and the rough weave of common folk\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This book is special because Edna Jaques was my grandmother\u2019s friend and the book has been signed by her on the inside cover with the words \u201cyour old neighbor \u2013 Edna Jacques<\/em>\u201d. In another of her books, \u201cRoses in December\u201d, she actually dedicated a touching poem entitled \u201dMy Neighbor\u201d to my grandmother, Mrs. Gordon, Assiniboia, Sask<\/em>. I had forgotten which of these books contained this dedicated poem. So, it was with the thoughts of blogging about my neighbour that I reached for the book entitled \u201cBack-Door Neighbors\u201d hoping to find some inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the rush to create this website for my upcoming trip, I had quickly settled upon the name \u201cGreg\u2019s New Leaf\u201d. I have a (well-deserved) reputation for regularly embarking on an effort (too often short-lived) to make some positive change in my life (hence version 77.3). So, it seemed appropriate to allude in the title to the idiom \u201cturning over a new leaf\u201d. The word leaf originally meant a folio or page and the idiom alluded to turning over a blank page and starting over \u2013 when you turn to a new, clean page you are leaving the past behind you and starting over (I can see a personal connection in this idiom both to the new, non-career, phase of my life and to this new project of writing a blog). But, I think I got lucky with the title because the word \u201cleaf\u201d has other allusions. Green leaves are often symbols of rebirth (I like that the thought of that possibility). In literature a reference to \u201cyellow leaf\u201d can be a metaphor for aging and the fall season of a person\u2019s life (not such a pleasant thought but realistic). Apparently, the word \u201cleaf\u201d can also refer to marijuana (not relevant in my case \u2013 not that there\u2019s anything wrong with it<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting back to synchronicity \u2013 As opened the Edna Jaques book the following fell out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This beautiful leaf, probably once green but now yellow, had been pressed and saved by my grandmother or mother in that book. It had resided safely in this seldom-opened book for many years waiting, apparently, for me open it as I looked for inspiration for my blog. I am not sure if this qualifies as a psychic connection to Edna Jaques, my grandmother or my mother or if it is some other message encouraging me to blog. But, that leaf has now definitely connected widely-separated people and times, and left me with a warm feeling and happier than ever with the title that I chose for the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/77tozero.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/leaf-picture.jpg\")
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