Getting my Ducks in a Row

I have been hanging around Saskatchewan for a bit now, getting used to the old roads and the scenery again.  I seem to find place after place to pull over and take a photo of something that is striking to me.  There are endless pool of water along the roads....old dugouts, sloughs, overruns.  I wonder what happened to this tree, for example, to make it grow like that.  Wind?  Lightning? 

 

 

It seems like I have spent a lot of time driving.  I got quite used to my scooter day trips, and so it seems I am now in the habit of pulling off to the side of the road to snap photos in my car rather frequently.  This little watering hole was just to pretty to pass by.

 

I also have a lot of time to think while driving.  Driving has always been one of those relaxing times to get my thoughts in order.  I have been asked a few questions by pretty much everyone when I meet up with them again for the first time.  Why did you leave Bermuda?  What next?  Where are you going to live?  Where are you working and when?  What do you do until then?  The more I answer the questions, the less certain I seem of the answers.  I did have a plan, I really did.  I was only going to spend 2 months in Saskatchewan, and that has now stretched into almost 3, which really is not a bad thing.  I am getting rested.  Reading books.  Watching TV series.  Visiting.  Driving.  Learning a whole lot about the farm that I left 22 years ago  This is the longest I have ever been around since I left for University.  So it is a good thing.  It's just that the carefully laid plan got sidetracked by powers beyond my control, and that leaves me a bit in limbo. 

 

International moves can be complicated...add in some paperwork glitches from 2 of the 3 countries involved, and it gets exponentially complicated.  I am not where I planned to be.  I am no longer certain where I am going to end up or when.  I won't get into the specifics of the complications this dislocation (which is what I call it because the idea of simple relocation perished 6 weeks ago), but there are rules and regulations about every day things you take for granted -- cell phone, credit card, bank accounts, insurance, health care.  Try setting all of that up without a local fixed address or a job and in a country that you are not resident...which for me includes where I was, where I planned to be, and where I currently am.  There are rules and regulations about these things, in each place, and I have become well enough versed in them to accept that I am in limbo.  This is frustrating.  Discussing it and re-explaining it is frustrating-er....so forgive me if I refuse to go there in conversation.  But I have given it lots of thought on these long drives.  And while taking pictures of this little watering hole, I saw some ducks.  Those of you who know me well (or have just read "Men Who Won't Wash Ducks") know I have a thing for ducks.  It reminded me of the old adage about getting one's ducks in a row.

 

 

In the scattered way that I have been ambling through both thoughts and life these days, I moved to a different watering hole and got distracted by a couple of geese who were also watching ducks.  Maybe they needed to get their ducks in a row too. 

 

To their credit, the geese had done it.  Technically they must have given up on organizing their ducks and stuck to their own kind, but when I gazed out a little further into this watering hole, I saw that these 2 geese had all of their other geese lined up in a row.  If the geese can do it, I can do it.

 

 

Although right now my unruly ducks are not in any sort of row at all.  If the organization of my life can be compared to how straight a row one's ducks are in, mine looks a little like this.  There is a plan in place for my ducks, I swear. The ducks are just not cooperating.

 

 

I am sure it will fall into place soon.  Until then, I will just enjoy the randomness of it all!