Summer is really here ... written over two days ...
Yesterday I went out for my first kayak ride to the end of the lake and back with Kenya following at her lovely steady dog paddling pace. Then we swam and I threw sticks for her to fetch.
A large (maybe 16 inches across) turtle with wise old eyes is busy laying her eggs near my garden box. It took me ages to convince Kenya to leave her in peace so that she could complete her task. Kenya didn't seem to want to hurt her at all ... just curious and giving the barks she gives when she invites another animal to play with her. However; having gone through labour several times myself, I felt the turtle probably preferred peace and quiet.
I went to get the aluminum ladder so that I could get up to a top shelf to find my solar lights for the garden and instead discovered a robin had created a nest on the top step against the house wall ... four perfect blue eggs in the nest and a mama bird who flies away every time I come around the corner. We may have to do without our garden lights this year. (By Friday one had hatched.)
Even butterflies seem to have exploded everywhere just recently. Clouds of fake monarchs coloured yellow instead of orange greet me every time I open the door.
Life is good (and very fecund) just now.
Showing posts with label Just Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Just Life. Show all posts
Friday, 10 June 2011
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
The Lost Writer Returns
Over a month and I have either found no time or content to blog. Apologies once again. I wonder if anyone is still reading! Thank you if you haven't given up on me.
Since I last posted I have been teaching quite a bit, but now I have a break until July. We visited my youngest and his partner one weekend and had a good time. Kenya has been for her annual check-up and is in good form. I spent a few days in Peterborough visiting a dear friend ... and got my first ever speeding ticket. Not the best way to remember the visit which was a lovely break from life. We went shopping for clothes and art supplies, got a painting of mine framed, ate a great deal of yummy food, drove around enjoying the countryside, and we laughed and talked as if almost a year had not passed since we were last together. A nice visit.
I am expecting a number of visitors in the next while ... old friends mainly ... but also the chimney sweep. I haven't had the chimney cleaned since I moved in. I haven't met him but I doubt if he will arrive wearing a top hat above a thin pinched little face smeared with soot.
I also want to get down to Los Angeles to visit my son so will check out airfares and possible dates soon.
The back hoe folks were here yesterday digging out a shallow foundation for a new shed which will be hobbity and will disappear into the hill. The roof will be flat and will be a living roof where I will plant plants that are not too particular about sunlight and will drape down over the exposed sides of the building. Peter will start pouring cement for the pad fairly soon and then begin the construction. I will be delighted to have a place to store stuff. I am tired of using my screened-in porch as a junk pile. But I think this shed will be nice enough to be used as a bunkie if I wanted to do that some summer. Imagine sleeping in a snug cave on a hot summer night.
The birds around my feeder have been absolutely beautiful this year ... way more colourful than the winter visitors. The lake, however, seems to have lost its pair of geese with their four goslings and the two pairs of ducks that were here in May ... I don't even want to hazard a guess about their fate ... but the lake seem very sterile this year without them. The pair of loons are still here but remarkably quiet. Perhaps they think they will be the next to disappear.
And now I am off to deliver a CD of a Stuart McLean story to one of my students, and to finish getting my garden in.
Enjoy the summery weather.
Since I last posted I have been teaching quite a bit, but now I have a break until July. We visited my youngest and his partner one weekend and had a good time. Kenya has been for her annual check-up and is in good form. I spent a few days in Peterborough visiting a dear friend ... and got my first ever speeding ticket. Not the best way to remember the visit which was a lovely break from life. We went shopping for clothes and art supplies, got a painting of mine framed, ate a great deal of yummy food, drove around enjoying the countryside, and we laughed and talked as if almost a year had not passed since we were last together. A nice visit.
I am expecting a number of visitors in the next while ... old friends mainly ... but also the chimney sweep. I haven't had the chimney cleaned since I moved in. I haven't met him but I doubt if he will arrive wearing a top hat above a thin pinched little face smeared with soot.
I also want to get down to Los Angeles to visit my son so will check out airfares and possible dates soon.
The back hoe folks were here yesterday digging out a shallow foundation for a new shed which will be hobbity and will disappear into the hill. The roof will be flat and will be a living roof where I will plant plants that are not too particular about sunlight and will drape down over the exposed sides of the building. Peter will start pouring cement for the pad fairly soon and then begin the construction. I will be delighted to have a place to store stuff. I am tired of using my screened-in porch as a junk pile. But I think this shed will be nice enough to be used as a bunkie if I wanted to do that some summer. Imagine sleeping in a snug cave on a hot summer night.
The birds around my feeder have been absolutely beautiful this year ... way more colourful than the winter visitors. The lake, however, seems to have lost its pair of geese with their four goslings and the two pairs of ducks that were here in May ... I don't even want to hazard a guess about their fate ... but the lake seem very sterile this year without them. The pair of loons are still here but remarkably quiet. Perhaps they think they will be the next to disappear.
And now I am off to deliver a CD of a Stuart McLean story to one of my students, and to finish getting my garden in.
Enjoy the summery weather.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
4 years
I have a feeling the next four years will be a good time to be rich. Four years of a Harper majority. Four years of a stranglehold on truth and transparency. Four years of bigger prisons, more fighter jets and spiraling costs to fund them. Four years in which the poor will get even poorer and the rich even richer. I just read this morning that the gap between rich and poor has never been greater. What will it look like in Canada by 2015?
On the positive side, Jack Layton's voice will be heard more clearly now that he is the leader of the opposition.
I hope that the Liberal party will re-invent itself ... perhaps as a coalition with the NDP ... the only reason Harper and his Tories get anywhere is because of vote splitting. I am not in favour of a two party system ... but a multi-party system only works when there is proportional representation ... and that is not likely to come about under a Harper majority government.
I will be just about 75 years old when I next vote in a federal election. I sure hope that Canada and I survive till then ... and that all the people who did not support Harper this election have figured out how best to defeat the man.
I wish I believed in miracles ... and that I could hope that Harper would acquire some humility and the ability to govern graciously rather than with an iron hand. I wish he would become a better prime minister, one I could respect. But miracles are not too common these days, so my only realistic hope is that the other parties will figure out how to stop him from gaining another majority in four years ... or that they teach Canadians how important it is to choose proportional representation and demand it; that it become one of the major planks in an opposition platform; that whoever wins the next election will be forced to put real democracy to a referendum.
My riding (Pontiac) ousted its Tory minister, Laurence Cannon, by the way, and we have a New Democrat in his place. It happened because of a grassroots swell of concern that translated into intelligent voting. I was a little worried because people were being advised to vote strategically but it was a toss-up whether to vote NDP, Liberal or Bloc. The Bloc had stood second last time. Liberal, Cindy Duncan MacMillan, is a respected farmer in the area and concerned about community issues. Mathieu Ravignat was new to electoral politics but the NDP was gaining strength in Quebec.. What to do? What to do? Eventually I voted with my heart and voted for the NDP ... and was lucky that so many others made the same choice for either heartfelt or strategic reasons..
In non-electoral news, life continues to be good. Kenya and Remi are having a ball together, romping and wrestling for hours every day. I am getting used to my new car but am horrified by its gas mileage. And I still fear backing up. And there are all still all those buttons I am afraid to push. My buddy and I are splitting our lives between two places and learning to adjust to the vagaries implicit in a new relationship. Laughter helps smooth out rough edges. The dogs are delighted he is part of my life because they have an extra pair of hands to pat them. I started teaching Andre this week and the first session went well. Today I will be working with Azra and Pauline ... just three lessons left. I will miss them, but I will also be glad to be back to one session per week.
So ... I think I will simply bury my head in dogs, paint pots, teaching, and clouds for the next four years, and forget politics until 2015.
On the positive side, Jack Layton's voice will be heard more clearly now that he is the leader of the opposition.
I hope that the Liberal party will re-invent itself ... perhaps as a coalition with the NDP ... the only reason Harper and his Tories get anywhere is because of vote splitting. I am not in favour of a two party system ... but a multi-party system only works when there is proportional representation ... and that is not likely to come about under a Harper majority government.
I will be just about 75 years old when I next vote in a federal election. I sure hope that Canada and I survive till then ... and that all the people who did not support Harper this election have figured out how best to defeat the man.
I wish I believed in miracles ... and that I could hope that Harper would acquire some humility and the ability to govern graciously rather than with an iron hand. I wish he would become a better prime minister, one I could respect. But miracles are not too common these days, so my only realistic hope is that the other parties will figure out how to stop him from gaining another majority in four years ... or that they teach Canadians how important it is to choose proportional representation and demand it; that it become one of the major planks in an opposition platform; that whoever wins the next election will be forced to put real democracy to a referendum.
My riding (Pontiac) ousted its Tory minister, Laurence Cannon, by the way, and we have a New Democrat in his place. It happened because of a grassroots swell of concern that translated into intelligent voting. I was a little worried because people were being advised to vote strategically but it was a toss-up whether to vote NDP, Liberal or Bloc. The Bloc had stood second last time. Liberal, Cindy Duncan MacMillan, is a respected farmer in the area and concerned about community issues. Mathieu Ravignat was new to electoral politics but the NDP was gaining strength in Quebec.. What to do? What to do? Eventually I voted with my heart and voted for the NDP ... and was lucky that so many others made the same choice for either heartfelt or strategic reasons..
In non-electoral news, life continues to be good. Kenya and Remi are having a ball together, romping and wrestling for hours every day. I am getting used to my new car but am horrified by its gas mileage. And I still fear backing up. And there are all still all those buttons I am afraid to push. My buddy and I are splitting our lives between two places and learning to adjust to the vagaries implicit in a new relationship. Laughter helps smooth out rough edges. The dogs are delighted he is part of my life because they have an extra pair of hands to pat them. I started teaching Andre this week and the first session went well. Today I will be working with Azra and Pauline ... just three lessons left. I will miss them, but I will also be glad to be back to one session per week.
So ... I think I will simply bury my head in dogs, paint pots, teaching, and clouds for the next four years, and forget politics until 2015.
Monday, 4 April 2011
"When will spring come?" she whined.
Still no spring up here ...
Saturday was balmy. Sunday morning the ridges in the muddy road were rigid and the puddles solid. Sunday afternoon was lovely, and this morning everything is solidly frozen again. I have switched my ice walkers from my winter boots to my rain wellies.
The deer carcass was finally picked up by the township and now just a few feathery wisps of downy undercoat mark the spot. Tomorrow's rain should wipe away all remaining smell and Kenya can be let off-leash on our walks again.
Yesterday we followed the deep hard indentations of perfectly preserved raccoon tracks as we walked along the road on the other side of the lake. Tomorrow's rain will obliterate them and turn the roads to sludge. I may be forced to park further away from my house once that happens. I usually have to for a few days each year.
The staircase is still an on-going project and its accompanying mess and clutter is beginning to get to me. It didn't help that Kenya added to the mess when I gave her a new jungle baby to play with. She loved it, talked to it and squeezed it till the temptation to find the squeaker was just too much to resist. Then she decapitated it. This was followed by disembowelment, and then attempts to unbraid the body. I came downstairs to discover clouds of white fluff and bits of pelt, ears, nose, eyes and extremities scattered all over the livingroom.. It cost about $4 but provided hours of entertainment. For both of us. I get a kick out of watching Kenya interact with a squeaky toy ... almost as much as when she treats animals on a screen as if they are real.
Watched The Black Swan on the weekend. What a good portrayal of insanity and grace. No dogs in that movie. Kenya slept.
Kenya will be very glad when spring really arrives, the lake opens up completely, we can walk more comfortably, and she can work off her energy getting fit rather than getting into trouble. We both will.
In other news I am still sitting on the horns of a dilemma regarding my car ... and spending far too much time trying to make a decision.
And ... I received the results of the biopsy. All clear ... just an age spot. Hmmph ... and Hooray!
Tonight we are celebrating (belatedly) Tammy's birthday by going to a tapas place we love downtown.
Other than that, nothing new ... still cooking (tried ground turkey in a meat loaf yesterday ... too wet ... I found it off-putting ... but it tasted fine) ... still teaching (we are still playing doctor) ... Except for a strong desire for winter to end, life is good.
Hope you have a great week.
Saturday was balmy. Sunday morning the ridges in the muddy road were rigid and the puddles solid. Sunday afternoon was lovely, and this morning everything is solidly frozen again. I have switched my ice walkers from my winter boots to my rain wellies.
The deer carcass was finally picked up by the township and now just a few feathery wisps of downy undercoat mark the spot. Tomorrow's rain should wipe away all remaining smell and Kenya can be let off-leash on our walks again.
Yesterday we followed the deep hard indentations of perfectly preserved raccoon tracks as we walked along the road on the other side of the lake. Tomorrow's rain will obliterate them and turn the roads to sludge. I may be forced to park further away from my house once that happens. I usually have to for a few days each year.
The staircase is still an on-going project and its accompanying mess and clutter is beginning to get to me. It didn't help that Kenya added to the mess when I gave her a new jungle baby to play with. She loved it, talked to it and squeezed it till the temptation to find the squeaker was just too much to resist. Then she decapitated it. This was followed by disembowelment, and then attempts to unbraid the body. I came downstairs to discover clouds of white fluff and bits of pelt, ears, nose, eyes and extremities scattered all over the livingroom.. It cost about $4 but provided hours of entertainment. For both of us. I get a kick out of watching Kenya interact with a squeaky toy ... almost as much as when she treats animals on a screen as if they are real.
Watched The Black Swan on the weekend. What a good portrayal of insanity and grace. No dogs in that movie. Kenya slept.
Kenya will be very glad when spring really arrives, the lake opens up completely, we can walk more comfortably, and she can work off her energy getting fit rather than getting into trouble. We both will.
In other news I am still sitting on the horns of a dilemma regarding my car ... and spending far too much time trying to make a decision.
And ... I received the results of the biopsy. All clear ... just an age spot. Hmmph ... and Hooray!
Tonight we are celebrating (belatedly) Tammy's birthday by going to a tapas place we love downtown.
Other than that, nothing new ... still cooking (tried ground turkey in a meat loaf yesterday ... too wet ... I found it off-putting ... but it tasted fine) ... still teaching (we are still playing doctor) ... Except for a strong desire for winter to end, life is good.
Hope you have a great week.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
My World Update
Just a quick post to let your know that I am alive and well and painting ... and reading ... and enjoying my insomnia by making love to a small clock radio in the middle of the night. The radio waves seem to go directly into my body ... my heart hums ... I wonder if it is safe. CBC Overnight is far better than CBC daytime programming.
Last night I heard all about attempts to translate Gunter Grass' newest offering ... an untranslatable book about the Brothers Grimm and their failed attempt to create a German dictionary. They died before getting to the middle of the alphabet. Grass has structured his book like a dictionary and to do a proper translation is impossible without creating gibberish from a masterpiece.
My staircase is going slowly. I continue to live in the chaos of a small renovation.
Must cut this short as I have to prepare for my class this afternoon and put a third coat on a section of railing.
Have a great Wednesday and a fine end of the week. Spring is in the air even if ice is still underfoot.
Last night I heard all about attempts to translate Gunter Grass' newest offering ... an untranslatable book about the Brothers Grimm and their failed attempt to create a German dictionary. They died before getting to the middle of the alphabet. Grass has structured his book like a dictionary and to do a proper translation is impossible without creating gibberish from a masterpiece.
My staircase is going slowly. I continue to live in the chaos of a small renovation.
Must cut this short as I have to prepare for my class this afternoon and put a third coat on a section of railing.
Have a great Wednesday and a fine end of the week. Spring is in the air even if ice is still underfoot.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Reverse Roller Coaster Ride
February 19, 2011
Roller Coaster Riding
Well, this week has not been filled with my finest hours! Taking the roller coaster ride backwards as a retrospective trip, here it is:
TODAY I have a black eye that hurts and doesn't see too well.
YESTERDAY: This is the result of the surgical procedure I had yesterday morning, during which the surgeon removed my eyelashes and then excised the lesion and sent it for a biopsy, and said he thought it might not be skin cancer.
I almost didn't make it to have that surgery done because at about 7 a.m. my car refused to climb the hill of water-covered ice leading out to the public road. I tried backing down, but driving in reverse has never been my forte and so I landed in huge piles of snow precipitously close to the place where the run-off stream comes down through a concrete pipe with a diameter of about three feet under the road.
I crawled out the passenger side and called Peter for help. But I got a wrong number and some very kind old man told me how sorry he was that I was in trouble but he couldn't help. By the time I got hold of Peter I was smiling at my good fortune that I had disturbed a kindly soul.
Then I called Peter and he came over immediately and told me that he could not come down the hill either because of the conditions, and he couldn't get me out without help.And his truck was in really bad shape and he doubted whether it would make it to Tammy's and back. We solved the problem by having Tammy (also rousted out of bed and unshowered, coffee-ed or fed) meet us in Chelsea.
Tammy and I headed in to the General's Eye Institute and had a breakfast that made me feel a little queasy.
Then I had the procedure done. I came out of it feeling decidedly light headed, but the pain didn't begin for another while. I was awfully glad that Tammy was driving me because I could not have driven myself.
Tammy got ready for an afternoon job and Carlos drove me back home stopping enroute to get the things I needed from the pharmacy, and, now that things were mushy enough back at the culvert, shoveling enough snow away to back my car into its parking spot so that the road could be sanded.
Kenya and I spent the rest of the day following doctor's orders and taking it easy.
THURSDAY: That is also how we spent Thursday ... all day ... recuperating. Nothing to say. I slept all day.
WEDNESDAY: Wednesday started out beautifully. I went skiing with Mary, a friend I met through snow shoeing. We had a great morning and then had lunch afterwards at Molo's.
I called Tammy around 2:40 and learned that a terrible flu had raged like some kind of manic cyclone through their entire household. It hit suddenly without warning, tossed their digestive systems into chaos for 24 hours and then left them with no energy at all for the next day. I had visited them on Monday. We both hoped that I had not contracted it.
It was no longer than fifteen minutes later that the first wave of nausea hit me. I spent the next 24 hours making love to a stainless steel bowl which received first the contents of my stomach ... the wine and clam chowder I'd eaten in Wakefield a few hours before, and then wave after wave of intestinal contents. That terrified me because I seldom vomit, and never vomit up what looks, smells, and tastes like feces. Yes, yes, how would I know what feces taste like, right? Well, now I know. You don't want to have the first hand experience necessary to find out what it tastes likes, believe me.
SO ... back to the PRESENT:
Now I wait for 6 weeks to find out what the biopsy revealed. In the meantime I find out why there seemed to be a blockage preventing those fecal contents from taking their usual route. And I take it easy until I feel like my old self again. The antibiotics that I have to put in my eye four times a day cause blurring vision so I suspect I will not be reading or writing too much for a while. Bear with me once again, please.
In other news this week ... I read Eat, Pray, Love and watched the movie again as I did so. They are both wonderful experiences, not identical, but definitely complementary. And now I have started a book about orphaned twin boys born in Ethiopia to an Indian nun and the British doctor at the hospital where she assisted him. The little I have read makes me sorry I may have to postpone reading for a while. last night I watched Dangerous Beauty again ... about the Venetian courtesan ... a movie about love of all kinds ... and I started to watch Passchendaele. That will be on the agenda for today.
Kenya cried all last night because the wind howled and whistled in at the corners of the house making her feel threatened and uneasy.The only thing that seemed to calm her was having her tummy and throat stroked while she lay in my arms. I hope that we will both get more sleep tonight.
I also hope that this return to winter weather will allow all of you to enjoy Winterlude or whatever February activities you enjoy when it is cold and blustery. Me ... I plan to watch the end of Passchendaele and take it easy this next few days.
Roller Coaster Riding
Well, this week has not been filled with my finest hours! Taking the roller coaster ride backwards as a retrospective trip, here it is:
TODAY I have a black eye that hurts and doesn't see too well.
YESTERDAY: This is the result of the surgical procedure I had yesterday morning, during which the surgeon removed my eyelashes and then excised the lesion and sent it for a biopsy, and said he thought it might not be skin cancer.
I almost didn't make it to have that surgery done because at about 7 a.m. my car refused to climb the hill of water-covered ice leading out to the public road. I tried backing down, but driving in reverse has never been my forte and so I landed in huge piles of snow precipitously close to the place where the run-off stream comes down through a concrete pipe with a diameter of about three feet under the road.
I crawled out the passenger side and called Peter for help. But I got a wrong number and some very kind old man told me how sorry he was that I was in trouble but he couldn't help. By the time I got hold of Peter I was smiling at my good fortune that I had disturbed a kindly soul.
Then I called Peter and he came over immediately and told me that he could not come down the hill either because of the conditions, and he couldn't get me out without help.And his truck was in really bad shape and he doubted whether it would make it to Tammy's and back. We solved the problem by having Tammy (also rousted out of bed and unshowered, coffee-ed or fed) meet us in Chelsea.
Tammy and I headed in to the General's Eye Institute and had a breakfast that made me feel a little queasy.
Then I had the procedure done. I came out of it feeling decidedly light headed, but the pain didn't begin for another while. I was awfully glad that Tammy was driving me because I could not have driven myself.
Tammy got ready for an afternoon job and Carlos drove me back home stopping enroute to get the things I needed from the pharmacy, and, now that things were mushy enough back at the culvert, shoveling enough snow away to back my car into its parking spot so that the road could be sanded.
Kenya and I spent the rest of the day following doctor's orders and taking it easy.
THURSDAY: That is also how we spent Thursday ... all day ... recuperating. Nothing to say. I slept all day.
WEDNESDAY: Wednesday started out beautifully. I went skiing with Mary, a friend I met through snow shoeing. We had a great morning and then had lunch afterwards at Molo's.
I called Tammy around 2:40 and learned that a terrible flu had raged like some kind of manic cyclone through their entire household. It hit suddenly without warning, tossed their digestive systems into chaos for 24 hours and then left them with no energy at all for the next day. I had visited them on Monday. We both hoped that I had not contracted it.
It was no longer than fifteen minutes later that the first wave of nausea hit me. I spent the next 24 hours making love to a stainless steel bowl which received first the contents of my stomach ... the wine and clam chowder I'd eaten in Wakefield a few hours before, and then wave after wave of intestinal contents. That terrified me because I seldom vomit, and never vomit up what looks, smells, and tastes like feces. Yes, yes, how would I know what feces taste like, right? Well, now I know. You don't want to have the first hand experience necessary to find out what it tastes likes, believe me.
SO ... back to the PRESENT:
Now I wait for 6 weeks to find out what the biopsy revealed. In the meantime I find out why there seemed to be a blockage preventing those fecal contents from taking their usual route. And I take it easy until I feel like my old self again. The antibiotics that I have to put in my eye four times a day cause blurring vision so I suspect I will not be reading or writing too much for a while. Bear with me once again, please.
In other news this week ... I read Eat, Pray, Love and watched the movie again as I did so. They are both wonderful experiences, not identical, but definitely complementary. And now I have started a book about orphaned twin boys born in Ethiopia to an Indian nun and the British doctor at the hospital where she assisted him. The little I have read makes me sorry I may have to postpone reading for a while. last night I watched Dangerous Beauty again ... about the Venetian courtesan ... a movie about love of all kinds ... and I started to watch Passchendaele. That will be on the agenda for today.
Kenya cried all last night because the wind howled and whistled in at the corners of the house making her feel threatened and uneasy.The only thing that seemed to calm her was having her tummy and throat stroked while she lay in my arms. I hope that we will both get more sleep tonight.
I also hope that this return to winter weather will allow all of you to enjoy Winterlude or whatever February activities you enjoy when it is cold and blustery. Me ... I plan to watch the end of Passchendaele and take it easy this next few days.
Monday, 7 February 2011
O Mein Papa
Do you remember the Eddie Fisher song from the fifties? Likely not ...
But I was a kid being raised (or not) by mein papa ... and the song has remained with me all these years.
My dad was very imperfect ... he had been raised without a father himself and he really didn't know how to be a good father. But he loved me and I loved him. And the older I get the more I realize that that is really all that is important now.
Anyway ... I have been looking up recipes to use as I feed Peter every week ... and so I am seeking out old sources.
I keep coming across recipes that my dad left me. Some of them are in his handwriting ... and all those feelings of love and regret that he is no longer part of my life well up every time I see that handwriting.
It has nothing to do with whether or not he was a good cook or a good father ... it is all about love ... all about family.
And that is what the Eddie Fisher song was all about too.
But I was a kid being raised (or not) by mein papa ... and the song has remained with me all these years.
My dad was very imperfect ... he had been raised without a father himself and he really didn't know how to be a good father. But he loved me and I loved him. And the older I get the more I realize that that is really all that is important now.
Anyway ... I have been looking up recipes to use as I feed Peter every week ... and so I am seeking out old sources.
I keep coming across recipes that my dad left me. Some of them are in his handwriting ... and all those feelings of love and regret that he is no longer part of my life well up every time I see that handwriting.
It has nothing to do with whether or not he was a good cook or a good father ... it is all about love ... all about family.
And that is what the Eddie Fisher song was all about too.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Old Labs
You might well ask what old Labs have in common with me and why they are showing up on this blog.
A hint ... it has only a little to do with either medical labs or with Chelsea the old and lumpy Lab I sometimes care for. However; I do seem to be going to the dogs at an accelerated rate lately.
My son laughed when I told him about my lumpiness and said I was aging like an old dog.
My doctor, on the other hand, was not amused. She is sending me to an eye surgeon to have the lump on my eyelid excised and biopsied, and I have to have my skull x-rayed Monday because she thinks I fractured it when I fell. There is not a lot that an x-ray can tell as far as I can understand beyond whether it was indeed fractured, but she says it may indicate the need for more poking about with an MRI or CTScan to see if the brain itself was damaged.
She asked whether I had noticed any drop in intelligence and I laughed and said, "No, but then I live alone with a dog, so who would tell me?"
A hint ... it has only a little to do with either medical labs or with Chelsea the old and lumpy Lab I sometimes care for. However; I do seem to be going to the dogs at an accelerated rate lately.
My son laughed when I told him about my lumpiness and said I was aging like an old dog.
My doctor, on the other hand, was not amused. She is sending me to an eye surgeon to have the lump on my eyelid excised and biopsied, and I have to have my skull x-rayed Monday because she thinks I fractured it when I fell. There is not a lot that an x-ray can tell as far as I can understand beyond whether it was indeed fractured, but she says it may indicate the need for more poking about with an MRI or CTScan to see if the brain itself was damaged.
She asked whether I had noticed any drop in intelligence and I laughed and said, "No, but then I live alone with a dog, so who would tell me?"
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Reflections
I have been remiss ...
I used to blog daily ... then every couple of days ... now it seems to be coming down to once or twice a week. Does that mean I have a life in the here and now?
I miss the reflective nature of blogging when I don't do it regularly. Just sitting down and thinking about things ... looking back ... pondering ... looking forward ... it is all important to me. My life seems to become a half life when I don't take the time to reflect.
Lately I have been consumed by preparing meals and teaching. I need to balance my life again. (God, how often do I have to remind myself to do that?) Anyway ... this will be a kind of resolutionary blog post ... an attempt to find balance through reflection ...
I have prepared the beginnings of most of the meals I will deliver on the weekend ... a beef stew base that is luscious ... yogurt breaded pork chops ... a chocolate banana cake. On Friday night I will dine on salmon the leftovers of which will then become salmon pasta primavera on Saturday when I will also prepare the fixings and the soup, and package and deliver everything. Between then and now I will pick up any necessary additions like bread and salad makings.
My lesson for today is all ready and in the bag I carry to River Echo. Three hours of preparation for three hours of teaching this week. Still too much but at least saner. We are working on tenses and using the film "Babies" as a base. If you haven't seen it, do ... four babies ... two from developed countries (Japan and the USA) and two from developing countries where I have worked and come into contact with the nomadic people portrayed in the film ... Namibian Himbas and Mongolian herders. The first year of the babies' lives is documented.
Kenya and I just got back from a longish walk. I was going to go skiing this week but discovered one ski boot was filled with ice. It is is still drying out. On Friday I will be out with our snowshoeing group ... about two hours of snowshoeing, followed most likely by an impromptu social get together.
One of the things that has occurred since I fell in early December is that I seem to have given myself permission to be lazy. I quite like it! I have watched a few good movies ... The Governess ... The Ugly Truth which is predictable and not great, but funny enough in one spot especially, to make me howl with laughter ... My Sister's Keeper which brought tears ... and Baby of the Bride ... another slight film but I liked it. My favourite lately was Eat, Pray, Love ... I watched it twice ... reminded me of a dear friend who has been ill recently and looks for all the world like Julia Roberts ... and thinks and behaves like the character she plays in this movie.
I have also been reading ... just finished The Matter with Morris ... and have started to read The Sentimentalists ... both about the aftermath of wars in far away places ... Vietnam and Afghanistan. Not bad ... but not completely riveting either. But that may be me ... perhaps I am a little scattered just now.
My head still hurts and I suspect from the strange long wriggly lump I can feel that I may have cracked my skull when I fell. There was no blood but this feels like a healed irregular fissure. I probably should have it and the warty thing on my eye and the smooth lump behind one ear looked at one of these days. Some people get grey hair. I become lumpy. Damn this aging anyway!
And that ... she said ... is that for now.
I used to blog daily ... then every couple of days ... now it seems to be coming down to once or twice a week. Does that mean I have a life in the here and now?
I miss the reflective nature of blogging when I don't do it regularly. Just sitting down and thinking about things ... looking back ... pondering ... looking forward ... it is all important to me. My life seems to become a half life when I don't take the time to reflect.
Lately I have been consumed by preparing meals and teaching. I need to balance my life again. (God, how often do I have to remind myself to do that?) Anyway ... this will be a kind of resolutionary blog post ... an attempt to find balance through reflection ...
I have prepared the beginnings of most of the meals I will deliver on the weekend ... a beef stew base that is luscious ... yogurt breaded pork chops ... a chocolate banana cake. On Friday night I will dine on salmon the leftovers of which will then become salmon pasta primavera on Saturday when I will also prepare the fixings and the soup, and package and deliver everything. Between then and now I will pick up any necessary additions like bread and salad makings.
My lesson for today is all ready and in the bag I carry to River Echo. Three hours of preparation for three hours of teaching this week. Still too much but at least saner. We are working on tenses and using the film "Babies" as a base. If you haven't seen it, do ... four babies ... two from developed countries (Japan and the USA) and two from developing countries where I have worked and come into contact with the nomadic people portrayed in the film ... Namibian Himbas and Mongolian herders. The first year of the babies' lives is documented.
Kenya and I just got back from a longish walk. I was going to go skiing this week but discovered one ski boot was filled with ice. It is is still drying out. On Friday I will be out with our snowshoeing group ... about two hours of snowshoeing, followed most likely by an impromptu social get together.
One of the things that has occurred since I fell in early December is that I seem to have given myself permission to be lazy. I quite like it! I have watched a few good movies ... The Governess ... The Ugly Truth which is predictable and not great, but funny enough in one spot especially, to make me howl with laughter ... My Sister's Keeper which brought tears ... and Baby of the Bride ... another slight film but I liked it. My favourite lately was Eat, Pray, Love ... I watched it twice ... reminded me of a dear friend who has been ill recently and looks for all the world like Julia Roberts ... and thinks and behaves like the character she plays in this movie.
I have also been reading ... just finished The Matter with Morris ... and have started to read The Sentimentalists ... both about the aftermath of wars in far away places ... Vietnam and Afghanistan. Not bad ... but not completely riveting either. But that may be me ... perhaps I am a little scattered just now.
My head still hurts and I suspect from the strange long wriggly lump I can feel that I may have cracked my skull when I fell. There was no blood but this feels like a healed irregular fissure. I probably should have it and the warty thing on my eye and the smooth lump behind one ear looked at one of these days. Some people get grey hair. I become lumpy. Damn this aging anyway!
And that ... she said ... is that for now.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Whew ... end of a busy week ... time to play
If I charged by the pound for contents, packaging and delivery I would be making about 25 cents a pound ...
It has been a hectic week ... back to teaching with huge amounts of prep time needed ... then making five multi-stage meals, desserts and homemade soup in a short period of time.
This is what I accomplished:
a kitchen that is a disaster
a fridge and freezer that are jam-packed and totally disorganized
several partial meals in the freezer
The boxes that are going out contain:
chili con carne with herby salad and french stick
pasta with a hearty meat sauce, spinach salad and french stick
chicken kebabs on rice with green beans and almonds
pork roasted in apple cider with oven roasted veggies and apple sauce
chicken stew with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes
dressings for the salads
banana bread
pumpkin cake
vichyssoise
extra pasta sauce
grated parmesan
instructions for keeping and cooking
WHEW!
Today I am going to get my fridge and freezer re-organized and pre-cook any veggier that might not last till next weekend.
Next week should be easier because I have some cooked meat portions etc in the freezer now.
Right now I am going on my delivery run ... and this afternoon I am going out to play.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Post Script:
Just got back from playing on the kicksled with a new friend who had a ball with it. The fresh powder snow is wonderful for good runs on the hills.
I made a roasted tomato sauce that we had with nice bread; also a spinach salad for tonight and my Oma's pureed spinach with green onions and butter.
And I have got my garbage and recycling up the hill and organized the fridge and freeze. I feel MUCH better now ... Playing in the snow does wonders for the soul. So does feeling on top of things!
It has been a hectic week ... back to teaching with huge amounts of prep time needed ... then making five multi-stage meals, desserts and homemade soup in a short period of time.
This is what I accomplished:
a kitchen that is a disaster
a fridge and freezer that are jam-packed and totally disorganized
several partial meals in the freezer
The boxes that are going out contain:
chili con carne with herby salad and french stick
pasta with a hearty meat sauce, spinach salad and french stick
chicken kebabs on rice with green beans and almonds
pork roasted in apple cider with oven roasted veggies and apple sauce
chicken stew with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes
dressings for the salads
banana bread
pumpkin cake
vichyssoise
extra pasta sauce
grated parmesan
instructions for keeping and cooking
WHEW!
Today I am going to get my fridge and freezer re-organized and pre-cook any veggier that might not last till next weekend.
Next week should be easier because I have some cooked meat portions etc in the freezer now.
Right now I am going on my delivery run ... and this afternoon I am going out to play.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Post Script:
Just got back from playing on the kicksled with a new friend who had a ball with it. The fresh powder snow is wonderful for good runs on the hills.
I made a roasted tomato sauce that we had with nice bread; also a spinach salad for tonight and my Oma's pureed spinach with green onions and butter.
And I have got my garbage and recycling up the hill and organized the fridge and freeze. I feel MUCH better now ... Playing in the snow does wonders for the soul. So does feeling on top of things!
Monday, 3 January 2011
Putting On the Brakes
I read something this morning and thought about the brake pedals in my life.
Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain.
The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?
(Mary Manin Morrissey Minister, Author and Speaker)
I lived with someone for seven years ... a good man ... independent ... healthy ... athletic ... but he had two hang-ups that determined how we lived together and ultimately why I left.
The first was about weight gain and activity levels.
His wife had been a cute little thing when he met her in high school but after their marriage she became inactive, grossly obese, and slovenly.
Any time I was sick or had an accident that prevented me from keeping up, I could I feel an invisible whip coming down on my shoulders. Once, biking in Eleuthera, I fell on loose gravel on a steep coral road and got a horrible gash in my knee. Because it was a coral cut it took forever to heal, but I was not allowed to stop biking even for a moment.
If I gained a pound I was subjected to ridicule.
I realized that I could not grow older with him because I was not allowed to age normally.
The second was his fear of allowing a woman into his life, of allowing her to truly become his partner.
.
He was determined to keep himself free of any real entanglements so he put up barriers to prevent anyone from getting too close. He made all the decisions. We lived in his HIS house under HIS rules.
I resented this and began to withdraw into myself. I became as fiercely independent as he was. And just as armoured.
And when I was finally strong and independent enough to leave him, I did
Funny ... I was drawn to the things that ultimately drove me away ... his independence and his active lifestyle.
Unfortunately I am still encased in that armour and I still worry that I cannot keep up or stay young so I am fearful that I will not be good enough when I meet someone who is independent and athletic.
I wish I could erase the memories that make me put on the brakes when I meet someone at all like him.
Is there anything that causes you to put on the brakes before you become vulnerable?
Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain.
The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?
(Mary Manin Morrissey Minister, Author and Speaker)
I lived with someone for seven years ... a good man ... independent ... healthy ... athletic ... but he had two hang-ups that determined how we lived together and ultimately why I left.
The first was about weight gain and activity levels.
His wife had been a cute little thing when he met her in high school but after their marriage she became inactive, grossly obese, and slovenly.
Any time I was sick or had an accident that prevented me from keeping up, I could I feel an invisible whip coming down on my shoulders. Once, biking in Eleuthera, I fell on loose gravel on a steep coral road and got a horrible gash in my knee. Because it was a coral cut it took forever to heal, but I was not allowed to stop biking even for a moment.
If I gained a pound I was subjected to ridicule.
I realized that I could not grow older with him because I was not allowed to age normally.
The second was his fear of allowing a woman into his life, of allowing her to truly become his partner.
.
He was determined to keep himself free of any real entanglements so he put up barriers to prevent anyone from getting too close. He made all the decisions. We lived in his HIS house under HIS rules.
I resented this and began to withdraw into myself. I became as fiercely independent as he was. And just as armoured.
And when I was finally strong and independent enough to leave him, I did
Funny ... I was drawn to the things that ultimately drove me away ... his independence and his active lifestyle.
Unfortunately I am still encased in that armour and I still worry that I cannot keep up or stay young so I am fearful that I will not be good enough when I meet someone who is independent and athletic.
I wish I could erase the memories that make me put on the brakes when I meet someone at all like him.
Is there anything that causes you to put on the brakes before you become vulnerable?
Sunday, 21 November 2010
My own form of bee keeping ...
I am off to put the second coat on the chair I am making from a kit. I haven't painted anything for ages and ages ... teaching got in the way. But now I am re-structuring my life. Teaching and enjoying it once a week. Snowshoeing or hiking or skiing once a week. Painting, reading, walking Kenya daily ...
Here is something I found for a beekeeping friend. Hope you like it too. And I hope you all have bees to keep or asparagus to grow ... or babies to hold tight ... whatever you need to help you find your own well of patience and courage ... whatever you need to find peace.
1
Keep bees and
grow asparagus,
watch the tides
and listen to the
wind instead of
the politicians
make up your own
stories and believe
them if you want to
live the good life.
2
All rituals
are instincts
never fully
trust them but
study to im-
prove biology
with reason.
3
Digging trenches
for asparagus
is good for the
muscles and
waiting for the
plants to settle
teaches patience
to those who are
usually in too
much of a hurry.
4
There is morality
in bee-keeping
it teaches how
not to be afraid
of the bee swarm
it teaches how
not to be afraid of
finding new places
and building in them
all over again.
Here is something I found for a beekeeping friend. Hope you like it too. And I hope you all have bees to keep or asparagus to grow ... or babies to hold tight ... whatever you need to help you find your own well of patience and courage ... whatever you need to find peace.
Advice to the Young by Miriam Waddington
1
Keep bees and
grow asparagus,
watch the tides
and listen to the
wind instead of
the politicians
make up your own
stories and believe
them if you want to
live the good life.
2
All rituals
are instincts
never fully
trust them but
study to im-
prove biology
with reason.
3
Digging trenches
for asparagus
is good for the
muscles and
waiting for the
plants to settle
teaches patience
to those who are
usually in too
much of a hurry.
4
There is morality
in bee-keeping
it teaches how
not to be afraid
of the bee swarm
it teaches how
not to be afraid of
finding new places
and building in them
all over again.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
7 Jays
This morning I was up with the jays ... seven of them ... two or three at a time rocking the feeder at the front and scattering sunflower seeds to the others on the snow covered ground below. On the lake side, sparrows ate more sedately, one fluffed up little soul huddling in the seed tray itself. Kenya bounded out the front door and chased the jays who then took over the back feeder.
First snow up here ... a dusting only that rests on branches, ground and porch roof.
I just received word that a very old friend has died. John was a good family man, husband, teacher,and friend. We were all young and poor and in our twenties when I knew him and his wife best. We sustained each other through some pretty hard times back then. Heather taught with me at Briarwood Elementary School while John was off work.
I was a single mom with two kids and very little education; they were a little better off because they were a couple with one baby and the good sense to have got their education before embarking on a family, but those were pre-medicare days, and John was very ill for a time. We all lived in an apartment building on the wrong side of the tracks ... and practically on top of them. We provided each other with practical help, like rides to work, the occasional loan of a car or babysitting. Cups of sugar, recipes and samples of baked goods passed freely between our households. But it is the shared laughter I remember best. We giggled while tumbling down hills with our children at the Arboretum or dressing up for a Hallowe'en party. We went on picnics with our kids. Those were the years when we were money poor but rich in youthful energy and dreams. I haven't seen them for several years now, but they were a large part of my life ... and I am saddened that John is gone; that he will live on only in such memories.
First snow up here ... a dusting only that rests on branches, ground and porch roof.
I just received word that a very old friend has died. John was a good family man, husband, teacher,and friend. We were all young and poor and in our twenties when I knew him and his wife best. We sustained each other through some pretty hard times back then. Heather taught with me at Briarwood Elementary School while John was off work.
I was a single mom with two kids and very little education; they were a little better off because they were a couple with one baby and the good sense to have got their education before embarking on a family, but those were pre-medicare days, and John was very ill for a time. We all lived in an apartment building on the wrong side of the tracks ... and practically on top of them. We provided each other with practical help, like rides to work, the occasional loan of a car or babysitting. Cups of sugar, recipes and samples of baked goods passed freely between our households. But it is the shared laughter I remember best. We giggled while tumbling down hills with our children at the Arboretum or dressing up for a Hallowe'en party. We went on picnics with our kids. Those were the years when we were money poor but rich in youthful energy and dreams. I haven't seen them for several years now, but they were a large part of my life ... and I am saddened that John is gone; that he will live on only in such memories.
Friday, 22 October 2010
Life in the Slow Lane ... again ...
So ... yesterday I got lost in a parking garage ... well actually it was my car which was misplaced ... finally I asked a young man what one did if one lost one's car ... and he said, "Report it stolen." After my first stunned reaction I laughed and he said it had also happened to him. Then he explained the strange layout of this garage and wished me luck. I began again and this time I saw my car on a level below me. How to get to it though was not quite as clear but I managed. My left brained reasoning worked where my right brained sense of direction had let me down and the old girl and I were finally reunited.
The other parts of the day were a lot less stressful and the highlight was holding Lily who stretched, yawned, snuggled into my neck, and pooped contentedly, all the while making soft little whistling and snorting noises.
My garden is almost tucked away for the winter, the steps I've fallen down twice now have a hand rail, another hand rail has been fixed, and two new bird feeders are feeding the gluttonous jays.
I am thoroughly enjoying my vacation from teaching and stress ... and sleeping through the night ...
Life is good but it does not make for very exciting blog posts.
I am beginning to feel the faint stirring of artistic urges again ... pumpkin carving and small postcard sized paintings of ideas for furniture are beckoning, tempting me to get out my paints.
Have a great weekend. I will be at a workshop on Sunday but the rest of the weekend is blissfully empty so far.
The other parts of the day were a lot less stressful and the highlight was holding Lily who stretched, yawned, snuggled into my neck, and pooped contentedly, all the while making soft little whistling and snorting noises.
My garden is almost tucked away for the winter, the steps I've fallen down twice now have a hand rail, another hand rail has been fixed, and two new bird feeders are feeding the gluttonous jays.
I am thoroughly enjoying my vacation from teaching and stress ... and sleeping through the night ...
Life is good but it does not make for very exciting blog posts.
I am beginning to feel the faint stirring of artistic urges again ... pumpkin carving and small postcard sized paintings of ideas for furniture are beckoning, tempting me to get out my paints.
Have a great weekend. I will be at a workshop on Sunday but the rest of the weekend is blissfully empty so far.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Lily after a night's sleep in the real world
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Pruning in Progress
I decided yesterday when it was cool, when I didn't have to teach, and when I had some energy, that I would tackle my den, a room that, like my garden, had become a jungle. That decision involved trimming back the enormous plant that had covered the window, getting rid of several pieces of unfinished furniture for children, sweeping up mounds of dog hair, moving almost everything in the room to a different location, and generally creating far more chaos than had been there originally. The hallway and my bedroom also became involved.
I now have a much more civilized Paw plant in my bedroom and several pieces rooting on a tiny round table in front of the den window. Two bookcases have migrated to the large walk-in closet in my den, and several books have been consigned to boxes to be sold or given away.
I am not finished yet... I suspect I will still be at this on Wednesday, but I am past that first awful indecisive stage, past the absolute chaos of everything sitting in a pile in the centre of the room , piled on a bed, or shoved out into the hall.
Coincidentally, while I was immersed in my own cleaning process, a woman was being interviewed on CBC about her book Thrifty, which is all about pruning your life down to its essentials ... not to just what you need but to the things that truly enrich your life. She got rid of books she had kept since university, and photos that babbled at her. She recommends clearing 1/3 of the stuff from every room so that you gain a sense of peace rather than busyness. I think I will look for the book.
My reading lately has been omnivorous. This will fit right into the eclectic mix.
I used to think that I was a pretty good person. Now I realize that we all make mistakes, that we are all just doing the very best we can ... at any particular moment. Sometimes we mother, teach or behave better than at other times ... but we are simply human so we are imperfect beings.
I have just finished re-reading Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler, a woman born a year earlier than I was. She understands. And everyone who deludes herself into thinking she is doing everything right should read this novel ... and some of her others like A Slipping Down Life. She writes beautifully ... no preaching ... just revelation of truths.
I have just started reading An Imperfect Offering by James Orbinski of Medecins sans Frontieres ... he too writes well, and he also understands that we just give what we can ... we just do our best ... and sometimes our best is not perfect.
So ... back to my still very imperfect den cleaning ... who knows? Maybe by the weekend I will be able to start civilizing the garden. Or maybe not :-)
I now have a much more civilized Paw plant in my bedroom and several pieces rooting on a tiny round table in front of the den window. Two bookcases have migrated to the large walk-in closet in my den, and several books have been consigned to boxes to be sold or given away.
I am not finished yet... I suspect I will still be at this on Wednesday, but I am past that first awful indecisive stage, past the absolute chaos of everything sitting in a pile in the centre of the room , piled on a bed, or shoved out into the hall.
Coincidentally, while I was immersed in my own cleaning process, a woman was being interviewed on CBC about her book Thrifty, which is all about pruning your life down to its essentials ... not to just what you need but to the things that truly enrich your life. She got rid of books she had kept since university, and photos that babbled at her. She recommends clearing 1/3 of the stuff from every room so that you gain a sense of peace rather than busyness. I think I will look for the book.
My reading lately has been omnivorous. This will fit right into the eclectic mix.
I used to think that I was a pretty good person. Now I realize that we all make mistakes, that we are all just doing the very best we can ... at any particular moment. Sometimes we mother, teach or behave better than at other times ... but we are simply human so we are imperfect beings.
I have just finished re-reading Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler, a woman born a year earlier than I was. She understands. And everyone who deludes herself into thinking she is doing everything right should read this novel ... and some of her others like A Slipping Down Life. She writes beautifully ... no preaching ... just revelation of truths.
I have just started reading An Imperfect Offering by James Orbinski of Medecins sans Frontieres ... he too writes well, and he also understands that we just give what we can ... we just do our best ... and sometimes our best is not perfect.
So ... back to my still very imperfect den cleaning ... who knows? Maybe by the weekend I will be able to start civilizing the garden. Or maybe not :-)
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Escapism
It is very tempting to try to escape to a conflict-free paradise, but one cannot stay out of the fray forever except through death. Maybe that is what vacations from life are really ... small deaths. Orgasms have been called petits morts because they too provide an escape from life.
I guess I hoped that I could spend my old age, at least my still active old age, here is my own little paradise. And then I discovered that few real places offer complete absence of tension. Sentient beings cannot completely escape the fray forever.
My friend Claire posted part of a poem by Charles McKay we had both learned in high school. (No I didn't remember the poet's name. In fact I could never have quoted the lines half as accurately as she did; I googled her quote.) The poem's message was that people who are fully engaged in life must take stands, some of them unpopular, and so they make enemies.
I tried unsuccessfully to find a poem that has stayed with me all my life. I think it was about Ulysses ... perhaps Alfred Lord Tennyson ... perhaps another English poet from that era. He and his men were shipwrecked on an island where some lovely, tranquillizing, mood enhancing drug grew wild in the fields. All of them, sailors, officers and captain, were sorely tempted to remain in this drug-induced state of bliss forever, but the captain knew that one cannot escape the burdens placed on us by life and so he insisted that they leave their paradise and gird themselves to face the difficult journey home to the harsh reality they would encounter when they finally got there. He forced them back to life.
Of course, if they had stayed, reality would have found them anyway. Power struggles would have ensued. Differences of opinion would have occurred. Schisms would have developed. Even in an opium-hazy environment, something would have crept in to tempt someone. Isn't that the story of the Garden of Eden after all?
The human condition is simply that: you cannot stay in the garden forever; one day you either have to enter the wilderness, or the wilderness will encroach upon the garden. Either way, eventually it will become clear that lions do not lie down with lambs; they eat them.
I guess I hoped that I could spend my old age, at least my still active old age, here is my own little paradise. And then I discovered that few real places offer complete absence of tension. Sentient beings cannot completely escape the fray forever.
My friend Claire posted part of a poem by Charles McKay we had both learned in high school. (No I didn't remember the poet's name. In fact I could never have quoted the lines half as accurately as she did; I googled her quote.) The poem's message was that people who are fully engaged in life must take stands, some of them unpopular, and so they make enemies.
I tried unsuccessfully to find a poem that has stayed with me all my life. I think it was about Ulysses ... perhaps Alfred Lord Tennyson ... perhaps another English poet from that era. He and his men were shipwrecked on an island where some lovely, tranquillizing, mood enhancing drug grew wild in the fields. All of them, sailors, officers and captain, were sorely tempted to remain in this drug-induced state of bliss forever, but the captain knew that one cannot escape the burdens placed on us by life and so he insisted that they leave their paradise and gird themselves to face the difficult journey home to the harsh reality they would encounter when they finally got there. He forced them back to life.
Of course, if they had stayed, reality would have found them anyway. Power struggles would have ensued. Differences of opinion would have occurred. Schisms would have developed. Even in an opium-hazy environment, something would have crept in to tempt someone. Isn't that the story of the Garden of Eden after all?
The human condition is simply that: you cannot stay in the garden forever; one day you either have to enter the wilderness, or the wilderness will encroach upon the garden. Either way, eventually it will become clear that lions do not lie down with lambs; they eat them.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Life Passes By
Noticed in Passing ...
July 21, 2010
... a beautiful small dead fox on the highway ... shiny coat, luxuriant tail that with each passing day changes into remnants of itself ... greyed ... scruffy ... hanks of hair and ... but after three days the tail is still vibrant ...
... a large group of playful Mergansers who splashed one another ... chortled ... and walked on water ... well ... really more like stomped on water ...
... two tomato plants that have grown to tree size and are dripping with green fruit ... two grape tomatoes beginning to turn red ... I have them supported from all angles now ... the box has become a jungle with 1 cucumber, 1 arugula, 1 nasturtium and 2 tomatoes. The little guys are all hiding (lettuce, carrots and onions)
... grass I cut before I went to Montreal now a meadow ... with far too much strangling vine that seems to have choked out the clover I planted ...
... a wild abundance of black-eyed susans, those lovely lavender bells, golden rod and orange day lilies ... and almost ready to bloom ... the ones I call Golden Glow ... tall plants that grow in hedges producing masses of chrysanthemum like flowers.
... friends working on the main floor of their new home ... strong and bronzed and happy against a magnificent blue sky ...
... another friend swimming peacefully, as she followed three red headed ducks ... apparently unafraid of their toxicity ...
... an artist of 60 years who wanted me to place the first brush stroke on the tray she was painting ... at 84 she is strong and vibrant and able to throw herself off mountains and hurtle down slopes ... but her confidence sags when she tries something new ... I love the fact that she will leave us after this week with more confidence than she had when she arrived. I suspect that she has had to build each level of confidence one step at a time just as she has as she learns to paint funky furniture.
... and when I said I would pay for lunch she was shocked ... insisted on paying because I am the teacher ...
... a large bearlike dog who is terrified of thunderstorms ...
,,, the rumble of rockslides across the lake ...
Photos will follow ...
July 21, 2010
... a beautiful small dead fox on the highway ... shiny coat, luxuriant tail that with each passing day changes into remnants of itself ... greyed ... scruffy ... hanks of hair and ... but after three days the tail is still vibrant ...
... a large group of playful Mergansers who splashed one another ... chortled ... and walked on water ... well ... really more like stomped on water ...
... two tomato plants that have grown to tree size and are dripping with green fruit ... two grape tomatoes beginning to turn red ... I have them supported from all angles now ... the box has become a jungle with 1 cucumber, 1 arugula, 1 nasturtium and 2 tomatoes. The little guys are all hiding (lettuce, carrots and onions)
... grass I cut before I went to Montreal now a meadow ... with far too much strangling vine that seems to have choked out the clover I planted ...
... a wild abundance of black-eyed susans, those lovely lavender bells, golden rod and orange day lilies ... and almost ready to bloom ... the ones I call Golden Glow ... tall plants that grow in hedges producing masses of chrysanthemum like flowers.
... friends working on the main floor of their new home ... strong and bronzed and happy against a magnificent blue sky ...
... another friend swimming peacefully, as she followed three red headed ducks ... apparently unafraid of their toxicity ...
... an artist of 60 years who wanted me to place the first brush stroke on the tray she was painting ... at 84 she is strong and vibrant and able to throw herself off mountains and hurtle down slopes ... but her confidence sags when she tries something new ... I love the fact that she will leave us after this week with more confidence than she had when she arrived. I suspect that she has had to build each level of confidence one step at a time just as she has as she learns to paint funky furniture.
... and when I said I would pay for lunch she was shocked ... insisted on paying because I am the teacher ...
... a large bearlike dog who is terrified of thunderstorms ...
,,, the rumble of rockslides across the lake ...
Photos will follow ...
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Blast!
Blasted Road Blasting:
I suspect they are being hurried along because of the Quebec construction holidays in July, but yesterday the blasting seemed to be getting more careless. First one of the great rubber tire mats flew to the edge of the road and hung into the lake. Then the next blast shot rocks into the lake.
I feel as if I should be here to see the process and to keep Kenya calm, but I hate being here because of the intrusiveness of the operation. My life feels as if it is on hold until they finish. Because it is Quebec, everything will likely stop for the entire month of July. That would be a real relief, but another part of me just wants to grit my teeth and bear it for the short term to get it all over with.
Their hours have gone up recently as well. They arrive at 7 a.m. and leave at 6 p.m. That is an awfully long noisy period to endure, especially if you are a dog.
Kenya smells like a kenneled dog right now ... very different from her odour when she spends most of her time outdoors. Maybe it is the smell of fear. She hates being outside and refuses to go out alone unless she can hear the little boys giggling next door. When she went over to investigate yesterday she ended up staying for an hour while the family had an outdoor fire going. She paddled in the shallows nearby.
Fake Lakes, Fake Evidence, and Now Fake Laws... Fake Toronto Police Chief?
Have any of you been following the police chief's interviews?
Yesterday I caught a report of his news conference in which he displayed some of the weaponry taken from protesters. Among the items were a chainsaw and a cross bow. When reporters pushed him about these particular items, he admitted that they had been seized in something completely unrelated to the G20. (He sounded like a kid caught in a lie, by the way, nattering about more that he didn't bring and arrows whose tips could have been lit afire.)
Today CBC reported that the "law" preventing people from being within a few feet of the enclosure ... the "law" that allowed police to question, search and detain anyone walking near the fence ... was actually not a law at all. The police chief just wanted to prevent criminals from acting. This time, he apparently smiled rather than appearing flustered.
And yet the real thugs in all this (those men in black) were allowed, despite a huge police presence, to burn police cars, smash windows, and loot stores. The only way this makes any sense to me is if the police actually promoted the use of violence by the thugs .... or instigated it themselves ... in order to make it seem that the obscene amount of money spent on keeping the peace was warranted ... and to intimidate those law abiding Canadian citizens who believe they have the right to protest peacefully in this country.
I really don't want to believe that our Canadian police would do such a thing ... even though I know they have in the past.
I wonder what they did with our real police chief, our Canadian police chief, the one who abides by Canadian law when they replaced him with this blasted police chief.
I suspect they are being hurried along because of the Quebec construction holidays in July, but yesterday the blasting seemed to be getting more careless. First one of the great rubber tire mats flew to the edge of the road and hung into the lake. Then the next blast shot rocks into the lake.
I feel as if I should be here to see the process and to keep Kenya calm, but I hate being here because of the intrusiveness of the operation. My life feels as if it is on hold until they finish. Because it is Quebec, everything will likely stop for the entire month of July. That would be a real relief, but another part of me just wants to grit my teeth and bear it for the short term to get it all over with.
Their hours have gone up recently as well. They arrive at 7 a.m. and leave at 6 p.m. That is an awfully long noisy period to endure, especially if you are a dog.
Kenya smells like a kenneled dog right now ... very different from her odour when she spends most of her time outdoors. Maybe it is the smell of fear. She hates being outside and refuses to go out alone unless she can hear the little boys giggling next door. When she went over to investigate yesterday she ended up staying for an hour while the family had an outdoor fire going. She paddled in the shallows nearby.
Fake Lakes, Fake Evidence, and Now Fake Laws... Fake Toronto Police Chief?
Have any of you been following the police chief's interviews?
Yesterday I caught a report of his news conference in which he displayed some of the weaponry taken from protesters. Among the items were a chainsaw and a cross bow. When reporters pushed him about these particular items, he admitted that they had been seized in something completely unrelated to the G20. (He sounded like a kid caught in a lie, by the way, nattering about more that he didn't bring and arrows whose tips could have been lit afire.)
Today CBC reported that the "law" preventing people from being within a few feet of the enclosure ... the "law" that allowed police to question, search and detain anyone walking near the fence ... was actually not a law at all. The police chief just wanted to prevent criminals from acting. This time, he apparently smiled rather than appearing flustered.
And yet the real thugs in all this (those men in black) were allowed, despite a huge police presence, to burn police cars, smash windows, and loot stores. The only way this makes any sense to me is if the police actually promoted the use of violence by the thugs .... or instigated it themselves ... in order to make it seem that the obscene amount of money spent on keeping the peace was warranted ... and to intimidate those law abiding Canadian citizens who believe they have the right to protest peacefully in this country.
I really don't want to believe that our Canadian police would do such a thing ... even though I know they have in the past.
I wonder what they did with our real police chief, our Canadian police chief, the one who abides by Canadian law when they replaced him with this blasted police chief.
Friday, 4 June 2010
This post is specially for Techwood
Techwood asked if I had photos of my garden on my blog. I thought I had ... but it seems I was too busy gardening to post the progress.
Look what warm sunshine, lots of rain and great soil conditions have produced already!
ARUGULA, RADISHES AND NASTURTIUMS; TOMATOES; MORNING GLORY BLOSSOM; BEANS; HOT AND SPICY OREGANO; A BEAN THAT DECIDED TO GROW IN SAND (JUST SHOWS HOW HARD IT IS TO KILL A BEAN! ; HOSTAS; AN OLD DANDELION ; LETTUCE; . RADISHES ALMOST READY FOR HARVESTING
These were all organized but then the computer overrode my wishes and produced something random.
In other news, I finished teaching Andreas yesterday and Linda and Bob drove all the way from Barrie to bring me dinner. What a thoughtful loving thing to do! Dinner was wonderful., and Linda also gave me her tea chest ... which I have coveted ever since she got it. My first words (god help me ... those first words I blurt out often get me in trouble ...)
Anyway ... my first words were ... "But you're not dead yet." She looked a little startled ... and I reminded her of when I first saw the tea chest and joked that she should leave it to me in her will ... But no ... she is not yet dead or ready to will anything to anyone just yet ... she was simply giving me something she knew I would love. All the labels are hand made. Not sure if you can see the calligraphy. Can you blame me for having had tea chest envy all those years ago???
It is an absolutely lovely day here at the lake. I may cancel an appointment I have in town and just revel in my new found freedom ... and organize my boxes of wood kindling or firewood for the garden's fire place now that Odin at Property Solutions has cleared a spot for them.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Look what warm sunshine, lots of rain and great soil conditions have produced already!
ARUGULA, RADISHES AND NASTURTIUMS; TOMATOES; MORNING GLORY BLOSSOM; BEANS; HOT AND SPICY OREGANO; A BEAN THAT DECIDED TO GROW IN SAND (JUST SHOWS HOW HARD IT IS TO KILL A BEAN! ; HOSTAS; AN OLD DANDELION ; LETTUCE; . RADISHES ALMOST READY FOR HARVESTING
These were all organized but then the computer overrode my wishes and produced something random.
In other news, I finished teaching Andreas yesterday and Linda and Bob drove all the way from Barrie to bring me dinner. What a thoughtful loving thing to do! Dinner was wonderful., and Linda also gave me her tea chest ... which I have coveted ever since she got it. My first words (god help me ... those first words I blurt out often get me in trouble ...)
Anyway ... my first words were ... "But you're not dead yet." She looked a little startled ... and I reminded her of when I first saw the tea chest and joked that she should leave it to me in her will ... But no ... she is not yet dead or ready to will anything to anyone just yet ... she was simply giving me something she knew I would love. All the labels are hand made. Not sure if you can see the calligraphy. Can you blame me for having had tea chest envy all those years ago???
It is an absolutely lovely day here at the lake. I may cancel an appointment I have in town and just revel in my new found freedom ... and organize my boxes of wood kindling or firewood for the garden's fire place now that Odin at Property Solutions has cleared a spot for them.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
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