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| Bailey has come to live with us. She's a Sheltie x and she comes to us from the FSJ SPCA. She is not quite a year old. She is a lovely dog, full of personality. Daughter #2 is very happy to have such a loving dog. Jiggs however, is not quite sure. |
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Companion For Daughter #2
Friday, April 8, 2011
Baching It... And A Few Thoughts On War
Teapot has left for the weekend of his dreams... He is gone on a Canoe Convention. Yup he is gone to oogle and ogle canoes of every shape and size. He left at 1:00 a.m. Argh! I'm pooped from being up in the middle of the night to give him a kiss good bye as he went out the door. But he checked in at about 2:30 p.m. to let me know that they had made it safe and sound... all was good and he was in high spirits. I'm sure that he will have a high old time.
As for the Daughters and I... we are baching it for the weekend. And as usual whenever Teapot goes away the mice play... and so we have been watching movies though I will say that we could have watched better ones... The first was a Jackie Chan flick... so so.... but then we watched The Wind That Shakes The Barley... a really good movie, but I want to kill Teapot for picking it for us right at this moment... We've all been crying for two hours. It's the story of the beginnings of the civil war between the English and the IRA and Sinn Fein, a dreadful time by any standards.
Being a light hearted soul, Teapot always manages to make us laugh after a movie of such sadness and desolateness, thus the reason for wanting to kill him... he picked the movie and then ran off to let us drown in our own tears with not a bit of light heartedness to pick us up and save us from ourselves. As with all movies of civil wars, there is no doubt that it is the women that suffer the most when their men go to war, and the Daughters and I empathized maybe a little too much with the women in this movie. With hands bound by the words of freedom and higher ideals, they watch their men going off to fight and they can't stop what they know will come. In the epic words of Ruby Thewes from Cold Mountain.... "Every piece of this is man's bullshit. They (men) call this war (the American civil war) a cloud over the land, but they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, "Shit! Its rainin'!"
There is no doubt in my mind that fighting is not the right way to seek our rights, or to help the underdog. I watch daily as this world around us deteriorates into chaos and wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would think of our efforts in Afghanistan.... or our efforts in Libya. And yet there is something dreadfully poignant about the first scene in the movie we watched tonight, as British soldiers descend willy nilly on an Irish peasant home and beat a young man to death for playing a game of field hockey because there are to be no public meetings. You want to bash the brains out of the British soldier who is the leader as much as the Irish must have for the injustices and feckless abuses they received at the hands of the British. These types of abuses play themselves out all over the world regularly as we speak, in places like the Yemen or Syria or the Ivory Coast or the Congo. Why oh why do the strong and mighty feel the need to repress and crush the weak... why do they not have the need to support and uphold weak... why do they not take care of the weak? Why is nurturing not universal?
In the end all is quiet now in our house. Daughter #2 is above deck no doubt plugged into her iPod... Daughter #1 is glued to a book on the couch. The dishes are clean after a yummy supper of Nachos and cheese and Salsa. And all the wet and soggy tissues are in the garbage.... but in our hearts lingers the ethereal... the bight of pointless death and wasted lives... of gentle hearts who long for a better time... and who long for peace. What could be more ethereal... more magic than that.
As for the Daughters and I... we are baching it for the weekend. And as usual whenever Teapot goes away the mice play... and so we have been watching movies though I will say that we could have watched better ones... The first was a Jackie Chan flick... so so.... but then we watched The Wind That Shakes The Barley... a really good movie, but I want to kill Teapot for picking it for us right at this moment... We've all been crying for two hours. It's the story of the beginnings of the civil war between the English and the IRA and Sinn Fein, a dreadful time by any standards.
Being a light hearted soul, Teapot always manages to make us laugh after a movie of such sadness and desolateness, thus the reason for wanting to kill him... he picked the movie and then ran off to let us drown in our own tears with not a bit of light heartedness to pick us up and save us from ourselves. As with all movies of civil wars, there is no doubt that it is the women that suffer the most when their men go to war, and the Daughters and I empathized maybe a little too much with the women in this movie. With hands bound by the words of freedom and higher ideals, they watch their men going off to fight and they can't stop what they know will come. In the epic words of Ruby Thewes from Cold Mountain.... "Every piece of this is man's bullshit. They (men) call this war (the American civil war) a cloud over the land, but they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, "Shit! Its rainin'!"
There is no doubt in my mind that fighting is not the right way to seek our rights, or to help the underdog. I watch daily as this world around us deteriorates into chaos and wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would think of our efforts in Afghanistan.... or our efforts in Libya. And yet there is something dreadfully poignant about the first scene in the movie we watched tonight, as British soldiers descend willy nilly on an Irish peasant home and beat a young man to death for playing a game of field hockey because there are to be no public meetings. You want to bash the brains out of the British soldier who is the leader as much as the Irish must have for the injustices and feckless abuses they received at the hands of the British. These types of abuses play themselves out all over the world regularly as we speak, in places like the Yemen or Syria or the Ivory Coast or the Congo. Why oh why do the strong and mighty feel the need to repress and crush the weak... why do they not have the need to support and uphold weak... why do they not take care of the weak? Why is nurturing not universal?
In the end all is quiet now in our house. Daughter #2 is above deck no doubt plugged into her iPod... Daughter #1 is glued to a book on the couch. The dishes are clean after a yummy supper of Nachos and cheese and Salsa. And all the wet and soggy tissues are in the garbage.... but in our hearts lingers the ethereal... the bight of pointless death and wasted lives... of gentle hearts who long for a better time... and who long for peace. What could be more ethereal... more magic than that.
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| Sweet Peace |
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
If I Were Wealthy
1. I would eat fruit more often. All kinds and exotic stuff too.
2. I would adopt at least 20 dogs. But not cats.... 2 of them is enough.
3. I'd buy a really nice tent trailer... because I love the ability to sleep at night in a nice bed but love to camp and hear the sounds of the forest at night. No tent and I don't want an RV or a hard sided trailer.
4. I'd go camping a lot... in out of the way places... where nobody could find me... just squirrels and maybe a coyote or a howling wolf in the distance.
5. I'd buy a swimsuit that flatters.... nah... that's impossible.
5a. In view of not getting the previous one, instead I'd hire a cook to do all the cooking here and he/she would come camping too... but not in the tent trailer... that would be weird.
6. I'd find a beach where I could camp right by the water. (PEI here I come...)
7. I'd pay people to stay away while I skinny dipped... (or in my case fat dipped).
8. I'd buy a friend flowers and a nice pastrami on rye sandwich with potato salad on the side.... and then we'd share lunch and drink tea.
9. I'd finish the house renovation.... new flooring and a finished wall in the stairwell with no wires poking out anywhere... "wouldn't it be luverly".
10. I'd buy exotic trees and spend a fortune trying to get them to grow.
11. I'd hire a tractor to come and plow up all the poop in my yard. Then I'd bag it and sell it and be even more wealthy.
12. I'd put in a very elaborate water garden with running water so that it wouldn't breed flies.
13. I'd buy Teapot a new canoe... the canoe of his dreams... maybe two canoes.. (that would include the canoe of my dreams too)!
14. I'd pay off all my Mom's and Dad's debts. Hey mine too.... I'd be debt free.. now there's a thought!
15. I'd go to Olds Fibre week every year and spend a fortune at the vendors and buy all my friends something sumptuous to spin.
16. I'd go to Victoria with a friend to shop for beads.
17. I'd go to Britain with Teapot and the Daughters... to see the Scilly Isles and then I'd go to Scotland to the Orkney's and I'd get my picture taken by this fellow.
18. I'd pay for my friend's medical bills in Veit Nam... her husband recently died there unexpectedly with a lung infection with no travel insurance.
19. I'd go to Walmart and buy those $4 angora socks that Daughter #1 gave me for Christmas 2009.... and loved.... I know... I actually loved s----..... Holy Cow!
20. I'd come visit you or pay to have you come visit me. Would that be ok?
I think that's enough....
Bye bye....
2. I would adopt at least 20 dogs. But not cats.... 2 of them is enough.
3. I'd buy a really nice tent trailer... because I love the ability to sleep at night in a nice bed but love to camp and hear the sounds of the forest at night. No tent and I don't want an RV or a hard sided trailer.
4. I'd go camping a lot... in out of the way places... where nobody could find me... just squirrels and maybe a coyote or a howling wolf in the distance.
5. I'd buy a swimsuit that flatters.... nah... that's impossible.
5a. In view of not getting the previous one, instead I'd hire a cook to do all the cooking here and he/she would come camping too... but not in the tent trailer... that would be weird.
6. I'd find a beach where I could camp right by the water. (PEI here I come...)
7. I'd pay people to stay away while I skinny dipped... (or in my case fat dipped).
8. I'd buy a friend flowers and a nice pastrami on rye sandwich with potato salad on the side.... and then we'd share lunch and drink tea.
9. I'd finish the house renovation.... new flooring and a finished wall in the stairwell with no wires poking out anywhere... "wouldn't it be luverly".
10. I'd buy exotic trees and spend a fortune trying to get them to grow.
11. I'd hire a tractor to come and plow up all the poop in my yard. Then I'd bag it and sell it and be even more wealthy.
12. I'd put in a very elaborate water garden with running water so that it wouldn't breed flies.
13. I'd buy Teapot a new canoe... the canoe of his dreams... maybe two canoes.. (that would include the canoe of my dreams too)!
14. I'd pay off all my Mom's and Dad's debts. Hey mine too.... I'd be debt free.. now there's a thought!
15. I'd go to Olds Fibre week every year and spend a fortune at the vendors and buy all my friends something sumptuous to spin.
16. I'd go to Victoria with a friend to shop for beads.
17. I'd go to Britain with Teapot and the Daughters... to see the Scilly Isles and then I'd go to Scotland to the Orkney's and I'd get my picture taken by this fellow.
18. I'd pay for my friend's medical bills in Veit Nam... her husband recently died there unexpectedly with a lung infection with no travel insurance.
19. I'd go to Walmart and buy those $4 angora socks that Daughter #1 gave me for Christmas 2009.... and loved.... I know... I actually loved s----..... Holy Cow!
20. I'd come visit you or pay to have you come visit me. Would that be ok?
I think that's enough....
Bye bye....
Seeking Magic
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| Here for more Ethereal Art |
What is it that makes us want the world to be un-ordinary. I have been reading a lot of blogs online recently and the ones that most appeal are those where someone is seeking beauty through the un-ordinary... through the world of magic. It seems to me that people seem to deal with the world around the by seeking the humour in it but what they really want is not reality but that which is beyond them. We find it inordinately appealing when something from the world that is tangible combines with something from us to create something intangible. For example, when I hear the howls of coyotes out in the night, it sets the hair on the back of my neck to standing on end. There are shivers that pass up and down my spine. It is the intangible connected-ness of coyotes howling and my reaction of hairs standing on end that creates the world of the ethereal.
A few years ago I began doing the research on mathematical models in the natural world and what I discovered was that there was a connection between math (the absolute abstract) and nature which is tangible. In it's simplicity, mathematical models are random numbers that equate to create recurring patterns. In other words, no two snow flakes are the same yet all snowflakes possess six-fold symmetry. In the plant world, this interprets as leaves, petals, daisy heads etc... with patterns that can be duplicated in common mathematical equations, particularly the "golden number"[(1 + the square root of 5)/2 =1.618 which the Greeks studied so long ago. The curl of a drying fern, the spiral of the seeds growing in the head of a daisy are also to be found in the spiral of nautilus shell.
Patterns in leopard skins and some forms of insects as well as Giraffes and Cheetahs have patterns that can also be duplicated by mathematical properties. Even cracks in mud or the way fur lies on an animal are reflected by mathematical properties.
Thousands of years ago there was a Greek philosopher that said that "all things are number" and perhaps he was closer to the truth than we can know. In the end, it is the connected-ness of all things to each other that gives this world it's ethereal quality. Perhaps that is why we tend to be drawn to the ethereal, perhaps we have a desire to return to our roots which is somewhere between mathematics and number and our skin cell's patterns. Perhaps we are not as unique in the world as one may thing... perhaps we need to look at math more closely to understand ourselves better. Perhaps we can use math to cure cancer. We just need to find the identical patterns to helps us understand what is underlying all life.
Who could believe that something so definite as mathematics, so absolute, could be so intricately entwined in something so elusive as life.
When I hear a coyote howling in the night and the hairs on the back of my neck is beginning to rise, then I will know.... and not just wonder... that the ethereal is at work in our world.
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| Here for more Ethereal Art |
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
More Old Pics...
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| Teapot in his youth... |
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| How did he get like this?! |
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| I always did like the out doors. |
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| He looks like he should be carrying a gun and not a wine glass. |
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| And why oh why did he marry this freak. |
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| We did have our moments of normalcy. |
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| Then the kids came along. Daughter #1 and Daughter #2.... |
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| Daughter #1 liked to drag Daughter #2 everywhere around the house. |
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| Things started to get to me and I had moments when I should have been in the looney bin. |
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| It started to rub off on Daughter #1 |
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| But how could you go crazy when there were moments like this... |
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| We didn't build snow men... we built the kids snow horses. |
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| Impish little grins.... |
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| Daughter #1 went to school... this was her 1st day. |
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| Then Daughter #2 went to school a year later... and this was her 1st day. |
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| We all got older.... but sometimes I miss the old days when we were young and foolish. |
Monday, April 4, 2011
Conversations Again
Go here for background information on the following...
Left Toes: SnooooOOOooore..... Snork! Hmmm....! I could have sworn I heard someone calling to me.
Right Toes: You did you dip stick. Wake up.... it's spring... it's time to come out of hibernation.
Left Toes: I can't hear you.... I... just a minute..... ah, that's better. I couldn't hear you very well inside my slipper.
Right Toes: I know... since Christmas when she got the slippers I've been feeling awfully lonely. All I do is sleep. Usually I shiver my way through winter but not this year. It's been lovely and warm and she never wore socks at all. I love slippers. I've never slept so good in all my life!
Left Toes: SHUT UP... now you've done it you said the S word. She doesn't know yet does she?!!!
Right Toes: Nope, I don't think so.
Brain: I seem to hear you guys talking about S---- again! What the heck are you guys on about now? Are you complaining? Of course you are. You always complain. Well, I'm not wearing socks... you've got new slippers so that should keep you warm.
Feet: Noooo, we're not complaining....
Left Toes: As a matter of a fact I was just saying how lovely and cozy I've been this winter.... please, please, please, keep the slippers.
Brain: Ahh you like the slippers eh? I thought you might.
Feet: Yeah, it's been a very luxurious winter. I haven't been cold at all.
Brain: Hey! Do you guys hear that.... what is that sound?
Feet: Oh that...
Left Toes: I told you to keep your mouth shut.
Right Toes: Well, should we tell her?
Left Toes: We have no choice really and she'll just find out anyway.
Brain: What are you two muttering about?
Feet: That noise you hear?..... that's the socks on strike!
Left Toes: SnooooOOOooore..... Snork! Hmmm....! I could have sworn I heard someone calling to me.
Right Toes: You did you dip stick. Wake up.... it's spring... it's time to come out of hibernation.
Left Toes: I can't hear you.... I... just a minute..... ah, that's better. I couldn't hear you very well inside my slipper.
Right Toes: I know... since Christmas when she got the slippers I've been feeling awfully lonely. All I do is sleep. Usually I shiver my way through winter but not this year. It's been lovely and warm and she never wore socks at all. I love slippers. I've never slept so good in all my life!
Left Toes: SHUT UP... now you've done it you said the S word. She doesn't know yet does she?!!!
Right Toes: Nope, I don't think so.
Brain: I seem to hear you guys talking about S---- again! What the heck are you guys on about now? Are you complaining? Of course you are. You always complain. Well, I'm not wearing socks... you've got new slippers so that should keep you warm.
Feet: Noooo, we're not complaining....
Left Toes: As a matter of a fact I was just saying how lovely and cozy I've been this winter.... please, please, please, keep the slippers.
Brain: Ahh you like the slippers eh? I thought you might.
Feet: Yeah, it's been a very luxurious winter. I haven't been cold at all.
Brain: Hey! Do you guys hear that.... what is that sound?
Feet: Oh that...
Left Toes: I told you to keep your mouth shut.
Right Toes: Well, should we tell her?
Left Toes: We have no choice really and she'll just find out anyway.
Brain: What are you two muttering about?
Feet: That noise you hear?..... that's the socks on strike!
My Blog = Blah
I have come to the conclusion that my blog is boring me to death.... it needs another face lift... hmmm not sure what to do.
I still like the content, though, sometimes I wonder why on earth anyone would want to read this stuff... for me it is journalling. My life and my family and mostly my work gets documented here and it is fun to go back and have a look at stuff that we've done in the past and projects I've completed. Yet, when I see other blogs with 500+ followers I kind of scratch my head and wonder why I've been writing for almost two and a half years and my followers are so low... is my life that boring? Must be.
Of course, I keep saying that I am not doing this as a popularity contest... I'm doing this for me. And so I carry on.
But a face lift from time to time doesn't hurt... and I'm ready for another one... something warmer I think.
Hmm... I'm off to have a go at it. And some breakfast.
There..... now that's a change... and it's in keeping with the fact that I can't choose which colours to use!
I still like the content, though, sometimes I wonder why on earth anyone would want to read this stuff... for me it is journalling. My life and my family and mostly my work gets documented here and it is fun to go back and have a look at stuff that we've done in the past and projects I've completed. Yet, when I see other blogs with 500+ followers I kind of scratch my head and wonder why I've been writing for almost two and a half years and my followers are so low... is my life that boring? Must be.
Of course, I keep saying that I am not doing this as a popularity contest... I'm doing this for me. And so I carry on.
But a face lift from time to time doesn't hurt... and I'm ready for another one... something warmer I think.
Hmm... I'm off to have a go at it. And some breakfast.
There..... now that's a change... and it's in keeping with the fact that I can't choose which colours to use!
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