The definition of "Gah"...

As I had a query as to my use of the word "gah", I figured I would go searching for a visual equivalent. I think I have found one... in mens' "fashion".

Gah...

What else can I say.

I was not aware

that the water mains

were being flushed today.

Eye towards home...

T-bird

I was visiting a friend's shop and happened to notice the front end of a cool looking car sticking out from behind a mini-van up the sidewalk. It looked like something from the 50s or 60s, so of course I had to go check it out.  Needless to say it was a beaut.

I had almost forgotten that I had taken these photos. The funny thing is that I was struggling with my inner nothings again and I just didn't have anything much to write about. The quiet in addition to the numb-brain issue wasn't helping in that department, so when I finally remembered these pics, I chuckled to myself, because the other day I had posted this. Could be a recurring theme, or it could just be a coincidence that it came up again, in a different form.

I stepped in it...

Earlier today I had gone for a walk and on the way home made a decision to go to Dairy Queen and pick something from the value pick section. I opted for a Hot Dog, Cheeseburger, small fries and side salad, which is the four items for $7... Pretty good deal. I haven't been grocery shopping in over three weeks now, so this was a treat, with the salad being the most valuable part of this deal. I was going to save the burger and salad for dinner, but didn't quite manage that. After the Hot Dog and fries, I decided to wrap the burger in Saran and stick it in the fridge, but I had to take a bite... or two before I did so. It was then that I realized how much bigger the bun was than the meat... nothing really new, but still, the meat was miniscule in comparison. Oh... and the mustard and ketchup... They might as well call it a Mustard burger. I ended up with Mustard and Ketchup lipstick, and was positive that some had dropped somewhere, but I couldn't tell. Anyways... after putting the salad and the rest of the burger in the fridge and going to wash my hands, I felt something on my left foot... something squishy. Gah... there was mustard on the floor... and of course I had stepped in it. So I cleaned it up, washed my hands, and then for some reason, decided to have some of the salad. What I found was a very sad, sad salad... loose, half-filled with golden tinged, slightly slimy lettuce, a couple thinnly sliced carrots and radishes and the last thing I put in my mouth... what used to be a chunk of tomato, but had the texture of rotten watermelon. Needless to say, I spit it out and threw the rest in the garbage. But, at least I am still chuckling about it.

Dairy Queen had been owned and run by the same family since I was a kid. The last time I went, there were new owners, and the portions were smaller, but that didn't stop me from going again. Even after today's bit, I will probably still go again. I can't get that mushy tomato out of my head though.

Living form of death?

Today has been gray, overcast and muggy, but thankfully not too warm. Funny that the weather sort of matches how I feel, except for the muggy part. I don't know exactly what it is, but it feels fairly on the level, yet somehow I find myself within a gray funk or a murky cloud, not of doubt, but of uncertainty. There is a calm, quiet, nothingness filling me up such that I have become the living form of death.

Crack open your love cookie?

Um... Yeah... How could I NOT do that? And... no... it wasn't anything weird, just something that caught my attention. Love and hugs and all things sweet and sappy are not really my thing, but how could I resist when I saw the words "Love Cookie"? It turned out to be just an online fortune cookie type thing.

"Love gives light even in the darkest tunnel."

Oh... the other funny thing I came across tonight that seems to fit this theme:

YouTubeLink.

Note: I think I may have burst out laughing at about 1 minute 10. 

(5pm: 192,051 hits just now. I forgot to make a note of the number when I found the link last night... I think it was 179k.)

Hairy, unwashed loud mouth...

I remember this guy from watching cartoons when I was a kid.  Yosemite Sam was his name. I knew there was a Yosemite park in the States, but living where I do, I don't think the idea of National Parks held a great deal of interest back then. Anyways... yesterday I got this in an email:

This would be a picture from Yosemite National Park, courtesy of T1G, who was probably one tuckered out little boy old man after that wee trek. Totally awesome (and I don't very often say that) pic.

A course, I went looking for some Yosemite Sam vids, and this one just cracked me up.  (Sorry, the picture quality sucks.)

YouTubeLink.

My space...

I took this picture a little ways down the road. Hadn't really thought about it as part of a blogpost, but then I started thinking about how much I value my personal space...  privacy... and ... freedom.

What did I see?

1. Witch screeching

2. Giant bird going in for a bite

3. Mutant spider

A little bit sad that I only had one taker on it.

Chocolat, Coffee and Fishsticks...

Oh... my...  I wandered upon another fabulous blog... Maison de Lin.  Yes... it is in French, and I highly recommend that you read this post in the language it was written in ... Do NOT hit the translate button. I didn't... I actually sat here looking at the pictures and reading the entire post out loud to myself...   Not very well spoken, but just forming the words with the mouth added to the visualization of it all.

Oh... and this is the video that was posted over there.




*****

I am not a real coffee drinker, but more of a fake coffee drinker. I do have a French Press, but I like the ease of making my instant coffee lattes. The one thing that I do absolutely like about unadulterated coffee is the aroma... its essence.  Oh... wait...  there is also espresso flavoured ice cream... or espresso milkshakes...  or Dairy Queen Mocha Moo-lattes... or McDonald's Iced Coffee.  Almost forgot the delicious crispness of Instant Coffee crystals sprinkled on top of vanilla ice cream.

Anyways... over at Noah's blog, he had posted this vid:

YouTubeLink.

*****

Now... what is up with Fishsticks in the title? I think I would have trouble with the concept of writing an entire blogpost dedicated solely to Fishsticks... get it? Solely? So I figured this would be an easier way to slide into this other guilty pleasure of mine... this thing I have for frozen Fishsticks.  (Guilty only because of this.)

I remember when I was a kid, there was a small cafe across the street where mom used to work. I remember they had Fish and Chips that I really liked, with the long triangular shaped pieces of fish. I remember Tartar sauce for the fish and ketchup for the fries. Damn... that was good stuff. I even remember the type of plates and dishes they had. I have no idea how the heck I remember that. I do know that I also liked just regular frozen Fishsticks... and I still do. As I got older, I never much cared for the "real" or "English style" Fish and Chips... with all that extra batter or coating... where there was hardly any fish inside. Anyways... last year during a rough one month spell... I thank my lucky stars for frozen fishsticks.  I think I went a month or two living primarily on popcorn, fishsticks and lettuce or spinach.. and it was good.  (Note:  I said "primarily", which means that I did eat other things as well.) Oh... but the reason... this came up... is because I recently had "Highliner" Lemon Pepper breaded fish. Agh... so, so very tasty, with just a little lemon juice squeezed on top.  With fresh Spinach or Cucumbers, and either Lemon Poppyseed dressing, or Asian Sesame.... simple, easy, fast and ... yummy... and ... cheap.

So... yes... I am a cheap date, but it is because I appreciate and value the simple things in life. However, that being said, I also know the value of quality and the finer things of life.

The Porcelain Unicorn

Just watch it.


YouTubeLink.

http://www.porcelainunicorn.com/

Curtsy to Edna and her friend.

Ya think?

It's so fluffy!

Note: This is ONE flower in my hand.

Peonies and Roses

I had just come back from walking downtown for an errand and a visit with a friend, and having noticed that more roses and peonies had bloomed at the front of the house, I decided to take a few pictures. The peonies were so darn full and fluffy, as were the roses right next to them that I then went back into the house to grab the clippers. As I came outside, and was heading towards that part of the garden, I saw a man walking up the sidewalk... walking rather slowly... so... yes... tourist? came to mind. I carefully chose which flowers I wanted to cut, deciding on three peonies and a couple rose stems, and saw that the gentleman had stopped and was looking at the house.  I said hello and  we started to chat.  Anyways... he was from Germany. He and his wife had been in Ontario for a couple weeks and were now driving through BC and Alberta. I asked him how he had liked his trip so far and told him that today was very cold for this time of year. (And... it was.... very... cold ... and ... blustery.) But.. he said he liked BC. Funny thing... he didn't comment about Ontario. The chat ended and I said "enjoy the rest of your trip" and he said "you have a nice life".  ... I don't know why... but that just seemed to be the sweetest thing.

As I am sitting here typing this, I recall yesterday I got a phone call at about 6:15pm. Now... I very rarely get any calls, except from family, and on rare occasions, telemarketers, fundraisers, surveys or "you've won...". Lately I have had a couple prank calls, so I had no idea who it would be this time. Now... for telemarketers, fundraisers and surveys, you know they have a written shpeel in front of them that they have to recite, and I am polite and very good about listening to the whole bit, unless... unless they are trying to sell something that I don't need. In this case, it was an independent bank survey. To cut a short story short, I made the guy laugh... and that made me smile.

So... anyways... back to today... I put the peonies in a vase and took a few pictures of them outside (see second photo) while the sun had made a short surprise visit.  I knew there would be ants in the peonies, as there usually are... so I shook them out as best I could, but not a one came out.  I took the vase inside and took a few more pics and after a while I noticed two small ants come out from hiding within the petals. I went outside and shook each peony out again, but still nothing, except for a tiny light brown spider on a webstrand. I shook her out and then accidentally dropped one of the flowers over the railing... Had to do some light gymnastics to pick it up. I brought the flowers back in the house and I figure just as long as the little buggers stay in the petals, things will be fine.

I couldn't get over how big and fluffy the peonies were, but had no way of indicating their massiveness, so I tried taking a few pictures with one of the blooms in my hand. Nothing seemed to look right, until I finally got one shot (the first photo).  And... no... no ants came running out between the petals and down my arm.

Laugh, cry, laugh, cry...

I just had to laugh... The wacky horoscope for today being filled with the usual wackiness, but... oddly enough, if you read it, take a step back... and then take a look at the posts for this week... you may notice a trend.

"Destiny is calling you. Unfortunately destiny is blind as a mule with no head and is unlikely to have found anything decent for you. In fact, chances are destiny is trying to set you up with a mule with no head. Laugh, cry, laugh, cry. This week is going to be a very merry roundabout of feelings but by Friday you'll realise that it's all been for the best. Speaking of which, good news will come from a stranger who will predict a mixture of happiness and sadness that will resolve itself by the end of the week."

It has only been three weeks...

To honour the fallen since last time.

U.S. (Cali (2), NJ, Ohio (3), Tex (3), Fla,

     Mich (2), Wis (2), Mass (2), Mo (2),

     SC, Ind, NY (2), Conn, Va, Wyo, La,

     NC (2), Pa, Col, Miss)

Australia

France (3)

UK (6)

It doesn't matter what country you are from. Death for a common cause is ...  still death. Service and sacrifice should not be forgotten.

YouTubeLink.

What do you see...

When I looked at these trees they immediately reminded me of three distinct things. Curious to know what anyone else who happens by here sees in the images. I'll post my responses in a couple days.

Mud...

This gray watery grave filling my throat with mud

It would be easier not to breathe

I forgot

I forgot

To claw, to struggle, to fight

And yet I lifted mine eyes above the earth

But being blind could not see the light

I shrank back into the dirt from whence I came

Unable to move, unable to speak

It would be easier to not breathe

to just fade into the dark

 In being nothing become nothing

failed, incomplete and untried

In receiving life, giveth none.

ckiJune 21 2011

 

 

Sometimes my mind takes a turn down a dark path, sometimes it becomes heavy with thought, other times, empty. Sometimes when I have written something, I wonder why, and on rare occasions, it brings a tear to my eye for some inexplicable reason.

Willpower...

I can tell right now that this is going to be a little bit of a departure from what I normally write here. I'll just say that the sudden appearance of the sun has addled my brain just a tad.

Yesterday I wrote "Summer's coming?" So this morning when I peeked through the bedroom window curtain... lo and behold... a beautiful sunny day. It felt cold in the house, as it usually does, so I donned jeans, top, hoodie and leather jacket for my foray outside. Wow... didn't need the hoodie or the jacket, and needless to say, I am glad that I wore flip-flops instead of my leather boots.

Anyways, as I was walking down the sidewalk, I was trying to decide whether or not I should buy a chocolate bar at the cornerstore... As I approached... I saw a hottie in sunglasses sitting in the passenger side of a truck. I glanced in the store and noticed another hottie standing at the counter. Normally that would be two reasons to go in ... a chocolate bar being the top priority and eye-candy being the next. However... I exerted considerable willpower and resisted the temptation for both. Ah... I must admit, Summer = hot days = increased chance of forest fires = influx of out of town forestry/firefighters in the area = eye-candy.

However... I caved... on my way back home later, I did go in and buy a Reese's Peanut Butter cup and a beef samosa. Food always wins.

My library...

I have been wondering how it is exactly that my mind and my memory works. What came to mind this morning as I lay in bed not wanting to get out of bed, was “card catalogue”, and then “Dewey Decimal System”. For the life of me, I can’t remember how the latter system worked, but I do know that I learned how it functioned when I was a little kid. I do know that I went to the school library... that I did check books out and returned them on time... I remember some of the books, but I don’t remember what the library looked like or who the librarian was at that school for those first six years. As I sit here processing this, I realize that my memory functions solely out of necessity. I remember certain data or information that is required in order to complete certain tasks... tasks important to the moment or the current situation. In essence, I believe that I “file away” into the sub-recesses of my mind any unnecessary or inconsequential data or memories. Hmm.... I am, therefore, completely present ...in the moment. Whatever events that have occurred in my past, or information that I may have absorbed... has become a part of me... to make me who I am and how I am, but the memory of the event, or the piece of information has been archived. This may seem irksome to some people, but in stepping back for a moment, it appears now to be a perfectly sound system. To not be weighed down or boggled or holding on to details that may clutter or cloud one’s presence in the present.

Ah... this now requires much deeper thought.

Thunderbird?

I took this photo a couple weeks ago, and when I looked at it, "Thunderbird" immediately came to mind. I went agoogling tonight to maybe add a link or two to some native folklore, but instead of wiki, I am posting something else that caught my eye, and my attention.

"When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greener and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm... you have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better....”   (from "Black Elk Speaks")

Inasmuch as my journey has brought me here, this speaks to me on so many levels.

Summer's coming?

Can it actually be two weeks since we've had a sunny day? Yes... indeed it can. I'm sure... yes... I think that the sun peeked out from behind the clouds maybe on one or two occasions (minutes), but still... two weeks straight... in June... and almost the first day of Summer?

Further to this post, the picture below is from fifteen days ago, the last time the sun stayed around for a whole day:

Oh... and around the corner on the right hand side...

... from whence I cut these.

Summer's coming, but when... and how long will it last?

I'd like to have at least three days to enjoy ...

or ... fully appreciate it.

What I have been...

Quiet

Unseen

Unheard

Shoved aside

Ignored

Invisible

What I have become...

An unseen voice.

It's tough being Barbie...

Ugh.... Having read a comment of Harvey's over at his blog, Bad Example, and clicking on the darn link:

"As the great philosopher Talking Barbie once said, "Math class is tough":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0cvqT1tAE"

I went and clicked on one of the "next" videos, and I now feel that I must say... Math is easy... Being Barbie is tough.

YouTubeLink.

I know young teenage girls and older women that put themselves through this (but with a smaller palette) and their skin does look flawless, and they do look like dolls. My skin has never been flawless, and I do know what I would have to do to "even out my skin tone", but...  I can't imagine putting all that time and money into something that will just be washed away at the end of the day.

Rearview Mirror...

So the band I was referring to the other day (which I just realized was yesterday) was Pearl Jam. The album was Vs. I know that I have maybe three other CDS, but for the life of me I can't remember any of them. I distinctly remember three songs from that particular album...  even the lyrics. Listening to them again after the slow passage of time, I still love these songs. The voice, the words, the energy, the percussion...  The percussion always gets me.  Now I am starting to wonder if anyone actually heard me belt the words out with the music cranked as loud as it was. Hmm... eighteen years... that was a long time ago. No one to ask.

Rearview Mirror. The lyrics spoke to me... I don't quite know why.

W.M.A.. The music speaks for itself.


Rats. The funkiness.


Makes me wonder why I stopped listening to them.

Lean too...

This is another photo I took on my walk last Sunday. It is rather funny that the wind wasn't blowing that much, although you might think it was, judging from how these trees seem to be leaning or bending. We tend to get high winds here fairly often so you will find that a lot of the trees, even evergreens, seem to have this look about them.

I had forgotten about this photo I took the day after a heavy snowfall back in February. The odd thing is that these trees are only one block over from the first photo, but the "lean" is in the opposite direction.

"...how immeasurable a thing it is to have someone in your life to lean on."

I wrote that at the end of May, but had been thinking about it for some time before that. It is things like this which I never would have thought about four or five years ago, let alone written about. I think that for most of my life, after a certain age, I felt almost invincible in my independence, and ... once broken, had to surrender or relinquish that and allow myself to lean on someone for support. It is a difficult thing to admit that you are not as strong as you thought you were, but I think for me it was harder to trust someone enough to lean on them.  

Speaking of... songs that get stuck in your head...

Another exciting Friday night.. at home... on the laptop... and a song from the past popped up in my head. Actually it has drfited in my mind a few times, but tonight I paid attention. I went looking and found this. (Warning: 1980 I believe) No meaningful lyrics... not music that touches the soul.... just something damn catchy... and not forgettable. 

So... a little comfort after that twitching episode, was finding a more recent version, that basically combines what I used to listen to and what I listened to years later...

YouTubeLink.

Ah... and after that, another band... from the 90s ... came to mind tonight as well, but I have to revisit them a little bit more, as I seem to recall the complete enjoyment of only one of their albums.

Earworms...

You know there is something wrong when you start humming, or even worse, singing... a Celine Dion song. Not that I did that. Nope. Just sayin. In actual fact, I was thinking on the subject of earworms, and what kind of songs get stuck in my head that I truly do not want to be in there. I do believe there are varying degrees of these types of problematic tunes. There are the kind that simply hover around in your mind, the kind wherein you just remember the music, or the lyrics... the kind that you simply hum and cannot stop... and the worst... the kind that is in your head and wants to escape through vocalization. It is at times like this that the worn out sieve of my mind comes in handy. At this very moment, I cannot in truth think of any songs in particular that fall into any of these categories. However, that being said, one night in the merry month of May, I found myself quietly humming Silent Night... and then the words... and then ...  the startling realization with the requisite...  "What the....?"

And... yes... I admit... I too, have been found guilty of planting one or two.

River of reflection...

Well.... technically this isn't a river, but water from a river that had risen about six feet or so and spilled into these trails. The dry riverbed just beyond that farthest tree used to be my playground when I was younger... and a place of quiet reflection when I was a little older.

I ponder whether or not it is sad, or even possible, that one of the fondest memories I may have is from when I was sitting alone on a rock by a river ... just breathing. It has been a long time since I have done that.

Speaking of pages...

Found this very cool bit posted over here.  Cool considering my fondness for paper ... books ... creativity, all represented beautifully here.

YouTubeLink.

Turn the Page...

Hmm.... Maybe feeling a little sad about a heartbreaking loss (for my team), or just a tad nostalgic, this song drifted into my thoughts tonight. Yeah it is kinda sappy...  an almost timeless ballad... from 1988.

YouTubeLink

Ah... and then, speaking of nostalgia, this cover tune by Metallica from 1998 came wandering into my brain. When I first heard it way back then, I know I loved the sound and feel, but oddly enough, I didn't even know it was a cover until many years later.  Funny that I heard it when I was going through a fairly significant change in my life and the title itself "Turn the Page" seemed appropriate then, as it seems to be once again.

Game Day...

This is a parody of a most irritating song. Normally I wouldn't post such a thing, but ... today...  IS the Ultimate Game Day.

Perhaps I live vicariously through these guys.

I won't be watching the game...  but they are my team... and I gotta believe. I'll know in a few hours if I hear the hoots, hollering and honking horns...

Update:
8:25 pm. I guess it didn't end well. No hoots nor horns. A quiet night like any other. I suppose I had a secret hope that they might actually win it for the first time ever. I had won the old style jersey in a draw a while back, and then at some point between then and now I realized that the Canucks cap that I have had since perhaps the last time they were this close, hasn't been washed in... I don't know... seventeen years? (No reason... I just never bothered.) Oh well.  This is why I am rather glad that I don't get excited about things.

Twas time for a chuckle...

Found this "Interpretive Dance" bit posted over at "I Know Funny", so went ayoutubing to check it out and there were a few more.

This is a song by Wham from way back in high school.

This one was hilarious. (But you have to ignore the laugh-track.)

YouTubeLink.

There is another one that had me almost ROFL as it reminded me of someone, but I just couldn't quite post it.

I am fine...

This song has always made me want to cry, although I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's the piano. Regardless, it is rather odd.... or interesting...  that it wafted into my mind on the same day as the songs in the previous post.   

While I was struggling with whatever it is that leads me to the point of "What the heck is wrong with me?", the other thing that came to mind this evening was this thought: The time that I have been granted for quiet reflection and introspection is... a gift.

Blackened...

Don't know why but the Stones song Paint It Black popped into my head. Hadn't heard it in ages... as in a couple decades. Somewhere I have a couple LPs from way back when. I went a googling and found an old b/w video. Anyways, for some reason right after that, "Fade to Black" came to mind. I couldn't even  remember the song, but again... that was also ages... decades ago. I have the CD tucked away, but found a link ...  A great song forgotten ... The lyrics, which I also didn't remember, surprised me...  as to how fitting they are for where I have been lately.

Of course... that lead to another song which lead to the title of this post.

Triptych...

Broken Up... or Broken Down...

Rising...

Hard to tell from this photo how high the water is.

January 3 2011

Benchmark...

Been a while since the last time I went on a long walk. Followed the same route as last time and got a few pictures of the rising river. We have been lucky so far considering that the snowpack is still heavy in the local mountains for this time of the year, and we haven't yet had a string of hot days, nor much heavy rain. Technically this isn't a flood ... yet.

Life...or something like it...

I found this to be particularly pertinent

after the rather ponderous previous post.

Quiet and Stillness...

Quiet and stillness are like bread and butter to me, and in the best of times, Yorkshire pudding with butter melting on top. Peanut Butter and honey. Butter and syrup. Bacon and eggs. Mashed potatoes and gravy. You get the picture. Good things all, but in excess, not. Quiet and stillness, like these things, nourish my soul. I find comfort in them. What remains after all is said and done? Quiet and stillness. They draw me ever inward. They pull me away from the chaos of the outside world and draw me closer to the Earth and to my centre. The very things that ground me are the very things that take me further away from the Circle of Life.

I am quiet and stillness.

I am dead.

The question is... what can bring me back to life? What can re-animate me? How can I bring myself back? Not to exist only for the sake of existing. Not to live solely for the sake of living. To serve a purpose. To be of value to someone. To have meaning. Can I retain the quiet and stillness that I have become and yet live? Is it that I wanted nothing more or is it that I wanted nothing more than I wanted something? To exist is to live solely out of necessity. Should there not be something more? I know I have written about this before... I have definitely thought about it beyond the beyond of reasoning. In essence, I have thought it to death. What it boils down to is that I think by now I should have reached beyond the point of merely trudging through life. I should be able to force myself to not sleepwalk the day.

I am standing still and yet I search for something. What is it that I seek? What can I hope to find by not moving forward? The thing that I can almost taste. The thing that I can almost touch. The thing that is not a dream, but something tangible just barely out of my reach. The thing that would make life worth living. I never had time to think about it before... and now it seems I have been given  too much time... but that it will soon run out. I am complete but I am not yet completed. And thus I struggle... with myself and with the great unknown...

The quiet and stillness is no longer enough.

Metamorphosis...

Not quite, but close...

March 25, 2011
(posted here.)

June 3, 2011

April 2011

June 6, 2011

Point of View...

 Looking South...

Looking East...

Hot Wheels

I know that my memory has a lot of holes in it, but then I think that perhaps it is more of a threadbare piece of fabric, shredded up, with whole pieces missing as opposed to just holes.  Anyways, the other day I stumbled across this, which was in itself cool, but, of course it brought back a childhood memory. I know that I was sitting on a bed, but I don't remember if I was playing with Barbie and GI Joe or the Cowboy dolls and horses. I am not certain if I was pushed off the bed or if I simply fell, but I do know that my knee cap landed square on one of my brother's Hot Wheels cars. I bear a lumpy type scar on my right knee to this very day. And...  I do believe that I was pushed.

Not what it was supposed to be...

Two years ago I think it was, I bought a white Lupins, for what was supposed to be the white garden. I was aware that they spread through seed, which you figure would be a nice thing, to not have to buy more white plants the next year. Last year, what did I end up with? More red than white. I have this thing that I didn't want red, dark pink or yellow flowers in my garden... This year? More red, now pink and a new one... dark purple which I like just fine. So... I went rooting around the roots of the red Lupins to see if I could pull one of them out, but did not realize how "rooted" it was. Needless to say, I accidentally tore off parts of the root system. So... I put a couple salvageable bits in pots to see if they would agree to take root in soil, and I cut a few to revive in water. I normally would NOT bring red or hot pink flowers into the house, but ...

I kept them on the parlour table in the laundry room, but it got a little too hot in there for them with two days of warm, sunny weather. As they were starting to get droopy and wilt, I brought them into the kitchen the other day and snapped these funky pics.

To old friends...

Being in a rather pensive and contemplative mood as I have often found myself in the past year, I had a few rather sad but beautiful songs float into my mind tonight. The first one was an old Beatles tune that I remember from here, and then from there, I drifted to this. 

Funny, the Divine Miss M... a name well suited to the old grade school friend that she reminds me of... who died just after turning 19. She was the most bubbly, effervescent, happy chick of the group of us that had known each other since probably Kindergarten or Grade 1, and all hung out together through the end of high school. I remember she worked at the bus depot and I was working at the office job where I ended up for over twenty years. I have often wondered where she would be now had she lived.

Underwear again?

My wacky horoscopes haven't been that wacky lately, until today. Once again, "underwear" has come up. What is with that?

"The music you have been listening to has been tainted by the devil. You may find solace in someone's choice of underwear today."

Oh... and ... yeah... the music I have been listening to lately? Heh.

This looks fun...

I believe it has been almost twenty-six years since I have been waterskiing, and even longer since I have gone fishing. Today I found a beautiful blending of the two which looks like a heck of a lot of fun... and stupid... but fun nonetheless.

YouTubeLink.

Found it over at the Borderline Sociopathic Blog for Boys, which I check out every once in a while to see what cool stuff is posted.

The Brothers...

And now for something completely different, I have decided to post a little bit that I wrote sixteen years ago. I don't believe I had previously ventured very far from just writing poems, and for the life of me I do not know exactly what prompted me to write this little story, except perhaps the tree being the basis for my feeble attempt at folklore.


*****
The Brothers

Long ago a young woman gave birth to two sons who brought great joy into her life. As the two boys grew up, they spent all of their time together, running through the meadow, wading in the creek, exploring and getting into mischief. One sunny day, when the boys were trying to decide how to spend their time, one said "I want to go climb the rocks", and the other said "I want to go swimming in the creek". Then, for the first time in their lives, they began arguing, which turned into pushing each other, then punching. The Mother heard all of it and went out to separate the two before any black eyes or bloody noses came about. She sat them down to have a talk about their behaviour and ... afterwards, since the boys couldn't come to an agreement, she told them they would have to stay in the house helping her for the entire day. The boys stopped their fussing, and with pouts on their faces, stomped into the house, giving each other one last shove. From that day on, every little thing set them off.

Every day eventually ended in arguments and fighting, and as time passed, the Mother could no longer stop them nor bear to keep them in the house with her when they misbehaved. Being upset and unsure of what to do, she called upon the Creator to ask for help. The Creator, being all wise, told the Mother not to worry, "be patient, for your children will grow out of this".

Two years passed and nothing had changed, so the Mother, at her wits' end, again called upon the Creator for assistance. The Creator did not believe that the two boys could be such a bother, so he told the Mother he would watch over them for seven days and when the seven days were over, he would remedy the situation. The Creator looked down through the trees, but before he could see the boys, he heard them arguing with raised voices, disrupting the tranquility of the forest. He found them by the stream wrestling each other over something they had found. To the Creator, it didn't matter what they were arguing over, for he was just observing after all. He quietly watched and waited from above.

Six days passed and the Creator now understood why the Mother was so concerned, for even he, the all knowing, all wise, all patient Creator was becoming annoyed. So, he went down into the woods disguised as an owl, and found them kicking up dirt, scrambling around with fists flying.  He startled them as he cleared his throat... "Ahem... excuse me young sirs..." A deep low voice coming from an owl in a tree would be enough to startle anyone. "You boys are the noisiest and most troublesome creatures in the forest.... and your mother is very worried about you." One of the boys whispered to the other, "I know who that is...it's the Creator of all things". The other boy, in a louder voice said "No it's not, it's just a spirit of the forest that we've disturbed", and as always, another argument broke out. "SILENCE" the Creator boomed, and the boys stopped, with their mouths agape, mid-sentence. The Creator, very annoyed now, gave the boys an ultimatum, "If you do not stop this arguing and fighting, I will make it such that you will be together forever and you will not be able to speak ever again!" The boys looked at each other, and said quietly, "we'll be together forever anyways, so that's no big deal is it?" So with those words, the boys nodded in agreement, said goodbye and thank you to the Creator, returned home, ate dinner, tidied up and went to bed, like two little angels. The Mother had a peaceful sleep that night, as everything seemed to be fine.

The next morning, the boys woke up, ate breakfast, did their chores, and politely asked their Mother if they could go fishing at the creek. She agreed, and as they were heading out the door, told them “be careful, and no fighting”. As they walked down the path, the Mother heard them talking about where they would fish, then who would catch the biggest fish and suddenly, just as she heard their voices became louder, a blinding light flashed in the clearing beyond the trees, and a sound like thunder shook the entire forest. The Mother ran to the clearing, and where her boys had been, there now stood a tree. She looked around hoping to see the children hiding in the bushes lining the path, but did not see nor hear them.

She cautiously walked to the tree, and trembling, put her hand out to find that it was warm, and seemed to be shivering. She then realized that the tree was actually two trees spliced together as if hugging one another, and she wept. (But that's another story.)

*****
According to my notes, I wrote this on May 8, 1995 at 12:04AM. I made a few changes tonight.

In a haze...

or in a daze?

Wouldn't it be nice...

People in my life are constantly moving... their lives changing, for better or worse, while I simply orbit around their paths...

The Cutting Edge

Movie Review:

I remember liking this movie the first time I saw it, but perhaps at the time it was mostly because D.B. Sweeney was in it. I first fell for him in two old favourites, a baseball movie, Eight Men Out and a WWII movie, Memphis Belle. He always seemed to have a laid back feel to him, and his soft, tired blue eyes just added to that.  In "The Cutting Edge" (1992), he plays a hockey hot shot who suffers a career ending injury and a couple years later is resurrected as a pairs figure skater, teamed up with a "temperamental" partner played pitch perfect by Moira Kelly. Needless to say, sparks fly. This is worth watching just for the humour and chemistry between the two leads, if nothing else.

There are some good lines in this movie, all of which seem to have escaped me now. All I can think of is two words:

"Toe pick!".

*****

Funny...  after having the first two days that have felt even remotely close to summer, and being nice enough to eat dinner outside, that later in the evening I decided to watch a movie that spends most of its time on an ice rink. As I write this, after having spent those two sunny days working in the yard, the skin on my back actually feels like it is burning up and is going to rip apart... and I have been thinking about ice...  hockey. I was thinking of doing a post about my team, but I don't want to jinx them. I cannot watch the games, even if I did have cable.  One cool thing I found out about the last game? (Other than that we almost lost but didn't.) The two Bruins who scored are both from this beautiful province. Also interesting to note is that Milan Lucic was born (in Vancouver) in 1988, the same year that Mark Recchi (born 1968 in Kamloops) was drafted into the NHL. I believe that is the extent to which I will delve. The rest will be via highlights after the games are done. My heart will just pitter patter until we win.

Oh... another cool thing...  a guy I went to school with is one of the linesmen. I knew he had worked the series between the Canucks and Sharks, but I just checked and found out that he is working the finals too. I know his mom is proud of him, but I am too.

Entrez-vous...

This is what I deemed to be the "entrance" to the backyard when I first started digging up garden beds so many years ago.  The plants and shrubs filled in nicely... and the patio I envisioned? Well... I have long since managed to forget what that was supposed to look like.

I am burnt...

Yesterday was the first summer-like spring day we have had. From start to finish it was blue skies and sun. I had mowed the lawn just shy of two weeks ago and in that time it appeared that a jungle had arisen in the backyard. At one point with the sun beating down and the long grass swaying in the light breeze, I was reminded of a scene from "The Ghost and the Darkness", where I would expect to see a lion's tail swishing through the veldt. On Friday, my neighbour across the street had yelled over from his porch to ask if I would like him to cut the lawn when he was mowing the churchyard, and I politely declined, because I was, for some strange reason, looking forward to getting hot and sweaty doing the damned thing myself. So yesterday I went outside at 11:30. The grass was still damp from the morning dew. I went as far as the cords would let me, switched plugs and did the backyard, as far the as I could go. By that time in the afternoon, the neighbour across the street had returned from a jaunt and had ridden his mower over to the churchyard. I switched plugs once more and did the frontyard. I had left a wee bit of the curvy paths in the backyard, and there was also a small section that the cords wouldn't let me get to. As I was just about to do another section, after much contemplation, the neighbour rolled on over and said he was impressed... and asked if I would like him to finish the rest.... and I wholeheartedly accepted. Over the roar of the little engine, he mentioned that I would have to go over what he had done as his mower doesn't do a clean cut. I was fine with that.  I thanked him, and he puttered off into the sunset. (Not really...  it wasn't that late in the day.)

Funny thing. He said his wife had seen me mowing the lawn last time and had asked what I was doing when she saw me making the curvy paths. He was wondering if he had missed the memo, as since then, two guys with houses down the street had also cut curvy paths into their yards. The primary reason I had done mine was because the sunny days were few and far between, and it was getting late that day, so it provided me with a creative way to cut the lawn until the next sunny day appeared. He surmises that the other guys were thinking the same thing. Apparently their curvy paths are now gone as well.

I am glad I wore a hat. My back is burnt. I don't know how it is possible that just my back is burnt.

Almost time...

I've had a couple weeks to spend with an old friend, whom I will call "My Captain". We didn't spend much time together and the visits were short and sweet, but somehow still comforting. He'll be gone soon, and I'll miss him.

It was an indulgence on my part, but well worth it.

I'll have cold milk waiting for next time... my dear sweet, crispy Captain...

Things I've learned in the last year or so...

1. There are ladybugs with no spots;

2. I am not as weird as I once thought I was;

3. I am getting to the age where I look as tired as I feel,
    but I don't feel I look as tired as most people my age; 

4. I can't play tetris whilst listening to Metallica;

5. Don't write blog posts whilst listening to Korn;

6. Don't post comments on blogs when your brain in fuzzy;

7. Not a good idea to email anyone whilst you are ...

     in the midst of any type of emotion;

8. Not a good idea to email anyone whilst you are ...

     in the midst of any kind of crisis;

9. I much prefer the unexpected over the anticipated ... 

     but .... I don't like surprises;

10. I am a very patient person, but ...

       I don't like wasting time;
11. I have become a fairly well put together mess.

Of guitars and bagpipes...

I have had this song on my mind for a couple months or so, since my last musical memory tour. It was one of my favourites from when I was a teenager and it has held up well, for me at least, over the years. The drums and vocal arrangements coupled with guitars reminiscent of bagpipes form the unique sound of this Scottish band that can still draw me in to this day. 

I know for certain that I would have known the lyrics back then, but looking at them now I see how much more meaning they truly have.

"So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you.

Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded.

Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming.

Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted.

I thought that pain and truth were things

    that really mattered

But you can't stay here with

    every single hope you had shattered."

Wow... just wow. I know the song swept me away when I first heard it ... almost 27 years ago, but tonight, the words just blew me away.