Wednesday, October 31, 2018
So it goes...
The circuits around the sun continue...and I continue to be here to see it. That's good and I really am appreciative. I'm not religious, although I have met a few of them, and joined two religions and a cult in my time. I haven't met a religion yet that inspires more awe or sense of place than simply seeing and feeling what I am a part of. I'm a wee bunch of dust, formed originally from stars and recycled in unimaginable ways, and now animated by life (thanks mom).
That dust is human, which means I not only can experience living, I can know that I'm experiencing it. Star dust looking at star dust, through these eyes in my head. And knowing it. Yikes! Sometimes it's enough.
Cannabis is legal in Canada now, but that's not related to the paragraphs above. I was handed a pre-rolled joint the other day, unsolicited. I put it in my pocket and then realized, "Hey! This is legal." Funny feeling. Although I later gave it away myself.
Quick updates for those who might be interested:
- Daughter Zoey is still in New York and is working on a doctorate in Philosophy. I visit a couple of times a year and enjoy my wonderful child...and my favourite city. No need to do a lot in Brooklyn, where she lives. I just walk, eat, watch, talk to people and poke around - and it's fascinating.
- Son Ryan moved to Vancouver after 5 years in Montreal. We did a 10-day road trip across Canada together. Tiring, interesting, fun and a gift to have an adult child captive for so much conversation. It seemed mutual, which is nice.
- Anna didn't run for city council again, after four years of hard work at it. Nineteen others ran for the six seats so we weren't left adrift. Now she's looking a launching new work or career, as yet undetermined.
- I'm still earning dough as a consultant. Have Flip Chart - Will Travel. I'm slowing down by blocking weeks and even months off, and working hard when I work. Six weeks planned in Mexico this winter.
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| Ryan in Edmonton on the road trip |
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| Daughter and dad in Prospect Park, Brooklyn |
Okay, that's enough for those of you interested and far to much for those not.
Friday, March 03, 2017
Winter...what else???
The explanation: Apparently the extra ice melt and earlier breakup in the Arctic sent cold air south at the same time as the warmer, wetter Pacific winds arrived from the west. These two streams of climate-change affected wind met somewhere...oh, over Nelson perhaps. We've had the snowiest winter in decades and in February had the largest one-day dump, in a series of dumps, ever recorded in Nelson (48 centimeters). This required shoveling around large lumps of snow on the street, until the vehicles beneath revealed themselves for more careful snow removal.
Sounds like just the right winter to decide not to go to "our" village in Mexico, eh? "Winter's are so mild now, maybe we should take a year off and hang out more here with our friends..."
While I am grousing here a little, and I do actually dislike winter (sorry Gfid), it does have the effect of bringing the town together - whether to complain about the city plowing job, play hooky at work and hit the ski hill...or just something dependable to talk about at the coffee shop. Weather R Us.
Sounds like just the right winter to decide not to go to "our" village in Mexico, eh? "Winter's are so mild now, maybe we should take a year off and hang out more here with our friends..."
While I am grousing here a little, and I do actually dislike winter (sorry Gfid), it does have the effect of bringing the town together - whether to complain about the city plowing job, play hooky at work and hit the ski hill...or just something dependable to talk about at the coffee shop. Weather R Us.
Coming into downtown
Sharp-shinned hawk outside my office window yesterday - eying the little guys on the feeder
Sunday, February 05, 2017
Shine a light in the dark friends...and enjoy being together
What a time we are living in, eh? While it's easy to be upset and concerned (impossible not to be), I also can count my privileges...I am relatively affluent, quite safe, a white man, healthy and live in a stable social democracy. All that to say, I am sad and angry and worried, but realize how many others are suffering or at risk more than I am. Trumpism is unleashing much that disturbs and much that is already harming people.
Here's something I love:
Hope
by Vaclav Havel
Hope is a state of mind, not a state of the world
Either we have hope within us or we don’t.
Hope is not a prognostication—it’s an orientation of the spirit.
You can’t delegate that to anyone else.
Hope in this deep and powerful sense is not the same as joy
when things are going well,
or the willingness to invest in enterprises
that are obviously headed for early success,
but rather an ability to work for something to succeed.
Hope is definitely NOT the same as optimism.
It’s not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out.
It is hope, above all, that gives us strength to live
and to continually try new things,
even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.
In the face of this absurdity, life is too precious a thing
to permit its devaluation by living pointlessly, emptily,
without meaning, without love, and, finally, without hope.
Here's something I love:
Hope
by Vaclav Havel
Hope is a state of mind, not a state of the world
Either we have hope within us or we don’t.
Hope is not a prognostication—it’s an orientation of the spirit.
You can’t delegate that to anyone else.
Hope in this deep and powerful sense is not the same as joy
when things are going well,
or the willingness to invest in enterprises
that are obviously headed for early success,
but rather an ability to work for something to succeed.
Hope is definitely NOT the same as optimism.
It’s not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out.
It is hope, above all, that gives us strength to live
and to continually try new things,
even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.
In the face of this absurdity, life is too precious a thing
to permit its devaluation by living pointlessly, emptily,
without meaning, without love, and, finally, without hope.
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Cutting the Facebook Cord
I needed more psychic space, more free moments each day, and to lose that twitchy must-check-it feeling - so I deactivated my Facebook page a few months ago. I miss some connections, some updates and the addictive rush of seeing notifications, etc. However I really do feel freer and have more space opening up. (You can still MESSAGE me if you happen to miss me on FB.)
I will come back to my blog again more often I think. In any case, here I am at the beginning of 2017...
One big thing in 2016. My mother died in November, at 90 years old and with lots of time with family in her final months. I was with her the last week each day and was there with brother Monty for her final breaths. It was moving, profound and something every human will experience in some way (the departing, not the witnessing).
I find myself reaching for the phone...and then have a sinking feeling that she's gone. So I talk to her in my mind. She was a wonderful human...good, generous, witty, forgiving, smart and even stylish. Here's a photo from a couple of months before her death.
That's it for now...more to come.
I will come back to my blog again more often I think. In any case, here I am at the beginning of 2017...
One big thing in 2016. My mother died in November, at 90 years old and with lots of time with family in her final months. I was with her the last week each day and was there with brother Monty for her final breaths. It was moving, profound and something every human will experience in some way (the departing, not the witnessing).
I find myself reaching for the phone...and then have a sinking feeling that she's gone. So I talk to her in my mind. She was a wonderful human...good, generous, witty, forgiving, smart and even stylish. Here's a photo from a couple of months before her death.
That's it for now...more to come.
Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Not too many years ago I thought I'd be retired by now - living simply and doing lots of the things I enjoy - and only working for dough now and then if it interested me. (Those things include family, travel, paddling, hiking, reading, writing, activism,. hanging out in this cool town of Nelson etc...nothing overly ambitious.)
I even set my computer passwords to a declining-to-retirement phrase and number. Well, here I am working a lot and not seeing away to slow down much, let alone stop. There are lots of reasons why - all related to economics or lifestyle, and there is also a sense that it's just harder to get by in these days of high-priced real estate and cheese (and many other things).
So I work on consulting contracts that appeal to me (mostly), balance it with vacations and time with family...and figure I'm fortunate to be in my 60's and have all that I have. I suspect I won't be 'not-working' anytime soon...
Some of that work takes me north these days - the photo is from Old Hazelton, a little place I was in for 10 days recently.
I even set my computer passwords to a declining-to-retirement phrase and number. Well, here I am working a lot and not seeing away to slow down much, let alone stop. There are lots of reasons why - all related to economics or lifestyle, and there is also a sense that it's just harder to get by in these days of high-priced real estate and cheese (and many other things).
So I work on consulting contracts that appeal to me (mostly), balance it with vacations and time with family...and figure I'm fortunate to be in my 60's and have all that I have. I suspect I won't be 'not-working' anytime soon...
Some of that work takes me north these days - the photo is from Old Hazelton, a little place I was in for 10 days recently.
Nice to see some of my long-time blogger friends here still! Life goes on, eh?
Thursday, February 26, 2015
2015 - who'd a thought it?
When I was 18 I really did think that 30 was old. Now that I'm in my 60's I look at anyone 30 and see someone who is still in the formative stages of young adulthood. Interesting.
Mark Twain did a nice job of describing how I sometimes feel:
Anyhow, all this by way of saying I'm still here, as in alive on the planet and also as a sometimes blogger, who uses facebook a lot more these days. Now I'll poke around your blogs and see what's up!
Mark Twain did a nice job of describing how I sometimes feel:
"I am aware that I am very old now; but I am also aware that I have never been so young as I am now, in spirit, since I was fourteen and entertained Jim Wolf with the wasps. I am only able to perceive that I am old by a mental process; I am altogether unable to feel old in spirit. It is a pity, too, for my lapses from gravity must surely often be a reproach to me. When I am in the company of very young people I always feel that I am one of them, and they probably privately resent it."
Anyhow, all this by way of saying I'm still here, as in alive on the planet and also as a sometimes blogger, who uses facebook a lot more these days. Now I'll poke around your blogs and see what's up!
Photo by Zoey - summer 2014
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Daughter Zoey just released a 5 track album, which was produced by son Ryan. I'm proud of course...and I like the songs!
Here is is if you'd like a listen.
http://lavalleelavallee.bandcamp.com/
Here is is if you'd like a listen.
http://lavalleelavallee.bandcamp.com/
