Maybe I should eat first

Two days ago, I woke up early, as usual, about sunrise and it was raining lightly so I decided a short walk for a coffee (a reward for getting up early and exercising) was in order.

Mornings are always nice in a small city like mine, it’s especially quiet and calm and I can mosey along alone with my thoughts.

My trip to the coffee place went as planned, one tall roasted coffee.   They don’t offer newspapers anymore to read,despite my written protest, so I read the news on my phone, and enjoyed a leisurely coffee just sitting looking out at the puddles in the parking lot.

On my return, taking a zig zag route, I was lost in my thoughts and I found I was standing quite close to four deer in a front yard.

This is not unusual in my neighbourhood, in fact if I don’t have deer in my yard at least once a day, that is unusual.  The deer were expressionless, big mule ears calmly watching me, their expression seemed to say “move along pal, or we were here first !”

The male had a broken antler with something new, some plastic netting hanging on it, and the others were nibbling or relaxing, probably thinking about whose front yard they would invade next.

The next house had quail everywhere, on the grass, by the trailer, and then they panicked and flew up on the roof. Quail are super cute, and love watching them, but not Harvard graduates for certain.

As I wandered the last block in the light rain, I looked down and noticed quite a few long earthworms on the  road. I often pick them up on my driveway and throw them back on the grass so they don’t get run over or drown in a puddle they wander into. But on the  road, as there were lots of them so I left them.

Here is where my lack of breakfast maybe worked against me, as I will explain.

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Harvey the earthworm, not the rabbit

 

I began to think about earthworms escaping water in the ground, only to be driven over in the road.  They can’t see so they act on instinct and just venture forth because they can’t stay where they are.

People do that too, jump from the pan, into the fire.  I call it reacting, not respondingReacting is instinctive, and often the mistaken action. Sometimes we react verbally, and that is problematic, because a reactive word can’t be unsaid, much better than reactive I think is a thought out response we don’t regret.

There you have it,  the meandering thoughts of a hungry walker in light drizzle, plus some wandering opinionated deer, and cute but clueless quail. The quail really are cute, especially when first born and they are like little cotton balls with legs almost invisible.

As always, I hope to hear from readers on ideas, suggestions and I appreciate you reading and following my blog. 

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The Lucky ones have crutches and bandages

Today I was thinking about all the people who suffer with problems invisibly.

The ones with crutches, bandages, and wheelchairs – we see they are hurting, we empathize, we cut them some slack in our expectations. But the people hurting invisibly need us to loosen our expectations also. Continue reading

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It’s been a year,what a change – my wife inspired this one

(September 19, 2019) Dave, it’s hard to believe that just one year ago today was your first day of dialysis. You were one of those whose life was saved by your dear friend Greg, who gave one of his own kidneys in the Paired Donor Exchange.

Greg gave his kidney to a stranger as he wasn’t a match for you. Another living donor gave their kidney to you on April 24, 2019. What a gift and truly the gift of life. People die while waiting for a transplant. Dave is blessed and so are we. (written by my dear wife Susan)

Her Facebook post written one year ago follows below:  Continue reading

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Some understanding goes a long way

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A calm Okanagan lake,  just after sunset but not dark yet

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

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Okanagan Lake again, probably in January

 

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now

sweet 5

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand

The lyrics above are from Don McLean – his song Starry Starry Night. The song was written after he read a biography of Van Gogh.  It’s a lovely song.

Vincent Van Gogh suffered from mental illness and his amputated ear, but he could still see beauty and his paintings of the hills and stars outside the bars of his asylum, his paintings never include the bars on the windows. A man in torment.

We can’t tell from the outside what others are dealing with, and they can’t see what you are dealing with either.  People with mental illness aren’t crazy, they are sick.

Internet statistic:  Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. (46.6 million) experiences mental illness in a given year. Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. (11.2 million) experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

 

 

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Shine On US of A

Canada and the US of A share a huge border and live not only in peace but family trees criss cross the political border to a huge degree, I know mine does.

When crisis happens, like 911, and planes bound for the continental US were grounded unexpectedly in Canada, we welcomed our unexpected guests. See story in USA today here.

It’s no wonder either because In my opinion Canadians know the real America is represented by kindness to others and I see this in my nation also.

Thanks Coach Muller for confirming my belief, click here to see.

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You Sunk My Battleship

A favorite song sung beautifully, and childhood memories are the lettuce and tomato of this post.

dfolstad58's avatarLife and Random Thinking

Manning Park February 2012 Manning Park February 2012

Growing up I didn’t have to walk knee-deep in snow ten miles uphill to and from school each day but my childhood was certainly different from the current generation.

Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.

I am glad for the lack of electronics then as I live now in that age but also have the benefit of having grown up without it and memories of simpler activities.

I can appreciate colour tv because when I was young, tv was black and white. I hope you are sitting down for this, I’m not kidding, no remote control, really. If you wanted to change the channel you had to walk over and do it yourself, same with volume.  We only had a handful of channels anyway.

I can appreciate cell phones because when I was young, they didn’t exist and…

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