I am going to vanquish my winter blues. It is too much self–indulgence. My pets love me (and my wife). And that is enough. My favorite dog, Tilla, ‘adores’ me, in the words of my daughter. I did nothing to deserve all that. And that is an incomplete list of the seven cats and two dogs who each love me in their own way. My pets do not care what I do or am. And my wife does not care about the degree I do not have, or job for that matter.
Tags: cats, depression, dogs, my daughter, pets, the love of my wife, Tilla, vanquish Winter blues, winter blues
Posted in animals, balance, children, life, local, love, marriage, mental health, pets, relationships, seasons, wisdom |
Thank God for fatigue. It is a signal to your body you need to rest, recuperate. That is what is so bad about being addicted to speed: you override that signal to your body. Do it long enough and your body just deteriorates. If we obey our bodies we do better. Our body is constantly giving us messages. And we do better when we obey those signals.
Tags: body signals, fatigue
Posted in balance, death, health |
Universe after universe continues to unfold to me. Maybe, that is why I have no overwhelming desire to travel. My books are each an universe. My poems and other poems also beckon me to new worlds. There is countless ways my curiosity leads me. My garden is another world to explore. Each pet I have is distinctly different and I have to treat each one differently. There are so many worlds to explore just in my backyard. My extensive music collection is another universe. I just have to open my eyes and see what is in front of me–countless universes.
Tags: books, music, my property, new universes unfold
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, wisdom |
The obscene profits of the drug and health insurance companies are immoral. Think about it?! They are profiting royally from your illnesses from you being sick. I read a whole book about other countries that have national health insurance and in each case the profits of such companies were limited. We do not do that in this country. There was some attempts to do so when Obama created his bill during his first term but the pockets of these companies are “pretty deep.” and they did everything in their power to eliminate restraints on these profits. It comes down to one thing: “Are we our brothers’ keeper?!”
Posted in balance, health |
I love feeling the earth with my fingers. I don’t think you can garden without loving the feel of soil through your fingers. My Mom gardened every year until she moved away. She no longer had a place to hide. I know she missed that garden. I still remember the red roses she had. It was a small garden but she had a variety of flowers and vegetables. I am still trying to plant a fig tree on my property. Fresh figs are almost impossible to get in this area. Even today I can still picture that garden. Both of my sisters garden and one has a house full of houseplants. So many things started in my Mom’s garden for me–an appreciation of flowers and beauty. So many things.
Posted in balance, beauty, life, local |
‘Home is where they have to take you in.’ I am not sure if I got this quote verbatim, attributed to the famous poet Robert Frost. I thought about it for awhile. It is from our family we learn grace. We mess up badly and it is, often, our family that forgives us when we return home. No matter how badly I messed up I can return home and start afresh. Grace is a gift. There is no other way to put it. I don’t deserve it. Every person is flawed and makes mistakes. And we return home. No matter what we did.
Tags: every person is flawed, every person makes mistakes, forgiveness, God, grace is a gift, home, our family, return home, Robert Frost, start afresh, we learn grace
Posted in balance, children, God, knowledge&learning, life, relationships, time, wisdom |
We all live downstream. This was a sign I read on a stream. I thought of several things in, particularly, of global warming and how interrelated the world is. Everything is connected. And countries can’t agree and(???) how to attack this problem.
More locally when some one (or a company) pollutes a stream its(???) effects the body of water downstream. We all have one earth and each person (and each company) has to do its part to preserve it. No one lives in a void.
Tags: body of water, downstream, everything is connected, global warming, one earth, pollution, preserve the earth, streams, world is interrelated
Posted in balance, beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, nature, relationships, time, wisdom |
Air travel is amazing. As I write this, there are thousands of airplanes in the air, all over the world, cruising at 35,000 feet and other altitudes, landing and taking off, taxiing, boarding and discharging passengers at countless airports. Flight Aware (www.flightaware.com) is one website that tracks these flights. It has a lot of information about each flight, and you can watch a visual graphic of each plane as it travels along its flight path between airports. Check it out ! I was amazed at how many planes are up there, day and night, all over the globe. I had no idea. As they travel, they are passed between various flight control centers, like Houston, or Atlanta. The air traffic controllers guide the pilots through the skies and have an extremely important job, coordinating all the different flights. It really is amazing how many airplanes are up there !
This is my first guest blog on Siggy’s Blurbs. Thank-you, Siggy, for inviting me to contribute.
Tags: air traffic controllers, air travel, airplanes, airports, flight control centers, God, pilots, Siggy's Blurbs
Posted in balance, birds, God, knowledge&learning, time |
‘Every family has baggage’ in the words of my friend’s wife. I never gave it a whole lot of thought but she considered my two sisters to be successful. Both graduated from college (one with a Master’s) and held good jobs for decades. In contrast, my friend’s two sisters are struggling supporting themselves and alcoholism. I always criticized my family and saw their shortcomings and was blind to their successes. It made me think a little harder about the word success.
Tags: alcoholism, college, good job, my sisters, success, we all have baggage
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, life, money, relationships, time, wisdom |
The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I checked the car thermostat. It was sixty degrees deep blue sky without a cloud in sight. I was running to the store for a last minute errand and quickly realized the silk shirt I had on was too warm and I had to take it off. I was going to see my friend Chuck and it was going to be at least twenty degrees warmer in New Orleans. I immediately put a tee shirt on when I arrived back from my errand. I was excited. I had arranged to have a window seat on both legs of my journey today. Vacations are usually another “world”. For a short time you enter someone else’s reality. We can get so used to our own and not see what is directly in front of us any longer. Vacations in a strange place have a way of jarring you. And that is a good thing. Occasionally, anyway.
Tags: airplane, deep blue sky, God, gorgeous weather, my friend, New Orleans, someone else's reality, tee shirt, vacation, visiting an old friend, window seat
Posted in balance, beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, local, relationships, sports, wisdom |
The winter does not want to go away. It was actually “flaking” for a few seconds. The next two nights will be below freezing and she has to take in her two spider plants she placed by our fence. They won’t tolerate the cold. In fact, it might kill both plants. I know what will happen. All of a sudden the weather will become hot. The winter will go straight into summer. And skip spring.
Tags: "flaking" snow for a few seconds, plants, snow, spring, summer, take in spider plants, Two subfreezing nights, winter
Posted in balance, local, nature, seasons, time |
Tilla, my favorite dog, was only on loan. This was brought to the forefront when I found another lump on his neck. It felt like a cyst like the larger mass on his back. I realized suddenly he was not going to be around forever so I needed to appreciate him now. Humans most of the time outlive their pets. I had to enjoy him now. Not tomorrow but today.
Tags: brevity of pets lives, cyst, dogs, enjoy your pets, my favorite dog, pets, pets are on loan to us, Tilla
Posted in animals, balance, death, local, pets, relationships, time, wisdom |
