Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

There is nothing like home sweet home.  I was gone for a week visiting an old friend.  My wife was “sigless”.  In the interim, the trees have become greener and the temperature had gotten a little warmer.  The lilac bush is abloom.  I really have to walk around my yard to note the changes.  It has not gotten too hot yet so the primrose still are blooming.  I am just glad to be home.  I can make my own morning coffee just the way I like to and play my own music any time I want to.  I noted, again, how beautiful the area I live in is.  We can get too comfortable in our own surrounding.  It is good to get away once in awhile.  You appreciate your wife and your immediate surroundings better.

Tags: absence makes you fonder of wife, appreciating your surroundings and wife better, flowers, garden, home sweet home, lilac bush, making your own coffee, morning coffee, my wife, Playing your own music, primrose, visiting an old friend
Posted in balance, beauty, flowers, life, local, marriage, music, nature, relationships, seasons, time, wisdom | No Comments »

It has been a lazy Sunday morning.  I missed church and still have my sweats and moccasins on.  I am finished with my morning coffee.  We made plans to go to a church evening service so I have to make myself more presentable:  shave, shower, etc.  My day is just starting although it is past twelve PM.  It is never too late to take your day more seriously.  It matters.

Tags: church, God, lazy Sunday morning, morning coffee, shave and shower, slippers, starting my day, Sunday, Sunday church evening service, sweats, taking your day more seriously, your day matters
Posted in God, local, mental health, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I have to take my day seriously–like it matters.  That means discarding my sweats and putting pants on that I would go out in.  It also means putting my shoes on not wearing moccasins any longer that day.  It also means shaving and looking less disheveled.  I take myself and my time more seriously.  I am also done with my morning coffee.  All this matters.  I don’t fritter away my day.  My time matters.  And I have to use my time more productively.

Tags: disheveled, fritter away the day, getting ready for the morning, morning coffee, my time matters, shave, shoes, slippers, sweats, take my day seriously, use time productively
Posted in balance, life, local, mental health, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Feelings can be somewhat deceiving.  I wake up every morning depressed–at least it seems that way.  I don’t take too much stock in it.  I’ve learned, as a rule, the first hour I am awake I don’t feel good.  It usually lifts after I am up for awhile and I had my morning coffee.  That is just par for the course.  It has something to do with my metabolism.  I only get concerned if my depression lasts beyond the first waking hour.  Feelings can be deceitful.  Sometimes they are totally due to physical reasons.  And I always look at that explanation first.  I am also careful how I eat.  After a certain point in the morning, I make sure I eat something substantial and keep away from sugar.  Your diet can matter.

Tags: depression, eat right, feelings can be deceiving, metabolism, morning coffee, mornings, sugar, wake up depressed, your diet, your feelings
Posted in balance, health, knowledge&learning, life, local, mental health, time, wisdom | No Comments »

It is a day to stay in.  No doctors appointments.  Nothing I need to buy.  There is plenty of food in the house.  There is no reason to go out.  I am enjoying the flurries and the swarms of birds I can see out my large dining room window.  The first thing I did after dressing was put out more sunflower seed.

I am almost finished with my morning coffee.  The hour, though, is late morning.  I am about to start the coal stove.  Everything is set:  there is wood I collected and coal in buckets.  I just have to play with it.

Last night I was up in the wee hours (1:20AM) reading a book I could not put down (“The Soloist”).  It was made into a movie I wanted to see and could not find.  I happened to be in the library and was looking for the movie to rent but they did not have it.

It never occurred to me until then to read the book.  The prose was scintillating.  I was riveted by the writing and could not put it down last night until I finished it.  Now my wife is also reading “The Soloist”.

Tags: "The Soloist", bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, book, coal stove, firewood, large window, library, morning coffee, movie, plenty of food, reading, snow flurries, stay indoors, sunflower seed
Posted in beauty, birds, local, mental health, relationships, time | No Comments »

I want to get up slowly (when I can).  First, I may throw some sweat pants on, make coffee and wake up gradually.  I don’t always have that privilege, but most times I do.  The dogs always want to go out in the yard immediately and are not shy about it.

I often get up before my wife although that is not always the case.  If she is still sleeping I try to walk around quietly.  I make sure our “menagerie” has food and water.

After I am sufficiently “coffeed up” and I am awake I start looking around and figuring out what tasks need my attention.

Before that though, if my “muse” is telling me to write or edit, I obey it, then return to my duties.

Before all that, after I am fully alert I may do a quick devotional and sometimes find myself thanking the Lord for all bounties.  This often happens spontaneously.

My wife may have some requests for tasks that need my attention.  At some point, I check our postal box and peruse our mail, being careful to put our bills in the proper file.

In the afternoon, I sometimes have appointments to go to (usually doctor’s or blood work).  This is typically my routine.

Tags: bills, blood test, bounty, daily mail, daily tasks, doctor appointment, feed the cats, feed the dogs, God, lab work, let the dogs out, morning coffee, morning devotional, my "muse", my daily routine, my duties, my wife, pets, post office box, thank the Lord, wake up slowly, writing
Posted in balance, God, health, life, local, marriage, mental health, pets, time, writing | No Comments »

I decided to be satisfied with my three small cups of coffee this morning.  I still remember being in the hospital for two nights and requesting coffee with my meal.  They gave me decaf.  I drank it.  Now I was home and could serve myself anything I wanted.  I decided to be happy for the pleasure of making and serving myself morning coffee.  It seemed like it took forever for my meal in the hospital to arrive.  And someone (maybe a dietitian) decided real coffee was detrimental to my health. Oh, the pleasures of being home!

Tags: coffee, decaf coffee, hospital, morning coffee, pleasures of home, three small cups of coffee
Posted in health, local, time | No Comments »

I forgot that was normal for me–not to feel good right after I awoke.  I felt awful the first twenty five minutes.  That was a sign my manic episode was over.  I usually drink coffee upon awakening.  For months every morning I had felt fine (during my manic episode) and this morning I had to remind myself that was one sign my episode was over.  I had already started lowering the dosage of one medication (the one that gets raised when I have an episode).  My sleep patterns are beginning to change to one more normal for me.  My episode is winding down.

Tags: episode was over, manic episode, medication, more normal, morning coffee, not feeling good right after I awoke, sleep patterns
Posted in balance, health, knowledge&learning, local, mental health, time, wisdom | No Comments »

I do not claim to be a perfectionist. I know what the perfect cup of coffee tastes like. I make it at home. I use a certain brand of coffee and make it exactly the same way every time.

But when I go away I have trouble finding a good cup of coffee. Hotels are the worst. I do not know why I can’t duplicate it there. They provide coffee but it is never the same.

I will look for a local diner when I seek a good cup of coffee. They usually have it down right. And I do not like Starbuck’s despite the millions who go there.

I will be gone for about two weeks. And will not get home soon enough to, again, make that perfect cup of coffee. What is a morning without a good cup of coffee to start it off? I do not go like going anywhere without it.

Tags: cup of coffee, good cup of coffee, local diner, morning coffee, perfect cup of coffee
Posted in humor, time | No Comments »

I only spend a short time there:  After a quick cup or two of coffee at the local diner, I drive to the nearby Susquehanna River.  I view the ever-changing water and mountains lit by the upcoming dawn.  It is such a short time I spend here but it may be the most important part of my day.

The seconds here (and they are not more than that) remind me there is a world, universe just below my sight that I have no idea of.  I am transported to another world.  The time here reminds me I have to be aware what is just beneath my eyes may be a world I know nothing of.

This tantalizes me.  It also prompts me to be more alert of every step I take.  The familiar may have become too familiar.  Habits sometimes imprison you and somehow you need to free yourself of them and see what truly is there for the first time.

My short visit to The River is a reminder that I often have blinders on and must take them off.  There is world after world just below the worlds we are familiar with.

Even your own backyards which you view every day can become too familiar to you and if you can change your focus another universe will open up to you.  Universe after universe is right under your eyes.  There are no lack of universes to explore.  All you have to do is remove the veil under your eyes.  My visit to the shore of the River is a daily reminder of this.

Tags: dawn, God, habits, local diner, morning coffee, mountains, other worlds, see what truly is there, Susquehanna River, take off blinders, the familiar may become too familiar, thirty seconds of my day, universe after universe
Posted in balance, beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, local, nature, seasons, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Everything is by grace.  Your new day, the next dawn, is only by grace.  I am so aware of that.  I have gotten a solid night sleep, drunk my morning coffee and now await the dawn.

I know that is a privilege.  It is so easy to take the next day for granted.  And sometimes I do.  But not today.

I am waiting for the darkness to lift and then see the steady stream of the birds come to my feeders.

Today I see my optometrist.  I am glad I can.  I have never seen one who has such a gentle touch.  I think of the many people who service my wife and me, the shop we bring our cars which we depend on.  Bob’s customer service is so good.  I do not take it for granted.

There is my family doctor who I go to for checkups (and their support team).  There are so many people whose services I use who I try not to take for granted.  I am well aware everything is by grace.  And I appreciate everything given to me.  They are all gifts.  I did nothing to deserve them.  And that is such an incomplete list.

Tags: bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, customer service, dawn, do not take for granted, doctor, everything-is-by-grace, gifts, God, grace, morning, morning coffee, my wife, new day, optometrist, service, they are all gifts
Posted in beauty, birds, God, health, knowledge&learning, life, local, love, nature, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »

Every moment is precious.  Every moment is to be savored although you have to allow yourself to waste some but not many for time can be squandered.  It is the simple things that have to be appreciated like getting up by yourself, sipping your morning coffee or waiting for the sunrise to occur.  Don’t delude yourself:  the world does not revolve around you.  Nevertheless, you must act every day as if your life makes a difference in someone else life other than your own.  Yes, you can change the world.  If you do not think otherwise, your life is in a decline.  So act accordingly.  Life is very precious and must not be frittered away.

Tags: appreciate simple things, change the world, every moment is precious, God, life, love, make a difference in someone else's life, morning coffee, waiting for sunrise, world does not revolve around you
Posted in balance, God, knowledge&learning, life, love, relationships, time, wisdom | No Comments »